Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

wallofbeans

lowis wrote: »

AXA is £7000 per year (period of insurance), to cover all conditions, not per condition. this £7000 renews each year, this means you can claim up to a maximum of £7000 each year. this is a true for life policy.

the other stuff you mention is completely up to your own decision as to what you deem best for you...AXA will not be changing their underwriters anytime soon as they are their own underwriter, they are a stand alone insurance firm. M&S could chop and change (and have done so) at any given time and change their policy accordingly.

does that mean the M&S one is better in the £7000 bit as well then?

It says:

"Veterinary fees - £7000
-Cover per condition - no limit"

but when it says 'no limit' does it mean up to £7000 per condition or like you said about axa, 'no limit' up to a max of £7000 in total per year?

very confusing when they mention 'no limit' but then actually do have a limit!

Ps. can m&s really change their policy whenever they want? surely they have to stick with the policy ive signed to for at least the first year... i get that maybe they'll change it drastically once that year passes but they cant change it before then, can they?

hethmar

M and S can and have changed their policy (as can any insurer). They would no doubt honour the conditions for the period of insurance you signed up for but change on renewal. But the point is, if you have claimed during that period of insurance or even consulted a vet about a condition, those conditions and anything deemed related to those conditions would be excluded by any other insurer so you couldnt easily jump boat if you decided you no longer liked the policy with M and S.

I cant see where M and S say per condition as you quote above? I saw this on their site:

Up to £7,000 a year in vets' fees for illness and injury.


They will pay out up to £7k per year in total. What they mean by no limit on a condition is that as long as you continue to insure with them the condition will be covered, some other policies (non life) will stop paying up for a condition once the stated limit is met or once 12 months has passed.

wallofbeans

thanks for that. im at last starting to get my head around this stuff. its after the first year and if something has happened that there is the possibility of getting screwed... i didnt get that at first...

what i quoted was directly from the pdf download of the m&s policy, that's what it says but it could mean lots of things!

thanks again!

prudryden

Go with AXA. Stay away from stores that sell insurance along side their coffee!

Tawny_Owl_3

We have now been with M&S for 2 years now as people noted on the site all changed last year and as we ahd an ongoing claim we had to continue with them then this year our dogs policy went up to £41 79 per month due to an increase in vets fees we were told. This is for a springer spaniel . My sister is also with them and has already moved. I dont think they should be recommended for their life time cover . A policy as your dog gets older is no good if it goes up so much you cannot aford it!
Could anyone recomend a good company to move to.:eek:

Jesthar

Hmmm, another 'newbie' question, if you please - do all insurers hike the premiums significantly once an animal reaches a certain age, or do the 'better' insurers not do this?

Thanks!

~Jes

UKTigerlily

Just found Axa to be a pita over claims & have stopped the policy with them, stay away lol

maggie999

UKTigerlily wrote: »

Just found Axa to be a pita over claims & have stopped the policy with them, stay away lol

Can you tell us what problems you had with them?

hethmar

Tawny, bear in mind the condition and any related conditions will be excluded from another insurer Thats why Im stuck with one dog with M and S.

UKTigerlily

maggie999 wrote: »

Can you tell us what problems you had with them?

Just they take forever to pay, I wass on the phone almost daily asking on the progress of the claim (Which nobody could tell me, other than it shouldn't take over 10 days), then they finally tell me they won't pay because a previous Vet has said she had a condition in 2006 that they think could be related to the claim (So pre existing) but in the letter they didn't say I could get the Vet to clarify if it did lead to the claim, I was never told by the old Vet she'd had the problem.

They told me by phone that the Vet hadn't clarified it so they didn't know if it was related or not, so why didn't they ask the old Vet to clarify? I don't think I should have to call the Vet (Who they didn't name & as i'd never been told the illness I couldn't guess on which practice), they should investigate & ask for clarification! I'm sure they could've told me about the progress such as we're contacting x Vet etc

Then they write to say it's been refused but no mention of the fact that it wasn't clear if she had a pre existing condition & that I needed to get them to clarify! I gave up cause it took so long to get the claim refused I couldn't be bothered faffing about even longer ringing Vets all over the country to ask about a condition i'd never been told she had!