Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

labradog

We're with Sainsbury's who are underwritten by AXA and our insurance renewal quote has almost doubled since last year (renewal cost £636.88). We have been with Sainsbury's since the dog was born and have never claimed but we recently had to claim for a now on-going condition (Arthritis) and after doing the maths the new quote is spookly enough, last years premium plus the cost of his treatment over a year. Just in the initial stages of complaining so if anyone has had experience of this we'd appreciate any advice. Just as a finishing statement, we thought we would try to get a qoute as a new customer, same dog, with same existing condition through sainsburys website, the price was funnily enough the same as last year before we claimed which was £355.82 although this year the existing condition wouldn't be covered. However I can buy the same tablets online for half the price that my vet sells them for so we're thinking of taking the new policy and buying the tablets ourselves thus saving quite a bit.

hethmar

Well, if you start a new policy, all his previous conditions will be excluded so say you need an operation due to the arthritis at some time you wont be covered. I would also warn you that Sainsburys is not a for life policy, so check carefully how much you are actually covered for.

My goodness that is a very high premium - I assume the dog is a lab? Are you in an inner city area? I would defintely ask to speak to someone at sainsburys about this. If they are offering the premium at the old rate to new customers, then I cant see how they could double it for you. On going conditions shouldnt be taken in to consideration if you are a long time customer and certainly not to that huge amount more.

Just checked on sainsburys site - their highest level policy covers you up to £7,500 per condition. Thats the most you will ever be able to claim from them for your dogs arthritis.

toomanykids

Been looking for insurance for my two puppies. Petplan wants almost £50 per month, Tesco is £20.80 per month and petpals is £17.56 per month and no excess. Does anyone have any experience with this company? Reading through this thread it appears that some were wary last year and I was wondering if anyone had any more recent experience with them.

tia

redjackal77

I have recently purchased two chinchilla's but am having difficulty finding an insurance policy for them. I have tried the ones listed on this website but there was only one that offered it and I was not impressed with the cover, does anybody have any ideas of which companies offer this sort of insurance please?

chocolatepennyfarthing

Have just had the first renewal through for my dog who is nearly 15 months old. Last years policy had a £50 excess and we did not have to pay anything else towards vet bills. Excess has now been put upto £75 with a 15% contribution towards bills. Policy is with Petpals. Do all insurers do this after the first years cover?
No claims have been made against our policy at all.
May consider changing, who offers the best lifetime cover apart from Petplan?
Did post in pet forum but thought I may get more help here

lowis

RedJackal - did you try calling axa, nfu and petplan? you could also ask your local vet whether they are aware of any good, reputable, insurers of exotic pets (i assume this is what chinchillas are classed as?)

Laz123

lowis wrote: »

pet-insurance.co.uk are underwritten by E&L - AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!

Now you tell me! )

I'm trying to get them to pay for my cat's dental work.

Jesthar

Hi all,

Just after thoughts on the cat insurance quotes I've been given. Thanks to the advice here I'm already down to PetPlan, AXA and NFU, but the quotes seem to vary quite wildly!

For the record, my cat is a female 3yr 10mth year old crossbreed, just had her annual vaccinations and with no known existing conditions. Quotes I've got are:

PetPlan - £12.93 a month (Basic cover for life plan, including 10% online discount)

AXA - £7.77 a month/£93.29 single premium (higher level of vets fees and lower excess than PetPlan too)

NFU - got three different quotes for this, for the three different 'limit per unrelated conditions per year' levels:

- 2k per condition per year = £96.77 (£8.06 per month)
- 3k per condition per year = £115.20 (£9.60 per month)
- 4k per condition per year = £127.48 (£10.62 per month)

NFU also said that a microchipped pet gets a 5% discount, so as I'm having that done on Friday those quotes will come down to approximately:

- 2k per condition per year = £91.93 (£7.68 per month)
- 3k per condition per year = £109.44 (£9.12 per month)
- 4k per condition per year = £121.11 (£10.10 per month)

On this basis, PetPlan are out as excessively expensive, lower vet cover and higher excesses (unless anyone can give me a good reason for all that! ), so it's between AXA and NFU. Main difference there (I think) is AXA have a flat cap of £7k vets fees per year, whereas NFU cover each unrelated condition separately up the value of whichever level of cover you pay for.

Any thoughts? At the moment I'm leaning more towards NFU due to the individual condition/incident approach, but I'm not sure what level of cover would be sensible - a cat belonging to a friend of mine went nearly to their £1.5k insurance level when it broke both front legs falling out a window...

Oh, and does anyone know if either AXA or NFU start charging a percentage excess rather than a fixed excess for older pets? I've heard that some policies start charging up to 35% of the vet fees as am excess after a certain age point! :eek:

lowis

well, i am with AXA for my old cat - and the excess is a flat £75 with no percentage of vets fees. i have no idea about NFU's excess for oldies.

i think either policy (AXA and NFU) are pretty good. it just depends which one you feel most comfortable with. i think £4000 per condition per year is very comprehensive and it would be fairly rare to make an annual claim for £4000 or more...although having said that i claimed almost £7000 one year and almost £5000 the next for a cat who was treated for cancer (but my vet is a very expensive Central London practice!).

hethmar

Is that AXA policy a for life one? They have two levels now dont they?