Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

love2save

I just had a look at Axa for our new puppy picked up this weekend...an 8 week old Japanese Spitz. My quote was £286 a year, it seems rather high. I tried pet plan but that was outrageous. Any better policies?

hethmar

Its an unusual breed. Have you tried a breed forum to see what they suggest?

AXA and Petplan offer proper for life policies. You could also try NFU (not online, you have to ring them) Halifax, HSBC but do check all the small print. AXA and Petplan are good companies.

Try here:

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:OSbk2_l_bMcJ:www.thejapanesespitzclub.co.uk/+japanese+spitz+rescue&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a

love2save

Thanks, will have a look. Japanese Spitz as a breed don't generally suffer from many problems unlike many pedigree dogs so assumed insurance would be cheaper. Don't want to use the free 6 week insurance just incase anything happened in that time so need to sort it today.

h007

Thanks for the info guys - i read the wording wrong.
am going to check out axa now too

hethmar

love2save wrote: »

Thanks, will have a look. Japanese Spitz as a breed don't generally suffer from many problems unlike many pedigree dogs so assumed insurance would be cheaper. Don't want to use the free 6 week insurance just incase anything happened in that time so need to sort it today.

The insurers do tend to load the premium for the first year of the dogs life I believe, as that is a time when they are most likely to have illnesses or accidents. (Ive not had a baby dog - except Ralph who was disabled anyway so I wouldnt have had a "normal" quote)

May be try entering his age as 1 year with some of the insurers and see what comes up then. Its a pain, but its important to get a policy you can stick with for the dogs life. And dont forget some bung up the excess wildly as the dog gets older.

Emzy81

Hi, is m&s still a good place to insure my kitten? Read the first couple of places and it sounds like it was but i just wondered if it still is?
Dont really want a policy with much excess as it just makes it pointless unless something serious goes wrong.

Thanks!

hethmar

Well, they have increased their premiums and their excesses. So check out some others, such as AXA and some of those mentioned in the pages above

sirlizzie

sirlizzie wrote: »

Well, done it cancelled petplan, what a performance! and taken two policies out now wth AXA, so far so good, cheaper and there was a small discount for the second dog, cheaper excess and higher value cover

Petplan are disputing the refund of one of the 1st premiums, because one of the insurances (for the second dog) had been dated as the 12 Aug, the other being 19 Aug.

The call from Petplan was in the evening of 13/8. At no time was any other date other than 19 Aug, (the date for renewal of the dog he was ringing about) mentioned, but i have just been told as it is now 29/8 ........I didn't get the docs etc until the following week, and by my calculation I had until Tuesday next, to cancel, which is what I have done. He asked why i was cancelling, so one of things i did say was that at no time did he mention there being the 25% extra plus a couple of other niggling points, but I kept calm, lol, inwardly gnashing teeth.


I just had a quick look on their site and it says 14 days from date of purchase, but if you look in terms & conditions it says 'after receiving' you can cancel for full refund.

So he said he would pass it on, I asked him to note somewhere that I was told there would be no problem cancelling and perhaps a check of the actual original phone call would clarify.

So i suppose I'll have to wait and see.

Well I recieved the cheque refund for the one he was disputing 4 Sept, but as yet not got the other one!

Annieto

Hi

We get a cat next week.

This our first pet insurance/ first pet.
Is in a total head spin (as there are a lot companies to get quotes from) as to where to insure the cat/ and with whom?

We don't want to go to cheap..... but we also do not want to go beyond the monthly payments of what we comfortably will need... just want to be comfortably insured for our needs as a pet owner, one that gives us straight forward cover with no add ins (preferably with a low excess).

* Domestic Short Hair, Female, 2 years old.


Any recent pet owners insured lately would appreciate any input (recomendations) as well as input from a more experienced insurer too :-)

cheers
Annie


ps...some quotes ask yes or no to 12 month cover limit/ see below, what exactly does this mean? If we say no the price goes up, slightly.....
Is it advised to say yes or no? reasons given...

it says:
12 month cover limit
choosing this option will reduce your premium but it does mean that you can only claim for a condition for up to 12 months from the first date of treatment. At that point it is no longer covered by the policy. It will be regarded as a pre-existing condition and therefore likely to be excluded by other insurance providers if you decide to change insurers.

lowis

Annieto wrote: »

Hi

We get a cat next week.

This our first pet insurance/ first pet.
Is in a total head spin (as there are a lot companies to get quotes from) as to where to insure the cat/ and with whom?

We don't want to go to cheap..... but we also do not want to go beyond the monthly payments of what we comfortably will need... just want to be comfortably insured for our needs as a pet owner, one that gives us straight forward cover with no add ins (preferably with a low excess).

* Domestic Short Hair, Female, 2 years old.


Any recent pet owners insured lately would appreciate any input (recomendations) as well as input from a more experienced insurer too :-)

cheers
Annie

Copied and pasted from a few pages back:

ideally you want a policy where the amount you can claim for vets fees renews each year, these are called 'for life' policies. they are a little more expensive than the time-limited policies and the policies that only offer 'x' amount for the duration of your pet's life. but you get what you pay for.

you have to be very careful when taking out your pet insurance policy because unlike other insurances you can not chop and change without penalty - if you take out a policy with X Company and claim on it but then decide to change to Y Company a couple of years later because it is cheaper, then the illness that you claimed for previously will be excluded forever from any new policy.

if i was you i would look at AXA, NFU, Petplan (not their value policy), M&S, Greenbee, Animal Friends, Halifax and HSBC.

Note that you are also best going for insurance from an insurance company that underwrites their own policies i.e. AXA, Patplan, NFU. Some people were recently complaining that M&S and Halifax had changed their underwriter, and therefore their policies changed for the worse. This risk is minimised if you choose a dedicated insurance company such as those mentioned.

You also need to consider the future...what happens to the exccess when your pet reaches what the insurance company deem old age? In the case of Animal Friends you are liable for 35% of any claim plus £75 excess. With AXA you are only liable for a flat £50 or £75. With Petplan you become liable for 20% of the claim plus £110 excess (please note, these figures are based on cats and my own research).

It is a minefield I know...but the companies listed above are generally considered to be the best in terms of what they offer.