Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

lowis

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

We dont have insurance for our dogs because it would cost us £60 a month and that was the cheapest we could find, then any claim has a £60 minimum excess anyway(some places wanted £100).Instead we put £50 a month in savings and pay any vet bill of that.So far in the last 2 and a bit years we have had to make 4 or 5 vet visits between the 2 dogs with each time costing under £35 and instead of having paid a fortune to an insurance company just incase,we now have £1,400 in the bank reserved for doggie emergencies.
With the excess we would have been paying for insurance and had to pay those bills ourselves anyway.
If anything had happened before we had a reserve built up we would have got a credit card out,they are useful for emergencies.
I dont see the point in paying for something just incase,I would rather save up then if it does happen you can pay it,if it doesnt then you have extra cash which you would have given away to some company for a bit of paper which is usually pretty useless anyway.

The only insurance we do have is buildings insurance because the mortgage lender insists on it.We did make a claim on that once when a ceiling collapsed and they managed to get out of paying for that so we had paid about £3k in insurance over the 6 previous years and when something did happen it was useless anyway.

i am glad i did not decide to do this when i got my vet bill for £7000 for treating cancer! and then the following year another bill for £5000. oh and the £2300 i am about to claim for cancer again with another pet! then there was the heart scan and dental work £800...not to mention the rabbit i had some years ago for whom we claimed around £3000 over the course of his 10 years - i would be hugely in debt to either a credit card company :eek: or having to eat away at the equity on my home ! personally iif there is one insurance i wouldn;t be without it, it is pet insurance - out of all the insurances this is the one that a person is most likely to claim on. i would hate to be in a position of having to decide to put my pet to sleep, for something treatable, which i couldn't afford. i appreciate though that some people feel differently.

Ziggy_Stardust

lowis wrote: »

yes - anything that you claim for with M&S - or even just report to your vet without making a claim - will be excluded from the AXA policy. i had a kitten that had the sniffles, which i reported to my vet, when i came to insure her she was excluded for all 'upper respiratory illnesses' for the rest of her life. you can not chop and change insurance policies for pets, like you can with car and home incurance.

Thanks for saving me from making a possible big mistake, I will go with AXA and stay with them.

puppywalker23

I was with More than a few years ago for my 4yr old Chocolate lab,was paying £11.99 a month.I never claimed anything and had a £70 excess.The following year they wanted £13.99,then they wanted £15.99.

So I looked around and finally went with Axa £50 excess and only £9.60 a month,have been with them 2yrs now and still paying the same.

hethmar

And More Than isnt a genuine for life policy either. Is the AXA one you have?

Ziggy_Stardust

puppywalker23 wrote: »

I was with More than a few years ago for my 4yr old Chocolate lab,was paying £11.99 a month.I never claimed anything and had a £70 excess.The following year they wanted £13.99,then they wanted £15.99.

So I looked around and finally went with Axa £50 excess and only £9.60 a month,have been with them 2yrs now and still paying the same.

That is very good, I'm picking up my pedigree lab pup at the weekend and was quoted £17.83 per month with £75 excess.

hethmar

Just check first that the AXA policy is the genuine for life one. I believe they have an economy one now aswell.

kawoh

so i called AXA to see if they could help reduce the costs...

1/ Said no other excess options available other than £75.

2/ No other way to reduce the premium at all.

3/ Take it or leave it.

Seemed somewhat dis-interested in assisting, etc. Hrm...

jenhug

AXA won't insure my Mastiff! Nor will Sainsburys and Tesco!

jinty_dog

Wish Martin& Co would hurry up with the update on Pet Insurance I am fed up with searching for the right insurance for my pup. Is AXA the best one to go with? I also have a quote from Saga as I am 'over 50!' then there's the RSPCA which is an AXA policy and I would be doing my bit for charity, HELP I'm drowning in a sea of 'small print'!

hethmar

Yes, Id heard about Mastiffs now being excluded. I recommended AXA to a friend with two mastiffs the year before last, I do hope they honour the policy in his case.