Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

markmc999

Another thumbs up here for PetPlan.

Also if you get the cat/s from a resuce centre your often given free 8 week Pet Plan insurance, I decided to look online and noticed you could get a free month by purchasing online. I gave the number a call on my insurance documents for the 8 week insurance, mentioned the website offer and I got that - all in I got 12 weeks free per cat.

As has been said you really need to factor in what would happen if your cat developed a long term illness that needed continuous treatment - most policies only cover for 12 months (or upto renewal) after that its upto you, pet plan pay out for life with you only footing the excess each year.

phoebe03cat

Any recommendations please for a GOOD CAT INSURANCE.My persian is about 11 and a half. Have just got a Tesco quote which is not too bad BUT excludes all dental. Now I know he will be needing this soon, so am really hoping I can get this included somewhere. Out of interest though what happens if you actually make a claim one year and the condition is ongoing. Presumably they have just got you over a barrel regarding premiums or just won't insure. So is insurance worth it or is self insurance monthly a better option?

Toothsmith

We have an M&S policy for our dog. My wife did the 'looking into' it, but she's normally pretty good at finding good value cover. I think it's pretty all-inclusive, but there may well be a period of grace before some problems are covered.

Our dog is only 2 though.

Premium gets cheaper if you agree to an excess.

We had no problems about a year ago when she cut a pad on her paw quite badly.

Worth looking into.

Pink.

Hi phoebe03cat,

I am looking around for cat insurance too at the moment and the best value one I've come across is also M&S.

Have you read Martins article Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System?

I think you should get more help with this on the Insurance board, so I'll move your thread over there. In the meantime, these recent threads from that board might help you:

Pet Insurance Discussion Area (2006)

Kitten/Cat insurance?

M&S pet insurance premium hikes

Pink

tigerfeet2006

We also have M&S Pet Insurance. We recently had to take our dog to the vet's for an operation and the vet said it was one of the best insurances as they were quick at paying out and they had very few quibbles with them. They will pay the vets direct and we have no excess either.

libra10

Very interested in this thread. Unfortunately our little cat was in an accident at the weekend, resulting in lots of stitching and surgery for a fractured back leg joint, which he's having done tomorrow.

The cost so far is £130 and surgery another £200 or more. We haven't had him very long and hadn't considered insurance. However, when he returns from the surgery (hopefully this weekend) it's going to be the first thing we look at.

Will any of the insurers take him on though after his ordeal?

denize_2

ANYONE GOT ANY TIPS ON CHEAPEST/MOST COMPREHENSIVE PET INSURANCE PURLEEZ?

JUST GOT AN 8 WEEK OLD GREAT DANE AND AM LOOKING FOR THE BEST DEAL!

THANKS VERY MUCH:

Boxer_Lover

I use M&S Insurance because after trawling though all the info last year they seemed the best and cheapest plus they insure your pet for its lifetime not just year on year which alot of high street insurance places do.

I have two boxers (hence username - sad I know but I love them:cool: ) and when I first insured them it cost something like £10 a month with M&S and I chose no excess which added just a few pence on to the policy price. I have just renewed with them (dogs only 15 months old) and yes it has shot up a bit to approx £17 a dog but I have no real reason to grumble as I have claimed quite a bit over the last year due to one thing and another with them both so even when I've been and its cost me £20 I've claimed it back. I know others with M&S policies and they have all gone up regardless of if you've claimed or not. I have never had any problems with claiming they have always paid quickly and been very helpful whenever I've called.

When I was doing my investigations last year (used this site loads for info on insurance companies - it was brill), I compared all the major ones and really I only ended up with two choices for cover M&S and Petplan but with Petplan I would have gone for the unlimited choice but that would have proved a bit too costly for me at that time so M&S it was, they give you a pot of money for the year, £7,000 and if used it gets topped up the next year, if you stay with them of course, I chose this over the likes of the Kennel Club because they only insure your for (I think) £6,000 per condition meaning that if its needed once that is used you get no more assistance, so with having boxers and knowing some of the defects that can become apparent I chose a company that refilled the pot each year and hopefully they'll never need over £7,000 in one particular year.

So my advice is to research the possible problems that are likely in the Great Dane breed as this will help decide if a per condition policy or a new pot each year policy is more beneficial .... the major thing is to check that the policy will run for the lifetime of the pet.

Good luck in your analysis and in the mean time have lots of fun with your pup and if they are anything like boxers they grow up all to quickly so take lots of pics - and don't you just love that puppy smell:D

humfer

I found Sainsburys the cheapest for our cat. Try insuresupermarket.com which should give you a good idea of where to go

_Andy_

try Petplan, we have our dogs on it, c. £18 per month.