Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

charlysez

i have been searching for dog insurance and came across animal for friends, wow, they are cheap. still trying to workout some of the terminology used but looks like they will get my business, also cashback via topcashback

lowis

charlysez wrote: »

i have been searching for dog insurance and came across animal for friends, wow, they are cheap. still trying to workout some of the terminology used but looks like they will get my business, also cashback via topcashback

animal friends do have cheap premiums - but when your pet reaches what they deem 'old age', you become liable for the first 35% of any claim you make - that is quite a hefty excess, one of the highest i am aware of. apart from that, they seem pretty good.

movine

Hi everyone, Does anyone have good or bad things to say about AA dog insurance? We have used Halifax in the past & they have been very good, but AA seem to offer more for less, but as usual the proof of how good only comes when you need to claim!
Any opinions welcome as we need to insure our new little rescue dog soon.
Thanks.

lowis

AA Pet insurance is not proper 'for life' all you get is £5k to last the life of your pet on their top policy. With a proper 'for life' policy - such as that offered by AXA, Petplan and NFU amongst others - you can claim up to £7k PER YEAR.

charlysez

ok, after even more research i am about to sign with LV=, cover for life and the cheapest premium i have found. that is unless anyone knows any thing i should know!!

cathodetube

Had a look online and the difference appears is that for the Premier Quote you get up to £5,000 per condition as opposed to £7,000 with AXA. The Essential policy is only £5,000 per 12 months. Then nothing after that. So if your pet has more than 5K worth of illness to treat, after 12 months you will have to pay for it yourself. And if more than 7K of illness per year then again you will have to pay for it yourself. Which one will you go for? Did you get a quote from AXA?

HalfPint

Hiya,

just wanted to add a bit of information to this already lengthy and informative thread. I have just moved from petplan to axa for my 1 yr old lab..saving me 22 quid a month. Axa were very good when I called them with a couple of questions and very pleasant on the phone.

I also looked at help-u-cover which looked also equally as good as axa if a bit less cover on their premier option. (i wanted true for life cover) It wasnt quite as cheap as axa but still a good £19 saving BUT I called to ask if there was a % excess as nowhere was this mentioned on their site (well I couldnt find it) I was politely informed that once my dog reached 8 years old...ther was a 50% excess per claim! yes, you read that correctly... 50%!:eek:

they just won my award for being the highest % excess I've ever come across!

so beware if you are looking at them for your pet insurance.

HP x

VanillaDelia

emlou2009 wrote: »

Does anyone if there are there any "for life" policies which discount for two pets being insured?

I got 5% discount on both my policies for my 2 cats with Argos, got them both insured for £7.43 a month with the silver cover. Also got £40 cash back for this though through hubbies works cashback site:j.

melbury

HalfPint wrote: »

Hiya,

just wanted to add a bit of information to this already lengthy and informative thread. I have just moved from petplan to axa for my 1 yr old lab..saving me 22 quid a month. Axa were very good when I called them with a couple of questions and very pleasant on the phone.

I also looked at help-u-cover which looked also equally as good as axa if a bit less cover on their premier option. (i wanted true for life cover) It wasnt quite as cheap as axa but still a good £19 saving BUT I called to ask if there was a % excess as nowhere was this mentioned on their site (well I couldnt find it) I was politely informed that once my dog reached 8 years old...ther was a 50% excess per claim! yes, you read that correctly... 50%!:eek:

they just won my award for being the highest % excess I've ever come across!

so beware if you are looking at them for your pet insurance.

HP x

I think that is quite the norm nowadays that when a dog gets beyond 8 years old you have to pay a percentage of the actual bill rather than a set excess. However, 50% does sound rather high.

My dog is still quite young (3 years old) and he has always been insured with Petguard. We have had to make a few claims and they have always been very good. They have the advantage in that you can choose exactly what you want to cover and how much cover you require, which I found very good.

lowis

melbury wrote: »

I think that is quite the norm nowadays that when a dog gets beyond 8 years old you have to pay a percentage of the actual bill rather than a set excess. However, 50% does sound rather high.

My dog is still quite young (3 years old) and he has always been insured with Petguard. We have had to make a few claims and they have always been very good. They have the advantage in that you can choose exactly what you want to cover and how much cover you require, which I found very good.

indeed the norm is usually 10 to 20%. AXA doesn't have this on their policy for older pets, it's a flat £50 or £75 (depending on what you choose at the time of taking out the policy). another reason why AXA get my vote.