Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

morg_monster

I would think the first week you let her out you'll probably want to stick near her. I know things can happen in a second, but would have thought the risk was pretty small.
I expect the lack of cover for the first 2 weeks is all worked into their premium calculations...

We are with Argos and they are another good one to look at; lifetime cover on their platinum product, think covers about £7000 a year, we are paying about £6 a month for each of our moggies (but kittens are usually a bit more expensive as they tend to get into more scrapes! but the cost goes down as they get past 2 I think usually).

graham17_2

Insurance where the cost goes down? I don't believe it! :P

So you'd reckon let her out, but maybe keep an eye on her? Don't want to hang about too much, so she learns to come back to ours, but don't tihnk I'd close the door and say off you go, hope you come back! :-)

Cheers,

Graham.

cinderellacomplex

With our cats we have always called them with a whistle when it is time for dinner. So when they are young we will whistle (making a particular and consistent sound) and then give them a treat when they look. Gradually we started doing it when they were further away, and then we would make the same sound when they needed to come for dinner. So when they started going outside we just kept going with it, they would wander a bit and we would call them back with this whistle. All of our cats now know that when they hear it they should head back and since it is a whistle it has a much larger area in which it can be heard if they have wandered a bit. One of them goes a little far for it to reach but that's another story entirely!

Piecan

I'm disappointed too. I rang them HSBC but obviously you get through to Agria as they already administer it, so was reassured it would be ok. I was told the policy would probably be the same as their Crufts policy which is £50 + 10%. I had a large claim paid only the other month and it was settled within days, which was excellent and their customer service seems great. However, I'm not sure if this is because the underwriters are currenly Aviva, so not currently Agria's money. I contacted Aviva about their pet insurance but that is underwritten by Agria and the bloke couldn't tell me if there were any pet insurance polices underwritten by them.

There are lots of pet insurance polices but many are either not true life cover or are underwritten by the same companies. Don't know what to do now.

graham17_2

One quick other question.

When you take out a 'lifetime' policy, I take it you can cancel should you need to for any reason - don't worry, I'm not planning to cancel :-)

Is there a minimum contract, i.e. 12 months? Then after that, could you cancel after each individual month, or would you have to wait another year? Just figuring it out is all :-)

I called axa, and yep, the swelling wouldn't be pre-existing. That's related to the spaying, and that's obviously not covered anyway.

Not sure what date the vet will give us for letting her out assuming all goes ok tomorrow, but do you all think it's fine to go ahead and let her outside for a bit, even if the 14 day insurance period hasn't passed? Don't want to keep her locked up for any longer than I need to. She is good at darting for the door now, haha.

So with AXA, is there only lifetime ones? Just making sure the default one that I select is the correct lifetime one. Do they have different levels, or do I just pick what it gives me?

Thanks again,

Graham.

picklepick

We have a halifax policy for both our cats and i think you have to choose their premium cover for it to be 'lifetime'

xbrenx

Graham, I think the chances of something so major happening to your kitten in the first two weeks that you couldn't cover the cost yourself is sooooo tiny it's really not worth worrying yourself about.

Cats are inquisitive, yes, but its familiarity that makes them brave. At first she will be happy mooching around your garden then gradually she'll realise those fences were put there to be an assault course! haha.

I really don't think you need to worry about not being covered for the initial 2 weeks of your insurance.

KxMx

I think i'm going to switch to Sainsburys, they seem to have what i'm looking for. All that's on the Agria site is about Kennel Club and Crufts, no mention of cats!

Got the 14 day exclusion to contend with though :mad:

spookylukey

KxMx wrote: »

I think i'm going to switch to Sainsburys, they seem to have what i'm looking for. All that's on the Agria site is about Kennel Club and Crufts, no mention of cats!

Got the 14 day exclusion to contend with though :mad:

HSBC was 7.5k per period of insurance ie each and every year whereas Sainsbury's is per condition meaning that once you've reached the limit, be it over 1 year or 5 years, they'll simply stop paying for it.

I was with M&S a few years ago until they changed underwriters and T&C's. I switched to Axa who obviously underwrite themselves so no chance of them switching to a dodgy underwriter. Axa are like HSBC in that they are lifetime cover rather than per condition cover, they also have a flat excess (think it's £75) rather than an excess plus a % for older pets.

I've been with them 3 years now and my premiums have actually gone down (only by a few pennies though!) at each renewal. I pay roughly £7 a month for my cat's insurance (5% discount on the 2nd one) - 7k of cover each and every year so one of the best policies around imo.

KxMx

Thanks I hadn't spotted that- will check out Axa