Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

gunsandbanjos

Just insured our new kitten with Sainsburys. I use them for car insurance and they have always been very good. £8.43 a month and £70 cashback from quidco. Cashback not tracked yet so have to keep an eye on it.

hethmar

There are so many threads running on pet insurance now but a guess a brief precis would be the most likely good insurers are Petplan, AXA, NFU.

Reason being they dont have underwriters like most other insurers. Pinnacle is a new boy on the block and no track record so far. Avoid E and L and any policy underwritten by E and L.

Even the "best" insurers are now offering cheaper "economical, basic" policies which have a limited pay out.

Check policy details as often people believe they have full for life cover but they dont. Full for life cover has a pot of money you can claim which is renewed each year, that is, the pot doesnt go down over the animals lifetime.

Most supermarket brands, including sainsburys, are not full for life policies. They have a limited pot of money you can claim and then you are on your own. This probably covers most pets but if you have a pet with a serious illness or a chronic condition then you may find the pot of money runs out and you are left with a pet still ill and still needing treatment perhaps for many years, but you no longer have insurance cover - basically you will have to find money for ongoing treatment and meds yourself.

Even cheaper/worse cover has a limited period to claim - usually 12 months on top of the limited pot of money available to claim.

hethmar

cathodetube wrote: »

Had a look at Healthy Pets and their excess is £120 plus 25%. The quote was more than AXA.

Healthy pets is not full for life cover either, the policies all have a limit on the amount you can claim for each illness or condition during the animals lifetime.


We will pay You or Your Vet for all reasonable and customary charges made for Treatment carried out by a Vet. Cover is provided for an Accident, Illness or Incident occurring to Your Pet, subject to the indemnity limit of £1,000 (Bronze) or £4,000 (Silver) or £7,500 (Gold) dependent on the cover selected and Excess as specified below and subject to written notice of such Accident, Illness or Incident having been given to Healthy Pets within 60 days of occurrence. The limit of cover and Excess are on a per Incident basis.
Cover remains in place for each Incident until the Policy limit is reached subject to the payment of relevant premiums.

Jenny_Wren_3

Just had a quote from axa and it says £7000 per period of insurance. Does this mean that they have stopped doing a for life policy? I moved the cats to axa 6 months ago and wanted to move the dog from tesco's premium but now I'm not sure that this will be any better. Anyone know please?

hethmar

"per period of insurance", means per year. (You buy a yearly policy which you renew every year - so a period of insurance is the period of the policy - a year)

Jenny_Wren_3

hethmar wrote: »

"per period of insurance", means per year. (You buy a yearly policy which you renew every year - so a period of insurance is the period of the policy - a year)

Yes, but does that make it a true "for life" policy if I renew with them every year? Its all very confusing!

cathodetube

Hethmar's post at 9.56 is a good summing up except NFU does seem to be a bit shady now though based on someone's recent post. LV looks worth checking out as well.

hethmar

Jenny_Wren wrote: »

Yes, but does that make it a true "for life" policy if I renew with them every year? Its all very confusing!

Yes Jenny, its a true for life policy. If your dog had an ongoing illness and you continue to renew your policy each year then your dog would be covered.

hethmar

Just looked at LV - seems they have a fees limit

"up to £5,000 vet's fees cover for each condition

• Essential pet insurance - up to 12 months treatment for each condition
• Premier pet insurance - no time limit for treatment for each condition" (but still limited to £5k)

cathodetube

hethmar wrote: »

Just looked at LV - seems they have a fees limit

"up to £5,000 vet's fees cover for each condition

• Essential pet insurance - up to 12 months treatment for each condition
• Premier pet insurance - no time limit for treatment for each condition" (but still limited to £5k)

So that would be £5k per 12 month period. Still, if their premiums are low which i think they are they might be worth a punt. £7k per 12 month period per condition is the most isn't it. And for that you would have to pay close to £50 a month in my case for a 6 year old dog with no illnesses. I am in London which definitely would make a difference.