Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

Tropez

Pet Insurance can be a pain.

Much of it depends on how old your animals are.

It is much harder to get competitive pet insurance with a new provider the older a pet is as insurance companies prefer insuring younger pets with the knowledge that there are statistically fewer cases requiring medical aid and the low costs that you are offered initially stack up over time with your increasing costs.

As for recommendations, I use Bank of Scotland Pet Insurance and can't fault them, although a couple of my friends use Pet Assure and give them a lot of praise too. John Lewis also provides a good service, or so I have been told.

However, without knowing more about your animals I couldn't begin to speculate whether these would be cheaper alternatives or offer a better service/value for money.

catlou

Try AXA they are good and were the cheapest for true life cover for me.

Also don't forget if any of your animals have any existing conditions they wouldn't be covered by a new insurer!

MaximumImpact

Thanks for the replies so far....The cats (heinz moggies) are 5 & 9 and the dogs (both Mastiffs) are 2 & 3....Only 1 dog has a pre -existing medical condition but that has been operated on and cured.... and that was the only claim I have made on my insurance. What else do they penalise you/discount you for?

buddys_mum

MaximumImpact wrote: »

Thanks for the replies so far....The cats (heinz moggies) are 5 & 9 and the dogs (both Mastiffs) are 2 & 3....Only 1 dog has a pre -existing medical condition but that has been operated on and cured.... and that was the only claim I have made on my insurance. What else do they penalise you/discount you for?

Now you said you are currently with NFU. Im with them and found that they changed their policy last year so that if a dog gets a problem you might not be covered next year unless you get specific life cover. i couldnt get it because Buddy is a cross and they only gave life cover to pedigrees.

With the dog that had a problem last year, make sure you are still covered for the coming years with NFU if you decide to go with them again.

hethmar

Its the breed which is knocking up the cost. Some insurers wont even touch mastiffs now

The dog who has been operated on - at a wild guess is it his legs? A friend of ours has now had AXA pay out £6k in a year on his mastiff for leg related conditions - as its a mastiff problem (his previous mastiff had back/leg probs which also ended up costing nearly £11k). Your dog who has been operated on, even though you say he is cured, ANY vaguely related condition will be excluded from a new insurer

buddys mum, I cant believe NFU didnt give full life cover if your dog is a mongrel. Most insurers acknowledge mongrels are likely to have less illnesses. Are you sure they didnt mean cover as in, if the dog died you wouldnt get compensation? NFU used to cover £4k per condition per year, which was pretty good.

TBH I think £390 a year for all your pets is very good. I assume its a for life policy and not a pot that can be emptied and not replenished.

La_Diva

MaximumImpact wrote: »

Thanks for the replies so far....The cats (heinz moggies) are 5 & 9 and the dogs (both Mastiffs) are 2 & 3....Only 1 dog has a pre -existing medical condition but that has been operated on and cured.... and that was the only claim I have made on my insurance. What else do they penalise you/discount you for?

Well, in my recent experience - EVERYTHING!!

I took on a 10yo dog and, at the time of putting his insurance in place knew nothing of his medical history. After a bit of detective work I located his previous vets who forwarded on his case notes. Then I put a claim in & the insurance co have rejected it & excluded everything he had previously had going back to 2002.

If he'd come from a dogs home I may never have been able to get his history & the insce co. would'nt have been any the wiser, & I wouldn't be nearly £400 down.:mad:

hethmar

Cor, you were very honest there. Most of mine have been rescue and the insurers just take your word for a rough age and of course, you have no knowledge of previous medical problems.

ANNHILL123

Have you tried Healthy pets.com ? They were by far the cheapest for my dogs and I have claimed without any problem.


Note; August 2010 renewal comes in at ...wait for it ...£746.67 per year !!! was paying £30 a month now they want £62.22 a month excess has also increased from £60 to £75 and because one dog is over 5 years old they want £75 PLUS 25% of the claim!!

perhaps they are not so great after all ?

TinyPablo

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice. I have a 7 yr old crossbreed terrier with a couple of existing conditions. He has colitis and is on a prescription diet, he also had luxated lenses in both eyes, the lens was removed in one eye and I give him daily drops in the other eye, therefore he is partially blind. I know no insurance policy will cover these conditions but was wondering if there was any insurance providers that would even consider covering us should any other conditions develop? Thanks.

Pixiechic

Hello,

I have been researching like mad for ages about insurance and have decided that I am going to go with AXA for life as they seem to be the best. I want to have the best cover I can get for my 4 year old gorgeous rescue cat, he's my baby .
I have looked to apply online and on the phone but I get a little flustered! What info do I need on hand and what past medical history do I need to include? I don't want to be deemed as 'lying' on my application which could make it null and void but I am not sure what I need to include.
He has had cat flu which I know I would need to declare, would I need dates and treatment info? He had ear mites when he was a kitten which is common, do I need to include that with dates? He had a fever when he came back from a cattery once but he had antibiotics and no 'diagnosis', vet said it was just a high temp.
I would really appreciate any advice just so that I can insure that he will be covered and that I don't omit important information. Or would they contact his vet for all of his medcal info?

Many thanks for any help