Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

Lil_Me_2

With Tesco I found that they quote you really cheap for the first year, then at the renewal they chuck the price up! My 2 cats monthly quote was £10 the first year and £18 the next! It's hard to change pet insurers once you've made a claim so it's a typical reel em in and keep em hooked method.

If it's any consolation I've claimed on that insurance loads and got my 3rd year renewal letter yesterday and they haven't put it up any more.

Snowy_Owl

WHy is pet insurance so difficult to get your head round??????

We have two new 2 year old cats - oen with a congenital heart murmer. Fair enough - we can't get insurane for that. He gets no bother from it. (yet........dreading his old age....). All I want is a "for life policy" that means "for life" rather than a "for life until you've reached a £x amount limit" or "£x per condition". I don't mind not going for the cheapest as I'd rather have a company that did it's job when you needed them.

Why is that so flipping difficult to find!?!?!?!?!

Was thinking of More than but don't think theirs is a true "for life" policy.

Snowy

cathodetube

Snowy Owl, it's difficult to find because the companies keep changing their terms and conditions. Check out AXA. No, I don't work for them.

cassie46

Hi all just bought a springer spaniel pup he is microchipped and has started his vaccinations course.

Now I am looking for some pet insurance was thinking of pet plan but heard bad reviews. I currently have a 6 week free insurance with pet protect and they dont seem to bad what is everyone else opinions/experiences?

Any other recommendations I want a decent one for life.

Thanks

cathodetube

cassie46 wrote: »

Hi all just bought a springer spaniel pup he is microchipped and has started his vaccinations course.

Now I am looking for some pet insurance was thinking of pet plan but heard bad reviews. I currently have a 6 week free insurance with pet protect and they dont seem to bad what is everyone else opinions/experiences?

Any other recommendations I want a decent one for life.

Thanks

If you look on the previous page you will see that NellieNewbie has something to say about her recent experiences with Pet Protect. I suggest you try and read some of this thread's recent posting from this year at least. All companies seem liable to change their terms and conditions. Look at AXA as they are their own underwriter and have a for life policy. Supermarkets can change underwriters and then their policies usually go up. Where you live makes a difference. The breed also makes a difference. Good luck.

treacle_toes_2

After reading quite a few of the comments on this thread (thank you all for your contributions), we decided not to go with M&S (who we had previously decided to go with) and to go with AXA instead. The cover they gave seemed pretty good for what you had to pay.

Unfortunately when I actually went to try to buy the cover, it turns out that they won't insure our puppy. She's a Labradoodle and although they will insure Labradors and Poodles, Labradoodles for some reason are not covered :mad:. I can't understand why when, if anything, they have fewer health problems than their pure bred relatives. AXA do however, still insure crossbreeds so not sure why that's different to my dog.

Not sure who to go with now.

Petplan is looking like the best bet, but we have no idea if/how much we can expect the premiums to go up by each year (if there were no claims). As the starting premium is already higher than all the other insurers we've checked out, we're worried about hikes in the premium once they've got you hooked on their life cover. Has anyone got their dog insured with Petplan (life cover - either the budget or supreme) - have your premiums gone up much each year? It would really help us come to a decision if anyone could give any feedback on their petplan premiums. Thanks in advance!

catlou

Surely AXA can't do that?

My dog is an (unintentional!) cross of two pure pedigree breeds and they have insured him. I just chose "crossbreed" from the list. I have just looked through my policy and they haven't asked or stated anywhere what breeds he is a cross between.

Excuse my ignorance as I don't know but is a labradoodle classed as a specific breed for those types of purpose? Couldn't you just insure him as a crossbreed as essentially he is a cross between 2 breeds? As opposed to a mongrel which could be a bit of all-sorts?

Most people seem to think that Pet Plan are good BUT they are Expensive.

Good luck with it all, it must be the most complicated insurance going the Pet one!

treacle_toes_2

Exactly what I was thinking Catlou! Nearly didn't bother looking past 'crossbreed' on the list as I hadn't expected labradoodles to be treated as a breed in their own right, and could easily have just gone through the purchase process without realising. Petplan and Direct Line also seem to differentiate labradoodles from their other crossbreeds - maybe it's because they can be multi generation crosses, rather than an accidental first generation cross. Like you said though, the documentation doesn't make any reference to it at all.

Think I'll give AXA a call in the morning to see whether they would cover her as a crossbreed, and as puppy has got an appointment with the vet on Friday, I might ask them whether they would record her as a crossbreed rather than a labradoodle...it is a worry though because I don't want to take out this insurance for her with AXA, and then discover when we need it that it's void because labradoodles are not included in their (undocumented) definition of crossbreeds.

It would be good to know if/by how much Petplan hike up their premiums each year on their life cover (assuming no claims). When I called them, they wouldn't give me any idea, and after reading about how M&S double or triple their premiums when they feel like it, we're doubly nervous now.

If only there was an NHS for dogs eh?

Lynocat

Have just got my renewal from M&S up from £149 to £179 yet when I run a new M&S quote online it comes out at £123 inc 15% online discount which means that standard renewal would be £144. When I rang them to find out why as an existing customer they wished to charge me so much for the same dog they weren't able to provide a good reason and ended up apologising but saying there is nothing they can do about it.

Have had a quote for £108 from Tesco's - any comment/feed back from anyone on them? Will try AXA too.

(pet is a one year old cocker spaniel btw)

Lynocat

£152 with 75 excess from AXA ....