Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

credit_crunch

evening all!

im just on the scrounge for some advice lol!

ive got 2 kittens, one male, one female, both 10 weeks old, injections up to date, no existing conditions. they will be indoor cats until they have both been neutered. when they are at the vets being neutered, they will both be microchipped.

do i go ahead & get my insurance now? and then do i tell the company once the have been neutered & chipped? any ideas if this effects my policy much? ive just priced the first one & its through churchill

thanks in advance

lowis

treacle_toes wrote: »

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!

i had a cat with petplan from when she was a kitten, by the time she died (aged almost 13) her premiums had gone from £6 to £21 - and this was with a claim for £5000 one year and another claim for £7000 the following year. the most they ever jumped was by about £2.50 a month, and that was when she turned 10 (which was before the huge claims).

lowis

credit_crunch wrote: »

do i go ahead & get my insurance now? and then do i tell the company once the have been neutered & chipped? any ideas if this effects my policy much? ive just priced the first one & its through churchill

thanks in advance

yes, get your insurance in place at least two weeks before their first ever vet visit - just in case the vet picks up on any illness / condition during their initial kitten-check. anything a vet finds in the first few weeks of insurance is usually excluded for life - most policies have a two-week period exclusion, but others go as high as four.

lowis

catlou wrote: »

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!

if the vet identifies the dog as a labradoodle and the policy states crossbreed then they will probably use that discrepancy to wriggle out of payment.

lowis

Snowy_Owl wrote: »

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

I found AXA to be excellent. By the way I had a cat with a heart murmur, he lived to almost 16 and died of cancer - his heart murmur never bothered him, not even when he had all the aneasthetics whilst he was being treated for cancer. Heart mumurs can be mild and cause little to no discomfort at all x

bouncydog1

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

WE had our springer insured with Kennel Club from birth and they were very good - gave cover for life. We made quite a few claims over the years and they were all paid without question - excess was a minimum of £75 plus 10% of claim cost - seems like a lot but not when the claim for pyometra was over £1k. In her later years from about 10 she needed medication for arthritis which came in every month at just over the premium levels and they paid all of this less the excess. Not everyone has had such good experience but they were very good for us.

TomsMom

I've got my Axa policy for the puppy and reading the paperwork the only numbers for customer services and claims are 0845 ones. Gosh, that really pees me off!!!

Does anyone have a landline number for them please. I tried SAYNOTO0870 and nothings coming up for the pet ones.

walwin

Do you have a BT landline?

0845 numbers are free after 7 pm and at weekends and AXA's customer service hours are 8am - 8pm Monday - Friday and 9am - 5pm Saturday

TomsMom

walwin wrote: »

Do you have a BT landline?

0845 numbers are free after 7 pm and at weekends and AXA's customer service hours are 8am - 8pm Monday - Friday and 9am - 5pm Saturday

Thanks for that. We do have a BT landline but only get free weekend calls with out package, not evenings during the week. However, I didn't realise the CS line was open on Saturdays so that's very useful to know.

treacle_toes_2

Thanks lowis. Seems as though the premiums for your cat's insurance didn't go up too drastically and that, together with the worry of AXA trying to wriggle out of paying when we need them, has sent us to petplan instead. Petplan did say when I took the insurance out (with no prompting) that they don't increase premiums due to claims that have been made previously.

Fingers crossed though that we'll never need to claim.

Thanks again everyone for your comments and helpful advice.