Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

trudiha

Bowlady wrote: »

Has anybody heard of Animal Friends Insurance, they seem very cheap compared to other companies??

I got my second dog by accident, he was about to be PTS by his previous owner because he'd stopped being a puppy and they found it inconvenient. I was trying to keep costs down as much as possible, so accepted the quote from Animal Friends.

They are cheap but the difference in service between them and M&S, who my first dog is insured with is massive. I've only made two claims with AF, they were both fairly straightforward, the first took over three months to settle and the second is still outstanding after three months. The rude disinterest of the 'customer service' staff has to be experienced to be believed.

The extra couple of pounds a month I pay to M&S for my other dog means that his claims are paid out within a couple of weeks, I get a vet nurse phone number that's answered 24 hours a day and polite, efficient customer service.

Vets aren't allowed to recommend insurance companies but they will usually tell you which companies they are willing to do direct claims with and AF are never on those lists.

Minxqc

Following on from my post of 31 March 2011, I never did get that ring back from Tesco - no surprise!
As my current insurance (2 cats, 1 pedigree female age 1, 1 non pedigree male age 3 ) is about to expire I followed the link through from the Tesco email quote (where they'd applied the incorrect discount rate of 20% making £12.45 per month instead of a 25% discount) the link was suddenly not available to me - I wonder why!
So I reapplied online wih exact same info & the quote came back at £12.21 per month with no mention of the % discount being applied.
I await the written policy docs & in the meantime I have emailed Tesco [EMAIL="tescobank_pet@uk.rsagroup.com"]tescobank_pet@uk.rsagroup.com[/EMAIL] to see if anyone can explain their poor service & inability to work out what 25% is!

phebe3

i still haven't decided which insurance to go for, got around 4 qu or 5 quotes but am worried about all the stories you hear from pet owners whose pet develops a conditon for lie which needs medication and the insurance won't pay out after so long, or won't pay out at all cos it's lifetime.

kings981

phebe3 wrote: »

Have to say, am tempted to put money in pot for vet bills....but worries me if have to have big op perhaps!

I thought this too, and have put away £10 a month for past couple of years since we got a cat. At the weekend my cat had some sort of accident (we have absolutely no idea what she did), and dislocated her hip. It cost us £700 to fix (worth every penny) - the money I put away doesn't nearly cover it.

I have realised how quickly the costs mount up and am now looking into pet insurance as you really never know what may happen.

stortford_rose

Can anyone please advise me of the best place to get my dog pet insurance, ive searched myself on line but all seem to be so expensive, i have a 12 yr old collie cross breed male dog, hes insurured right now with tesco basic insurance covering just vets fees up to £2,500, i was paying this last year £18.96 a month, when the renewal came in they want this coming year £29.26,its just too much money for me to pay each month just for vets fees, ive tried tesco on line they came up with just under £27 a month, everywhere else ive looked at seems to be so expensive, if the premiums are cheap you seem to have to pay a high excess and a percentage of the vets bills, which i dont realy want to do, could anyone help me please, hes insurance is due for renewal on 7th may this year 2011, ive got to get some sort of insurance for my dog, cannot afford not too realy, but tesco want way too much this year, i know hes now 12yrs old, would appriciate all the help anyone can give m me

hethmar

Chris, take your email addy off - you could get all sorts of weirdo mails.

cathodetube

Stortford rose,

You will find that because of your dog's age it will be expensive to insure him. Because of his age it would be better to stay with Tesco, the current insurer. If you change insurers then anything he has been treated for before will not be covered. The only other thing to do is get online quotes from some of the other companies mentioned on this thread. They are usually cheaper than getting one on the phone. Hope this helps.

littlesnuggy

My 8 month old Pug has been with us a week now, so I've got 3 weeks left to sort out insurance until his 4 weeks Pet Plan from the breeder ends... I have no idea what is "good" though - I don't want to spend more than I need to each month, but I want it to be adequate cover (no point paying anything if he won't benefit from it when needed for whatever reason). I've gleaned I'm best looking for lifetime cover rather than condition, but that's about it.

I've got a quote for M&S Premier - £25.75 per month, insures up to £7k per year vet fees. Is this a good price? Are M&S prone to hiking up premiums at renewal? More Than quote is £16.66 per month but £7k vet fees cover "per condition for the length of the treatment" so I'm assuming that's not nearly as good...

I tried using gocompare etc, but there were so many really cheapy ones which I thought couldn't be much good, I didn't know where the decent ones started!

hethmar

Well, there are different types, there is the best sort which top up the pot of money every year, even if you have claimed. Another type which limits the period you can claim to 12 months and a further sort that will say there is no limit to the time you can claim (tricky one that) but they tend to not make clear that the amount you can claim is limited.

So with the first sort if your dog developed an ongoing illness requiring meds or treatment of £7k a year (just extreme example) - every year you could claim that amount and the next year again and so on - "life time" cover. Thats the sort you want.

M and S was brilliant when they first started pet insurance. Decent premiums and NO excess. After about 18 months they virtually double some premiums and added an excess.

The important thing is once you are with a company and you make a claim, however trivial, that condition and anything vaguely connected will not be covered if you swap to another insurer So like me, many of us are stuck with M and S (although their cover is still one of the best) because we have made a claim for a long time condition which no new insurer would cover.

littlesnuggy

Thanks Hethmar! I definitely want to make sure the provider I go with is one I'd be happy staying with for their service (even if I won't be happy with premium hikes!).

I've just got a John Lewis quote (god, only the posh places for this dog!) which is £16.33 pm for up to £7k cover, per year. I think that falls into the first category you mentioned (ie if it's an ongoing condition we can claim eg another £7k the next year and the next etc etc), so that premium sounds very good. Excess is £75 compared to M&S' £70, but I'm not worried about that.