Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

snuffy

hello ^ how did you get £60 cash back from sainsburys? quidco? thanks
*edit* i got quoted Just £170.10 or £14.18 per month....only a kitten oh well...

digitalphase

snuffy wrote: »

hello ^ how did you get £60 cash back from sainsburys? quidco? thanks
*edit* i got quoted Just £170.10 or £14.18 per month....only a kitten oh well...

Yep, Quidco

BaileyB

Is anyone with Argos, are they decent. Need to move as Halifax have cencelled my policy

Bromley86

>Is anyone with Argos, are they decent.

The Platinum cover is their only lifetime cover option. Can't say how good they are but, amusingly, the policy administration and underwriting are both done by the same people as those that do Halifax.

charlea

im with argos for all of my dogs havnt had to claim yet and hope i dont i have the platinum cover for all of them

BaileyB wrote: »

Is anyone with Argos, are they decent. Need to move as Halifax have cencelled my policy

Kitty_Ears

Bromley86 wrote: »

>Is anyone with Argos, are they decent.

The Platinum cover is their only lifetime cover option. Can't say how good they are but, amusingly, the policy administration and underwriting are both done by the same people as those that do Halifax.

We are with them for our kitten, £3.01 a month. Haven't made a claim yet though.

Anyone with Rabbits? Anyone with cheaper insurance than £7.58 a month?

RacyRed

hi,

there is a kindle book, currently free, on pet insurance if anyone is interested.

MOCHA

I'm looking for a policy for a cat and have a good quote from pet-insurance.co.uk but am put off by the lack of detailed information on their website (why can't I even find out what the policy excess will be!??) Has anyone used this company? Thanks.

It's a few years since I looked into pet insurance and I'm really shocked by how much the premiums have risen. Every quote so far is higher than what I pay for home insurance!
I had a policy with E and L back in 2003-4 and had no problems with getting a claim paid but when I mentioned their name at the vet's I was told to not even consider them as their reputation is still dreadful.

Update-I've just done a search for a non 0844 phone number and it seems pet-ins.co.uk is part of E and L so that makes my decision for me!
I'd still be interested to hear any personal stories of dealing with them if any exist, thanks.

lipsthefish

Hello all

I have some questions about pet insurance for my two dogs if you don't mind.

Despite owning dogs for the last 20 years we have never had pet insurance (and very luckily have never needed it) but we are in a position now where we could not afford a very large vet bill so I think it's time we sorted it out.

Dog 1 is Yorkie cross JRT - 3 years old in April - no health problems - other than jabs only one vet visit when a kong toy made his nose sore.

Dog 2 is Chihuahua cross JRT - almost 8 weeks old - was vet checked at 6 weeks - nothing found.

Both dogs will always be kept up to date with jabs, are wormed and de-fleaed regularly.

First of all what do I need to look for in a policy? I have seen per condition mentioned and also for life?

As my dogs are cross breeds do I have to tell the insurance what they are crossed with as I know Yorkies and Chihuahuas can have inherited problems when pure bred?

Any help would be appreciated as I literally have no idea at all. Recommendations of good insurers, who to avoid etc.

Thanks very much for any help

charlearose

lipsthefish wrote: »

Hello all

I have some questions about pet insurance for my two dogs if you don't mind.

Despite owning dogs for the last 20 years we have never had pet insurance (and very luckily have never needed it) but we are in a position now where we could not afford a very large vet bill so I think it's time we sorted it out.

Dog 1 is Yorkie cross JRT - 3 years old in April - no health problems - other than jabs only one vet visit when a kong toy made his nose sore.

Dog 2 is Chihuahua cross JRT - almost 8 weeks old - was vet checked at 6 weeks - nothing found.

Both dogs will always be kept up to date with jabs, are wormed and de-fleaed regularly.

First of all what do I need to look for in a policy? I have seen per condition mentioned and also for life?

As my dogs are cross breeds do I have to tell the insurance what they are crossed with as I know Yorkies and Chihuahuas can have inherited problems when pure bred?

Any help would be appreciated as I literally have no idea at all. Recommendations of good insurers, who to avoid etc.

Thanks very much for any help

Ones to stay away from are E&L Pet Plan are often considered to be the best Im with Argos Lifetime Platinum at a huge 34 a months for each of my douge de bordeaux and i have 4 of them and two bullmastiffs

Other thing to consider is once you claim for somethig especially if its ongoing treatment its virtually impossible to move to a different insurer to get a better quote well you can but whatever is wrong with them wont be covered So if you dog has an ongoing condition classed as pre exisiting




Life time or lifelong, means that whatever you insure for total cover per year,
will get re-instated at the beginning of each new year as long as you renew. It doesnt matter how many claims you have had the previous year, or what for, or even if you used the whole years allowance up, next year you will start again with the full amount. Each company usually has different monetary cover for varying amounts, obviously the higher the amount covered the higher the premium will be. This way though you will be covered for chronic complaints or complications.


Some give you an amount per year, but they will only cover an individual condition or illness for 12mths from diagnosis or accident. which means should you get complications in the case of an accident, the dog developes a chronic ongoing illness etc. after 12mths they will not pay out anymore.



The other type is usually an amount for each condition or illness ie 3000. On these there is no time limit usually, but once you have used the total amount up for that type of illness, then again you wont be paid out anymore. They do tend to lump illnesses too, like digestive tract conditions, eye disorders.
A lot of policies also class anything the dog has two of as one. ie in theory you would think if your dog had a cataract then developed another in the other eye, then you would have 2 lots of 3000 to spend, it doesnt always work like that, some you will find that its 3000 total for eye disorders (ie both eyes count as one)

Personally I would do for lifelong cover, with the best level of monetary cover that you can afford, 3000 might sound a lot, but if you take a diagnostic test like a CT scan for an injury a days stay and a specialist consultation that can clock up 1500 in no time, thats without if the dog needs an Op to repair anything that might be found. Also remember the bigger the dog the bigger the bill. They need more anesthetic, bigger doses of meds etc. Also anything that is on your records previously to taking it out will not likelly be covered as its classed as an existing condition, that goes if you change insurers later too, so its important to get a good one at the start. You will not be covered for illness for the first 14days either. although some cover accidents from the start.

Would just add a good indication of how compainies pay out is to ask your vet, if they accept direct payment, and if so who from. You may find that your vets do accept direct payment from some but not others, if which case its usually a good idea if they are good payers or not. The average vets not going to hang around for long periods to get paid, or have payment refused for that matter, and then have to chase the client.