Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

chriswuk_2

I'm with M&S money - it's great (just put a claim in for £76 & got it within a few weeks).

I insured a pedigree Staffordshire Bull Terrier (12 weeks old when I 1st insured her) - now 1 year old, think it was £10.65 per month.

For something silly like an extra 3p per month, you can reduce the excess to £0.00

Well recommended !!

TheDink

I have insured my cat with NFU for the past 4 years (I can't switch now as he's oveer 8 years old). When I first took the policy out it offered a reasonable premium for a good level of cover. I have made a number of claims and they have always settled them promptly and without any quibbles - the excess on my policy is £40, which is okay. I am covered for prescription food up to £200 per year, vets bills to £4000 and all the usual extras such as holiday cancellation, death of pet etc. The only problem I've found is that preventative treatment isn't covered and my cat needs to see the dentist!

jamstaruk

chriswuk wrote :I'm with M&S money - it's great (just put a claim in for £76 & got it within a few weeks).

wait till u see next years renewal it will be in there

my sbt cost me £6 a month 5 years ago now its £16 a month thats more than my house and life insurance :-(

relay

ahll wrote:

Relay can you provide a link to the NFU insurance that you are taking out. We have a puppy that we were thinking of insuring so we would be really interested and what you have found. The puppy is to be chipped when she is spade in a few months time.

We were considering M&S too as it was recommend by a few people on this site.

Oops, sorry. I have been offline. Here is the link. You can't get any info online but if you phone them they are really helpful.

http://www.nfumutual.co.uk/

relay

prudryden wrote:

Have you received any policy papers? I would be interested in who does the underwriting. Some of the premiums you quoted were unbelievable - what kind of puppy do you have? The only one I can think of at the moment which could demand such high premiums would be a pedigree Burnese Mountain Dog which, unfortunately, are subject to cancer at a very early age.

I have got my policy papers now. NFU mutual underwrite themselves but i am not sure about the other companies. Some of the premiums were unbelievable indeed - how do you think i felt? LOL:rotfl:

I think i had a lot against me because my dog is a Rottweiler plus i live in London, both of which effect the premiums drastically. Basically i have effectively been priced out of the market by Petplan, M&S, Sainsburys,Tescos, etc who all want more money to insure a puppy then any of them would want to insure my house, car & family - and they wonder why we think they prey on our insecurities?

Mark.

Mrs_pbradley936

relay wrote:

I think i had a lot against me because my dog is a Rottweiler plus i live in London, both of which effect the premiums drastically. Basically i have effectively been priced out of the market by Petplan, M&S, Sainsburys,Tescos, etc who all want more money to insure a puppy then any of them would want to insure my house, car & family - and they wonder why we think they prey on our insecurities?

Mark.

Is that because they get a bad press and they might have pay out for attacks? Or is any large breed expensive to insure? Or is the insurane purely for vet bills? Come to think of it who does pay compensation if a dog attacks someone or causes an accident?

prudryden

Hi PB
The owner pays unless he has third party liability which comes with the insurance coverage.
The coverage will be substantially higher if you live in London. The Rottweiler can also have early health problems. Copied and pasted this from the www.yourpurebredpuppy.com web site.

Serious health problems. The Rottweiler is one of the riskiest of all breeds in the health department. Their lifespan has become short -- an alarming number of Rottweilers are crippled by bone and joint diseases and/or succumb to cancer or heart disease in middle age

relay

prudryden wrote:

Hi PB
The owner pays unless he has third party liability which comes with the insurance coverage.
The coverage will be substantially higher if you live in London. The Rottweiler can also have early health problems. Copied and pasted this from the www.yourpurebredpuppy.com web site.

Serious health problems. The Rottweiler is one of the riskiest of all breeds in the health department. Their lifespan has become short -- an alarming number of Rottweilers are crippled by bone and joint diseases and/or succumb to cancer or heart disease in middle age

Well thanks for that - i was actually quite happy with my puppy til you posted that!

Rottweilers or come to think of it ANY breed with large bones are prone to bone & joint problems - that is why you don't buy from back street breeders, you go to breeders who screen & test their breeding stock so that your pup does not inherit the problems. I would not think Rottweilers are any more of a health risk than Great Danes - any dog can have inherent heart defects, again it is about selecting the right breeder to begin with.

I know from my own research that my location is the biggest reason for high premiums, seconded by the bad publicity Rottweilers have had recently (which let us remember were only a small handful of attacks compared to pitbulls). You get third party liability insurance with your healthcare insurance.

prudryden

Relay-
Really sorry about that - I meant to delete that but got called away to dinner.
I actually didn't mean to isolate the Rottweiler - you are right - it is with most large breeds. I know many people with pedigree Rottweilers, who haven't had any health problems with them at all. In fact, I see a lot of veteran Rottweilers still showing in the ring.
Your absolutely right that location and the pedigree status increases the premiums. The location primerily because the vet's bills are higher.

relay

LOL! That was actually quite funny - for a moment i thought "Oh sod it, i might as well shoot the sodding dog now!" :rotfl:

You do raise a very valid point however - large boned breeds do tend to invite higher premiums because they share in common a higher probability of inherent bone/joint problems. The insurance companies need to reflect the costs of such potentially expensive conditions in their premiums, an issue which can greatly be limited if not eliminated by thorough selection of reputable breeders (which in itself is another topic).

Mark.