Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

GoldenShadow

hmc wrote: »

Hi
Haven't read the whole thread sorry
Have an 11 yr old collie insured with axa at £32 mth
We are getting a springer spaniel pup so starting the dreaded search for insurance again.

I find the axa very expensive being as we've never claimed and it goes up every yr!
So to start this pup will have to have bog standard insurance ie not the life cover
What are the opinions on the best of the bunch please
Also would any other company are on the collie at his age now

That's awful cheap tbh! My 4.5 year old golden retriever costs me £34

I would get lifelong for the pup and if anything downgrade the collie's. If pup has hip problems or something he's going to stand more chance of coming out of a hip replacement compared to your 11YO. Can you ring up AXA and just ask what the price will be if you go for a lower level of cover with them?

It is tough to insure an older dog, just have to look around I'm afraid, I can't think of one off the top of my head. I will probably down grade my dogs onto a lower level of cover as they age (quote for golden aged 8 is £80 a month..!).

cathodetube

Insurance companies should write to you at least 28 days before a current policy expires in order to tell you what the new price should be. That is how it works with car, house and contents policies.

hmc

Thankyou, yes good idea,down grade the collie from life cover to normal yearly?
Might ring them tomorrow
So consensus is deffo life cover for pup?

hmc

Has any body used purely pets

freedp

Hi all,

I've been with M&S (R&SA) for my home and pet insurance for over 5 years now.

Just had a renewal notice for my indoor cat's insurance, and once again, it's gone up by just over 17% from last years policy, to approx £332 per annum. We've never had any claims, and the cat has no health issues. She's a cuddly, cute, clever and extremely healthy pedigree Russian Blue. Chipped, up to date with vaccinations, never leaves the house except to visit the vet for her check-ups.

Putting exactly the same details into GoCompare's search, bought up many policies, one of which was the exact same policy we currently have, but this quote was for just over £191.

A new policy, exactly the same as the existing policy (less a few new policy exclusions for the first few weeks of course) for roughly 42% less!
Why is it most organisations try to keep loyal customers happy, but with insurance, the opposite applies?

I phoned customer service to enquire if they could do anything to reduce the renewal price, and they apologised for the increased price due to "inflation/increasing age of the animal/increasing costs, etc." but said that they could reduce the cover to just under £298, saying "...sorry it's not as cheap as last year, obviously we couldn't charge less due to the increases, but a better deal I'm sure you'll agree".

When I didn't agree, and told them that they were one of the most expensive like for like quotes and told them that through the comparison site, I would save almost £142 for exactly the same policy, they told me that I was mistaken, and that the policy I'd seen on the comparison site was for a budget policy, not the "premier cover" I was currently enjoying.

Then I told them that in fact they were mistaken, and the comparison site price for their budget policy was in fact £116 and the £191 quote was for the premier policy, EXACTLY the same as I currently have.

I almost felt sorry for the poor operator. He waffled for a minute about the fact that as a new policy holder, there would obviously be a period where certain claims weren't covered for an initial period, due to the company not having the pet's history? (well they would if they charged a reasonable price for me to renew!).

In my opinion, having had our pampered puss for nearly 7 years without much more than the odd hairball, I'll take the risk of having a few weeks without the full cover from the start of the new policy. I'd be very upset if something did happen to her, but I'd also be extremely unlucky.

It's made me promise to myself not to let my home insurance with M&S just continue on without a careful comparison this year, so by their actions, the insurer is risking loosing that business now.
Should I trust an organisation on one hand where it appears that they're trying to rip me off on the other?

Has anyone else experienced the same hikes at renewal time, and found the same policy on-line for less? And can anyone answer why the insurers have such a negative attitude to customer loyalty?
To me, it seems insane!

cathodetube

Yes, that's a very common experience unfortunately. They are just looking for new customers to hoodwink in the future. If I were you I wouldn't vaccinate your cat any more, especially if she doesn't go out. It's not necessary to do annual boosters, most vets agree, even though it hits them in their bank account, and after the experience I had with my cat dying after her booster, I wouldn't go for any more than the first few years of injections. All the vet nurses I have talked to say the same thing. I have also stopped boostering my dog. Vets now say that they 'think' animals can go for three years without injections. If three, not why not four, or five etc.....

Nenen

We are looking for lifetime pet insurance for our new cavapoo puppy and 9 year old cat (moggy). We've been put off Tesco pet insurance after they did everything they could to get out of paying a claim for our cat last year. John Lewis is offering a fairly good price for the 2 combined but, before we sign up, I'd be grateful for any feedback from anyone who has insured with them.

TomsMom

Nenen wrote: »

We are looking for lifetime pet insurance for our new cavapoo puppy and 9 year old cat (moggy). We've been put off Tesco pet insurance after they did everything they could to get out of paying a claim for our cat last year. John Lewis is offering a fairly good price for the 2 combined but, before we sign up, I'd be grateful for any feedback from anyone who has insured with them.

My dog is insured with John Lewis. I took out their Premier policy which gives £12,000 in the pot each year and I chose the lowest excess (£60). I took it out in July last year when she was just turned 2 years old. In October she had to have a lump investigated, fine needle aspiration, operation to remove lump and biopsy. I contacted them to see if they needed me to inform them and start the claim or wait until it was all finished and I was told it was up to me. I chose to wait until all the treatment and check ups done and then submitted my claim. There were no problems and I received a cheque in reimbursement within seven days. (At my vets you pay at each visit so I put it all on my credit card.)

So all in all my experience with John Lewis has been good and I found them very helpful and quick to deal with my enquiry and sending a cheque.

Don't forget that whatever your cat was been treated for last year (and anything previous, also anything your pup might have been treated for) will be on their record and will be excluded as a pre-existing condition when changing to a new company. For that reason I know that if I wanted to change companies for my dog's insurance any type of lump would not be covered, so I'm now locked in to John Lewis if I don't want lumps excluded from now on. That will be fine as long as the premiums don't increase too much.

janthemum

We have just got a 12 week old BT puppy.
Ive put all details in go compare and as all new to me a bit confused.
Im guessing we need a 'lifetime' cover as if pup gets a longterm condition like diabetes it wouldn't be covered for following years.... if im getting that right.

So the cheapest lifetime cover we can find is with 'petprotect' with a £0 excess and a pot of £4000 Im guessing that is per year as at the moment it is not allowing me to click on the extra information bit. This is for £15.57 a month.

How does that sound ?? Many thanks.....

TomsMom

janthemum wrote: »

We have just got a 12 week old BT puppy.
Ive put all details in go compare and as all new to me a bit confused.
Im guessing we need a 'lifetime' cover as if pup gets a longterm condition like diabetes it wouldn't be covered for following years.... if im getting that right.

So the cheapest lifetime cover we can find is with 'petprotect' with a £0 excess and a pot of £4000 Im guessing that is per year as at the moment it is not allowing me to click on the extra information bit. This is for £15.57 a month.

How does that sound ?? Many thanks.....

£4,000 in the pot doesn't sound a lot really, vet fees can add up to an awful lot very quickly. I don't know anything about BTs or what, if anything, they can possibly suffer from health-wise. Nor do I know if £15.57 per month is reasonable for the breed. I pay £12.43 per month for a 2 year old Bichon but lots of different things are taken into consideration when arriving at a premium.

Personally, I would look for a lifetime policy with a bigger pot, you can easily get £7,000 and you should be able to find some with £10,000 and I've got £12,000 with John Lewis.

Any company that you are considering I would google for reviews and use them as a guide. A lot of reviews will be mixed but you can get an idea of what they're like at paying out, how quickly, customer service, etc. Review Centre has 5 reviews for Pet Protect, 4 of them rate it as 1* and 1 rates it as 2*. That would make me do a bit more research.

Don't necessarily go for the cheapest, look at what the different companies are offering, compare and decide what you are happy with. I didn't know any company had a zero excess, but having some excess should reduce the cost a bit. I had the choice of three levels of excess with John Lewis and I chose the lowest of £60. A higher excess would have reduced the monthly premium a bit.

What other quotes did you get?