Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

RooBee

As stated, any pre-existing conditions will not be covered if you switch to a new insurance company so it may well work out cheaper to stick with your current insurer.

Re: your dog drinking a lot. It can be a symptom of a variety of problems but your dog really needs to be examined by a vet ASAP.

lilmissmup

Just wanting some advice.

I have 2 cats, a 2 year old girl and 1.5yr old boy.

Got Izzy insured with Sainburys (who use Axa) when i got her, made no claims first year and price went down, when renewal came through this year it had gone up by about £30 for the year which i wasn't happy about at all especially as had made no claims, didn't really want to leave as good level of cover and had claimed for Spencer (more on him in a sec) and service was great but not prepared to pay £90 a year so swapped to Churchill via quidco as got £40 cashback but level of cover is slightly lower unfortunately.

When i got Spencer insured him too with them, price was a bit more than insuring Izzy but only a few pounds more.

Unfortunately when Spencer was about 4 months old he broke his leg (backdoor shut on him, or it was next doors cat, not sure as didn't see but next doors cat was next to him and he has hated it ever since!) and due to where the injury occured (on the equivialent of our ankle) he had to go to a specialist vet and the total bill was around £2250!!! Had to pay it upfront or rather my father did on his credit card and claimed it all back luckily minus the £75 excess. (Was a bit hit and miss finding someone to pay for it at first, thought i might lose him for about 30mins )

Anyway rambling on lol his insurance went up this year but not by much, i was expecting it to go up by a lot due to his injury but after them putting Izzy's up so much and she hasn't claimed when i come to renew in 6mths time i am guessing its gonna go up by a lot!

He has no problems with the leg at all, am i safe to change him to someone else at renewal time or will his claim mean i am stuck with Sainburys/Axa now?

pboae

lilmissmup wrote: »

He has no problems with the leg at all, am i safe to change him to someone else at renewal time or will his claim mean i am stuck with Sainburys/Axa now?

It depends on the insurer. Any complications from the accident will be excluded, but how they define that will vary. Some will exclude any future leg problems, for any leg, some will only exclude that leg, some will only exclude direct effects from the accident (in theory, if you can find that option). But bear in mind he may develop problems in the future, for example a broken joint is more prone to arthritis, and that would be excluded.

If you do decide to change, get something in writing from your new insurer with as much detail as possible as to what would be excluded, *before* you agree to the new policy. That way at least you know what you are buying.

fruitbat_2

FWIW, I've just had the renewal through from M&S for my 2 1/2 year old chocolate lab, for whom we've claimed £5000 this year due to a cruciate ligament injury, and the premium has GONE DOWN From £210 ish to £195 ish. They have taken off the £0 excess so the minimum is now £50, but that's per condition, not per vet visit.
The reduction may be due to her age, to the loss of the £0 excess, can't think what else it might be, but from others experience it seems that M&S are good in year one, massively hike the premium in year two then go down in year three. I don't think the amount you claim personally has any bearing on it - does anyone else see a similar pattern?

pboae

Mine stayed the same for the first two years, went up massively in the third year, and I should get my year 4 renewal in December. I claimed more in Year 1 than in the other years put together.

The premium changes were supposed to be related to changes made by their underwriters, I haven't seen any other pattern.

They have ditched the 0 excess for everyone now. So we will all lose it at renewal :-(

MeNikki

Hi All,

I've got a question....

I 'inherited' a moggy or better one day he just sat on my doorstep and refused to leave. We managed to locate his previous owner, who were happy for the cat to live with us as he seemed a totally different cat around us than with them (she described him as a vicious almost feral monster and I know him as the sweet and cuddly boy who prefers to sleep in bed with us and wants to be cuddled 24/7 - and yes we were really talking bout the same cat)

Now when she moved out of the are she asked us to please look after him for the rest of his life as she feared he would refuse to move with them and would just get hurt trying to come back to us. I asked her about his history and age, unfortunately she didn't know that much either, as for age it could be anywhere between 9 and 14 and as far as his medical history goes he never had any injections and only had a 'snip'. Then she told that at some point he injured a leg and got treatment for that, but nothing more.

Now......Where on earth am I going to find an insurer based on such vague indications about age and medical history. As he is an older gentleman I don't necessarily want to start giving him annual injections (I don't know if that is required by some insurers or not)

So please if anyone knows of a good insurance company that will insure older cats with vague histories please PM me.

Thanks!

boots_babe

Mine is definitely nil excess still, for both of my cats. Renewals were in May but I didn't renew, I took out a new policy online as it was cheaper than the renewal, and I chose the nil excess option. HTH.

Bromley86

fleur. I've had quotes from loads of insurers and I'd recommend Halifax (online) and NFU (telephone) myself. By all means get a quote from M&S (takes minutes online), but they don't appear to be particularly competitive now.

Top tips:

1. Make sure it's a lifetime policy (those three above are).
2. Make sure that the condition limit resets every 12 months (those three do, but there are ones that don't i.e. HealthyPets). i.e. make sure that you can claim £X,000 per condition per year, not up to £X,000 per condition.
3. Make sure that it is not underwritten by E&L.
4. Do get a few quotes as I'm sure what's best for one breed/age/location probably isn't for another.

Kimberley

Bromley86 wrote: »

fleur. I've had quotes from loads of insurers and I'd recommend Halifax (online) and NFU (telephone) myself. By all means get a quote from M&S (takes minutes online), but they don't appear to be particularly competitive now.

No your right they are not and they have scraped their nil access as well. I'd say check sainsburys as that was the next best one after M&S had their no access.

Feefee_4

Hi,

I'm with More than & find them great - never had any problems with them paying out I've claimed more than i've paid. Now my pooch is on treatment for life I send in a claim about every 6 months & they pay it no problem:D

Fee