Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

pboae

They've done the same thing to a lot of people. If you do take it further let us know how you get on.

JennyW_2

I believe this happened because when M&S started out with Pet Insurance they offered a zero excess which of course meant people were claiming left right and centre for every vet visit. They've obviously realised why other companies charge an excess! They need to get their money back now!

I've just renewed with Tesco - very competitive at £12 per month with life cover. Excess £65.

pboae

The original hikes were Due to a policy change by the Underwriters (at least that's the excuse M&S gave me), I think you are probably right about this year's rises though.

Or maybe this was the plan all along, isn't there a name for that, when you offer something cheap and then hike the price up when people are locked in to it?

JennyW_2

It was always too good to be true. That's why I never moved over to them.

Insurance companies have excesses in order to stop people claiming for every thing.

I have 2 dogs and have only claimed once. The other visits are been one offs, like £50 for abcess treatment, or £65 to have a lump drained and checked. Of course I accept that these sort of bill payments come with owning a pet, it's all part of the package but if you had an M&S policy then you could claim. But not anymore - looks like M&S have now woken up!

Keldin

They upped my premium by a huge margin as well. I'm giving them the heave-ho as a result but not until after I've claimed £250 for a damaged mobile phone.
I think they're taking the !!!! because anyone that has claimed for an ongoing illness has to stay with them for continued cover. If they switch they lose cover for that illness as its a pre-existing condition.

K

mum2one

Keldin wrote: »

They upped my premium by a huge margin as well. I'm giving them the heave-ho as a result but not until after I've claimed £250 for a damaged mobile phone.
I think they're taking the !!!! because anyone that has claimed for an ongoing illness has to stay with them for continued cover. If they switch they lose cover for that illness as its a pre-existing condition.

K

Might be a long shot but have you tried pet plan there pretty good.

mum2one

Not just M+s, butother factors are taken into account, age, pedigree or not, the level ofcover, some ofthe cheaper policies,will have a set payout for a certain illness, once that limit has been exceeded, they dont pay out, also the excessand % paid.

We have a Springer Spaniel, hes 12, but becozofhis age, our monthly premium is £45.00, we pay the first £90.00 ofany claim and then a further 20% of the bill

BaileyB

Hi,

Just have got two kittens (both 7 weeks old) now we are want to get them insurance asap. They have not had any jabs yet or check up (going next week for that).

I have done a few quotes and Tesco come out as cheap but have read a few posts here and they cover only so much. So we want the best cover we can get but also within budget. I have heard M&S are good but no longer have the no excess policy.

What do others have and are you pleased with it? (people who have kittens)

spookylukey

I insured my two kittens with M&S, I was lucky enough to be one of the last ones to get the NIL excess but seeing as no other policy in the world is ever going to offer that (as M&S realised they were extremely foolish to!) then I wouldn't even consider that when you're choosing.

One of my kittens panted really hard after playing so I took him to the vets for various tests, M&S have so far paid out over £500 for him - luckily the tests have shown that there is absolutely nothing wrong with him! Very pleased with the speed of payment from M&S. From reading a post on here it seems AXA cover is very similar to M&S but they are giving slightly cheaper quotes, M&S are underwritten by AXA also.

I would only ever go for lifetime cover of a condition with a renewable limit every year - Petplan, AXA and M&S are the only ones that offer this as far as I am aware. It's all good and well having so called 'lifetime' cover but the important thing is whether the 7k has to last a lifetime or whether you get 7k per year. It's so easy to run up the bills as I found with my last (uninsured) cat, I spent 4-5K on vets bills in the last few years of her life. 7k per condition might not last the lifetime of the cat then despite being insured you may have to make an awful decision based on cost alone.

Despite the hike in M&S prices I look at it this way, for my car to be insured I pay approx £400. If I crash my car and write it off the maximum I would get is perhaps £5000, when I went to renew my policy would have increased by approx 70% due to losing my no claims discount.

For £7 a month with M&S I can insure my cat and, potentially, spend £7000 on him each and every year with the premiums not rising simply because I have made a claim. I also love my cat a lot more than I love my car!

dizzy_lizzie

We have Tesco pet insurance too. £8 odd a month for our Jack Russell for the last 3 years almost and we're happy with the cover it gives us.
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