Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

deedeeliz

I'm probably in the minority here, but our cats were never insured, instead we put a lump of money into an account each month in case anything happened.

My baby cat died last month at the age of 19, that last month of her life cost about £300, almost more then the rest of her vet bills put together over the other 18 years.

She was an indoor cat and I suppose we were very lucky there were no pre existing conditions

gemmaj

Its renewal time for doggy number 2 (groan). She is currently with M&S but shopping around I can do cheaper. Im after life cover (but I looked at a few 12 month policies to check the ££!). She has been healthy to date so its for emergencies, or problems like arthritis (she is related to my first dog and he has it, and its costs a fortune for his tablets! Insurance excluded it for him.)

This is where I am too:

Argos gold 12months £124.75
E & L 4500 12months £138.00
Direct line 4000 12 months £147.96
Sainsbury 6500 life (£50-75 excess) £149.88
petinsurance.co.uk 4000 life £163.00
More Than 7000 life £163.00
tesco 4000 per condition life £164.28
Direct line 6000 per condition life £209.40
M&S 7000 per year life (£50 excess) £228.00
AFI 4000 per cond per year life £259.81
pet plan life £260.00
Argos plat 6000 per cond life £315.20
Halifax £394.00
pinnacle - don’t do CI


Am thinking of going Sainsburys. Is there anywhere else I should try?

Also my 2 dogs' insurance finishes just over a month apart (Max November, Jez December). It means when I am sorting out Max's renewal I can't get a price for Jez's renewal (even if I phone), so I can't do them both at the same time. Is there a way to get around this or am I just stuck? Max came down to Argos or Sainsburys and I stuck with Argos, but now I am thinking I should have put them both on Sainsburys and got the 2 pet discount!

In case anyone is interested (I saw lots of posts about M&S renewal hikes) here is my dogs renewals;

JEZ(M&S)
Dates insured - renewal cost
Dec 05 - Dec 06 £115.68
Dec 06 - Dec 07 £153.86
Dec 07 - Dec 08 £228.41

MAX(Argos)
Dates insured - renewal cost
Nov 05 - Nov 06 £119.99
Nov 06 - Nov 07 £180.00
Nov 07 - Nov 08 £243.68

Overall theres not much of a difference in renewal increase between M&S and Argos for me. Still getting pricey though!

spookylukey

Am thinking of going Sainsburys. Is there anywhere else I should try?

As far as I'm aware sainsburys 6500 life cover isn't renewable each year so 6500 would have to last the life of the dog. With M&S you get 7000 to spend each and every year for life. Have you tried AXA? M&S are underwritten by them and they also do life cover with the limit (think it's 6k) renewed every year.

Bromley86

Petplan, AXA and M&S are the only ones that offer this as far as I am aware

Assuming they offer similar terms for cats as they do dogs, the following are also the good kind of lifetime (not that I'm recommending all of them ):

NFU
Halifax
Pinnacle
Animal Friends Insurance


gemmaj. Nice to see someone hitting all the quotes , although your premiums are very different than when I did it. Hopefully Halifax haven't done an M&S .

You might want to try NFU - they were competitive for me, although they only do phone quotes.

INSPIRED

pboae wrote: »

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

Yes, I will do! Problem is finding the time now that I am having to search for another provider. All so time consuming and pet insurance companies are so difficult to compare. My dogs are getting on (8 & 10) and it looks like I am locked into M & S with one dog, due to on going conditions. I like M & S because of the lifetime cover - not many offer it. Animal Friends seem to offer some good deals.

pboae

I've heard lots of positive feedback about NFU, but I wouldn't touch Animal Friends with someone else's...

Halifax generally seem to get good reviews too, though I've not seen a huge amount of feedback either way, I don't know anything about Pinnacle.

pboae

Animal Friends are underwritten by E&L, if you google reviews of E&L you'll see why Animal Friends are so cheap.

gemmaj

Thanks for the replies.

NFU are £207.10 for £4000 per condition.
Axa are £163.39 for £50 excess, £7000 per year cover.

I think I will go with Axa. As someone else pointed out below, Sainsburys are doing 1 month free, which presumably means the renewal will be even higher next year when you have to pay the full year!

Does anyone know of any cash back sites for Axa?

Thanks.

BaileyB

Halifax is £20 in quidco

UKTigerlily

This morning I got my renewal quote from M&S for my 9 1/2yr old cat .. they want £50 excess or 15% whichever is greater & £130 for the year .. last time was excess free & £75 for the year

Do I

A) Reinsure her
Insure her with another company bearing in mind she'd no longer be covered for her Arthritis, i'm paying for her medication myself anyway cause it's easier than messing about with the forms & seeing as I have to pay the vet myself then claim back from the insurance place it seems pointless renewing
C) Leave her uninsured & save x per month kept by for her only? There's no chance she'd be hit by a car so hopefully she won't get sick, I prefer insurance but have to pay out before I claim so i'd need to find the money anyway. If I had the money I wouldn't mind spending it on her & not getting it back

Help!