Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

prudryden

I have been with Sainsbury's Pet Insurance since January 2005:

Look at these premiums: No claims during these periods.
Jan 05 to Jan 06 £204.74 inclusive tax
Jan 06 to Jan 07 £214.15 ""
Jan 07 to Jan 08 £264.15 ""
Jan 08 to Jan 09 £473.34 ":eek:

Obviously, I though to myself - Sainsbury's has got themselves into a muddle and there has been a mistake in their calculations for my 3yr 4mo. old Cocker Spaniel.

However, after two telephone calls and discussions with two different representatives - they claim that the new premium is correct. They have blamed AXA for the increase because AXA has decided that Sainsbury's customers with certain age dogs and certain locations (I'm in West London) have too many claims. They would not even consider negotiating on the price.

Now - I have gone to Sainsbury's online and filled in the form as a new customer. Guess what - it is £80 cheaper as a new customer. Pointing this out to Sainsbury's, they said yes that they were aware of this. I need to cancel my policy and direct debit and re-apply as a new customer and set up a new direct debit. They further explained that any existing conditions with my pet would not now be covered if I should do this.

I have also gone online and checked Halifax who also uses AXA. The same policy with them is £150 cheaper.

What is going on???? Is this a scam by Sainsbury's or AXA to get out of covering existing conditions? In my case it doesn't matter as there are no existing conditions - but it certainly can hold some people hostage to continue to have to pay exorbitantly increased premiums.

iso_2

barnaby-bear wrote: »

Yep we got this for our two. However we looked at the old underwriter (AXA) went direct and got the same deal direct as previously - what really tee-d us off from M&S was the comment about reviewing policies introducing an excess and reviewing premium in light of this - yep reviewing it up 45%.... AXA's renewal was to the penny the same as previously - worth a look...?

Fantastic idea - except I called and you have to start a new policy which excludes all previous conditions...

Anybody else tried this and got a different story?

Having reviewed the M&S policy it does seem pretty poor now - certainly not the top policy it was (which I told everybody about ). I wonder if anybody thinks it is still a great policy.

With pre-existing for my dog, I reckon I'm stuffed and have to keep with M&S.

"This isn't just a u-turn, it's M&S u-turn"

prudryden

Well, just got off the phone with them again. Something is going on at Sainsburys Pet Insurance. They were not very nice and I get the feeling that they really don't want to do Pet Insurance any longer. Person who I spoke with inferred that premiums may be raised considerably again in the near future.

I feel definitely mislead by taking out their insurance in good faith that I would keep the insurance for the life of my pet accepting annual reasonable increases, but NOT doubling of the premiums for no apparent reason and being forced to go elsewhere.

Looks like a battle brewing here. Asking for previous year's premiums to be returned. Probably won't get very far, but may be fun to try. Might even go to Small Claims court and see what they say i.e. if Sainsbury would even bother to show up.

heavenly_2

My renewal has just come through from Argos.

I am currently paying £19.19 per month and it has now gone up to £57.94 per month.
I have called and they say this is due to the age and breed (7 year old Shar Pei).

I am hoping to change providers to something cheaper, but my dog's eye sight has been getting worse and he had eye drops in October and we had to wait to see if they helped. It seems now that he is completely blind and we are waiting for an appointment at the eye specialist.

Is there a provider that will cover for current conditions, or will I have to stick with Argos.

I was slightly hasty and rung them today to cancel my policy at the end of the month, so the clock is ticking!!

I need cover incase there is something the vet can do to help his eye sight.

Thanks in advance

Kimberley

Why don't you just put the money into a savings account just for your pet? That way if you never have to visit the vet, the money is still yours. My mum was lucky with all her pets, she never had to visit the vet and never had insurance. I put £20 a month into an account just for pets, so when i adopt one of my foster dogs i already have money in the bank for vet fees etc. I know with insurance you get instant cover, but these premiums are getting so high now.

Kimberley

deanos wrote: »

Beware of M+S they have brought a worrying new clause in, out of hours you have to ring there helpline before you ring a vet :mad:

Well if they put you on hold and the pet dies in the meantime, sue them :eek: that is so ridiculous. So what they are saying is that if your pet is very i'll phone them first and if you can't get through your pet suffers :rolleyes: Nice

Bromley86

prudryden. You won't get anywhere. Sainsburys provided a service for that year (even if you were lucky enough to not have to make use of it), so you have to pay. I very much doubt that their Terms will have stated that they'll limit annual increases, so it was not a contractual term.

If your pet has no pre-existing conditions then get out whilst you can. If you want guaranteed consistently good service (in so far as that can ever exist), go for the accepted leaders PetPlan. You'll have to pay for that though. If you're willing to take another punt then try NFU or Halifax (like I did - both better cover than Sainsburys), but be aware that they could always pull an M&S. There's no such thing as a free lunch .

heavenly. "Is there a provider that will cover for current conditions?" In a word, "no".

Do a cost/benefit analysis, bearing in mind that the Silver and Gold covers will only pay out for the first year of a condition anyway: "Ongoing cover is limited to 12 months from the original incident under the Silver and Gold products."

So if you have Silver/Gold, then estimate the cost of treatment for the portion of the 12 months remaining and compare that to the £1,000-£2,500 maximum cover. If it's worth sticking with Argos, then do so but be ready to move when the 12 months is up.

Platinum gives you ongoing lifetime cover up to £6,000, so again ask your vet for a rough (off the record) estimate of likely lifetime costs for the condition. I suppose it really boils down to whether they can operate or not, as those premiums are so high that you'd likely be better paying for any normal medication yourself.

Don't forget to check with any prospective new insurers what they'll treat as pre-existing. I'm a suspicious sort, so I'd want to check that if my dog breaks a leg that they're not going to try to say that it happened because she was blind. Good luck.

Kimberley. That works fine until your pet is run over and needs a £4,000 operation and ongoing medicine costs. So self insure, but only if you're willing to make hard choices about either finding the money or putting your pet down. In our case I might have been willing to make that choice if it came up, but my partner would not so we had to insure.

If we hadn't, we'd now be in trouble as our lab puppy has hip dysplasia - that means swimming sessions, likely early arthritis and possible hip operations. Big bucks.

Mr_P_5

Hi.

Had a look at the article on pet insurance and the post on here! just wondered if someone can point me in the direction of the best for 2 kittys?

Pet plan have offered me £3000 year cover per kitty, at total cost of £14.60 per month (first 2 months free). with excess of £40.

anyone know any better - i notice M&S used to have no excess - do any still have this?


thanks

spookylukey

Mr_P wrote: »

anyone know any better - i notice M&S used to have no excess - do any still have this?

I would avoid M&S like the plague, I insured my two kittens with them last year when they were underwritten by Axa. They have now stopped the NIL excess which is fair enough as it was a money losing scheme for them from the offset but most worryingly they are now underwritten by Royal & Sun Alliance who have a clause in the policy that insists you ring a helpline before taking your cat in for emergency treatment - if the helpline deems your pet doesn't need emergency treatment then they won't pay! If they do decide to allow emergency treatment it may well be too late for your pet who has died whilst you were on the phone talking to the helpline.

Have a look at Axa, they have very similar cover to Petplan (ie a renewable £7000 limit per year with cover for life). I'll be switching when mine are due for renewal.

carli_h

I have just insured my two cats (19 months old) with Churchills at £69 each for the year, but I did it through www.quidco.com as 2 separate transactions and got £25 each back.

The compulsory excess is £55 with £3,000 vet cover per illness for 12 month and £1000 towards complimentry treatments. It was the best overall deal that I could find.