Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

pboae

It's no secret on here that I'm no fan of AFI.

You can get insurance for older dogs, but generally there is a much higher excess, usually a percentage of the claim.

The main problem with changing insurers is that anything she has ever had wrong with her before will be excluded. How wide the exclusion will be will depend on the insurer, but for example, if she has ever been treated for a hurt leg, they may exclude anything to do with legs, or just with that leg, or it may be just anything related to the previous injury. It really does vary a lot, but if she has had a few treatments (and by 10 most dogs have had a few trips to the vets for one thing or another), you might find there is so much excluded that it is hardly worth having insurance.

Phoenixx73

I am the owner of a German Shepherd who IS a pedigree pooch but has no papers (therefore is also at the mercy of all the potential hereditary problems) she will be 5 years old on 1st April. I have been trying to find some pet insurance for her as (touch wood) she has only ever had to visit the vet once for any kind of non vaccine reason (she decided to jump into a hot bath at 12 weeks of age) now I know this streak of good health can not last forever and as she ages she will more than likely become much better aquainted with the vet.

I have been looking at several insurance policies and being just your average layman can't make head nor tail of their terms and conditions... half of them seem as though they don'tactually cover anything, just take your premuim on a monthly basis and will only ever pay out if your pet is run over by a blimp on the first tuesday of every month but only if there is a leap year. Now all I really want is to know that if my dog should happen to fall ill on the week of the month when all of the bills and other such payments go out leaving next to nothing in the pot that my dog wil be treated and the insurance will pay (preferably without me having to either pay the vet at the time and then claim or having to hand over a huge excess)

Now I have heard people raving on these boards about M&S but I have looked over their policy and am still as confused as ever. Perhaps someone who has had good experiences with insurers andpets could offer me some advice as to which policy type would suit our needs the best?

Many thanks in advance.

pboae

I wouldn't recommend M&S anymore, their policy has changed beyond recognition over the last 12 months. They are no longer particularly good value for money, and I don't trust them not to keep adding more and more restrictions and clauses every year.

Right now, the only one I would recommend is one of the Petplan covered for life policies. Petplan have their flaws, but they've been around a long while and are reliable. They don't have a history of making lots of changes to their policies, so you pretty much know what you are getting. Also the vast majority of vets will claim from Petplan direct. They won't do that with all insurers.

The others you might consider are NFU, who only quote over the phone. We don't get a huge amount of feedback about them, but what does come back is generally good, there have been very few complaints here about them. Check if your vet will claim from them direct.

You could also try Axa, who still offer the policy M&S used to have (without the no excess option). But as most of the new companies who are messing people around now were originally underwritten by them, I'm not sure about them anymore.

The ones to avoid are M&S and Sainsburys, who have both hit people with massive premium hikes recently, and anything underwritten by E&L (like animal friends) because they are just shockingly bad in every way.

Look for a policy with lifetime cover, if the cover stops after 12 months it is useless. Also, if it has a limit per condition, think about whether that limit would be enough if she developed a lifelong illness that needed regular medication. Limits that renew every year are better in that respect, but they come with a price tag to match.

The infuriating thing about this, is that you have to get the choice right first time. Once you make a claim for anything, it's hard to move to a new insurer because it will be excluded as a pre-existing condition. How we are supposed to make that choice when insurers can change the policy conditions as and when they feel like, I don't know. But that's how it works.

ednotdave

pboae wrote: »

I wouldn't recommend M&S anymore, their policy has changed beyond recognition over the last 12 months. They are no longer particularly good value for money, and I don't trust them not to keep adding more and more restrictions and clauses every year.

Right now, the only one I would recommend is one of the Petplan covered for life policies. Petplan have their flaws, but they've been around a long while and are reliable. They don't have a history of making lots of changes to their policies, so you pretty much know what you are getting. Also the vast majority of vets will claim from Petplan direct. They won't do that with all insurers.

The others you might consider are NFU, who only quote over the phone. We don't get a huge amount of feedback about them, but what does come back is generally good, there have been very few complaints here about them. Check if your vet will claim from them direct.

You could also try Axa, who still offer the policy M&S used to have (without the no excess option). But as most of the new companies who are messing people around now were originally underwritten by them, I'm not sure about them anymore.

The ones to avoid are M&S and Sainsburys, who have both hit people with massive premium hikes recently, and anything underwritten by E&L (like animal friends) because they are just shockingly bad in every way.

Look for a policy with lifetime cover, if the cover stops after 12 months it is useless. Also, if it has a limit per condition, think about whether that limit would be enough if she developed a lifelong illness that needed regular medication. Limits that renew every year are better in that respect, but they come with a price tag to match.

The infuriating thing about this, is that you have to get the choice right first time. Once you make a claim for anything, it's hard to move to a new insurer because it will be excluded as a pre-existing condition. How we are supposed to make that choice when insurers can change the policy conditions as and when they feel like, I don't know. But that's how it works.

pboae - what do you think of Halifax Extra? (see my ealier post...)

Nomad25

Phoenixx - i think if you read through last few pages of this thread, not many would recommend M & S, the main reasons being the massive increase in policy renewal charges, the introduction of excesses to be paid in the event of a need to claim and the introduction of their 'ring this out of hours numberbefore you can have your pet treated in an emergency' clause!

pboae

ednotdave wrote: »

pboae - what do you think of Halifax Extra? (see my ealier post...)

It looks like a good policy, but there seems to be a trend at the moment for providers to start with good policies and reasonable premiums and then a couple of years down the line they start hiking premiums up and/or changing the terms of the policies.

If I were choosing a policy right now I'd be looking for a trusted provider who have been a reasonably big player in the pet insurance market for a decent length of time, for me that's Petplan and NFU.

In some ways that's very unfair on Halifax, because they haven't done anything wrong, and it *is* a good policy. But I bet they won't give you a guarantee that they will be offering the same deal 2 or 3 years from now. To be fair, neither will Petplan or NFU, but at least they have some history and you can look at how they have behaved up till now. That's not much to go on I know, but it's about all there is.

Phoenixx73

Thanks Pboae. I know that my vet has a setup with petplan so it seems that providing that the cover is right, they may be my best shot. I'll look at their T&C's and make sure.

You have been most helpful and have been thanked accordingly

EDIT: Having looked over Petplan's T's&C's they seem to provide just what i need. Unfortunatly I still have to pay an excess but the policies limitations seem very few compared to the other providers. Although the cost seems to be a little higher every month than some of the others, it would definitly seem that you get what you pay for. My only real gripe is that my dog will not be covered if I decide to breed from her again (but in all honesty I have yet to find a policy that does cover pregnancy)

Thanks once again for all of your help guys. I can now sleep soundly knowing that my dog is covered for most eventualities.

P.S. Does anyone know of anywhere I may be able to get pregnancy cover should the need arise?

snowman2_2

Pet Plan (and most other insurance companies) wont accept new business from any pet over the age of 8 and some breeds even younger. That is because they are too high a risk of making a claim and they wont get several years of premiums in before the claims are likely to start arriving. More Than didn't have an upper age limit last year so worth a check. Can't think of any others of the top of my head but I am sure there is one other company. You will pay more and have a higher excess though.

TOP TIP - get the insurance started before they get to 8

Phoenixx73

As with everything in life, you get what you pay for. You simply have to weigh up the added price of the premuim and decide if it is going to be worth it to avoid those huge vet bills later on.

pboae

I didn't know that snowman2, I thought PetPlan took them til 10. Thanks for the info.