Tesco, Sainsburys or Petplan - Thoughts please!

mozzyc

:oHi

Has anyone got insurance with the company VetsMediCover? Thinking of putting my 7 year old cat on there.
Or any other decent insurer for his age. Have had to leave healthy pets as they where charging £45 per month and excess of £75 plus 20% of the final bill.
Just can't afford that anymore.
Have looked at Petplan, but worried that the premiums will go the same way. We've claimed once on healthy pets for a fractured paw, but nothing else.

Thanks!

nerdycatlover

We agonised over this very problem recently and have decided to not bother with Pet Insurance.The costs have just gone through the roof.
We have an elderly cat (not insurable now due to age and pre existing conditions) and two young ones. Having priced up several Ins companies, we decided it would be better to bank an equivalent sum every month plus the cost of vaccinations per year. By the time they require treatment at the Vets, we will have ( hopefully) saved up quite a sum. It seems false economy to pay premiums when you still have to fork out £65 excess and routine stuff isn`t covered anyway. IMHO, the serious illnesses aren`t cureable, and we put our last cat through much unnecessary suffering,procedures, tests, etc., when it would have been kinder to put him to sleep sooner. If they know you have Insurance, they just keep on racking up the bill. That is why vets are charging more and more, because it just goes on the Insurance, and the premiums go up, ad infinitum. We just funded a series of Vets for most of the year, for nothing.(Hindsight is a wonderful thing...)

There_Goes_Trouble

My 8 year old cat costs £16.10 per month with Pet Plan, but the excess is £105. He's been with them since a kitten though so don't know if it would be the same insuring an older cat.

mozzyc

I'm afraid with 3 cats its easier to have the insurance, rather than budget for any incidents. For me anyway. That's a pretty hefty excess, but still cheaper than £45 per month.
There Goes Trouble - what plan are you on with Pet Plan?

Thanks!

cjmumto2

Petplan are so expensive, I was quoted £4 a month from Tesco and £10 from petplan, i have had good reports from Tescos, so maybe worth getting a quote from them and Argos do a good one too

goodgirl80

My cat is with Asda 4.96 a month, she's 5

dizziblonde

I pay something like £14 a month through Sainsburys for their higher level of cover for an 8 year old tripod.

*miaomiao*

Have you tried M&S Pet insurance? I am paying £4.53 per month for my 6 year old cat and the excess is £50 (maybe £100) I think.

mozzyc

My other 2 are with Tesco, but i thought maybe Petplan was better for senior cats. I have read good review about them, but also that they're expensive. I still don't get why and how my healthy pets got up to £45???

So i'm guessing that it's best to stick with the supermarkets pet insurance? Do they all do lifecover?

Thankyou!

mozzyc

ah, just realised theirs a few places that won't accept due to his vaccinations not being up to date. I'm hoping to get all 3 cats done in May for pet vaccination month.

Jesthar

You do have to be careful with pet insurance, as a lot of the cheaper companies dont offer 'per condition, per year' cover - where if your animal develops an ongoing condition (e.g. diabetes) they will cover up to the stated insurance limit for that condition every year, and also if you make more than one claim in a year it will pay up to the stated insurance limit on each separate claim. There aren't that many that offer than (my cat is with NFU silver, which does, and I believe PetPlan is another), and they will be more expensive as the cover is greater.

On the cheaper policies you may well find that a company will only pay up to the stated limit for all claims in a year combined (not per condition), or will only pay for the first year of any necessary ongoing treatment (so you have to fund it yourself from then on), or will exclude more conditions - so read the small print carefully.

Also bear in mind that no insurer will cover any illness a pet already has when you begin insurance with them.

Anyway, it's been a couple of years since I insured my moggie, so you may want to double check some of my input, but I hope it helps

~Jes