Pet Insurance guide discussion area

Sam_Donovan

Phil who would you recommend as the main ones I am looking at are all underwirtten by RSA.

sheramber

PhiltheBear wrote: »

All policies underwritten by RSA (not just Tesco) are now having this "we will choose your vet" written in. You really need to consider if that's a good idea. Firstly, if you have a relationship with an existing vet that you trust why would you want to move? Secondly, why would they do that? Is it because they a) get a rake off from the vet or b) that they force the vet to keep fees down and, in the process, perhaps don't give the best treatment but merely the minimum they can get away with?

Letting your insurance company choose your vet is a BAD idea. It's not just me that thinks that, the RCVS thinks that too.

I prefer to pay more for a much better insurance than anything the RSA offers so that I know that my pets will get the very best of treatment from someone I trust.

It is only for a referral vet, not your normal vet.

EllasPa

I was checking my renewals for my two cats when I noticed that the amount being taken by direct debit each month was about £4 more for both policies. I rang equine& livestock to find out why and they said it was for optional payment protection and legal cover. If I didn't want it they would refund it.
Surely they shouldn't have took it without my permission in the first place. Not impressed at all.
Anyone else come across this sharp practice.?

PhiltheBear

To answer 2 points:

1. If your vet refers you to another vet a) RSA choose which one and b) you incur an EXTRA £200 excess. If I want my vet to refer me I want to go where he thinks is the best place not where RSA does. And it seems to be only RSA that impose an extra excess on top of the normal excess for the same condition.

2. I wouldn't touch an RSA policy with a bargepole. In terms of preference I'd go Pet Plan,VetsMediCover, possibly M&S or John Lewis... I'd look at the website https://www.petinsurancecompare.co.uk which doesn't compare by price but only lists providers that are known to pay out without fuss. They also have an insurance buyer's guide which is free and very informative.

fairymoneysaver

PhiltheBear wrote: »

To answer 2 points:

1. If your vet refers you to another vet a) RSA choose which one and b) you incur an EXTRA £200 excess. If I want my vet to refer me I want to go where he thinks is the best place not where RSA does. And it seems to be only RSA that impose an extra excess on top of the normal excess for the same condition.


The above is incorrect. If your vet/you want a referral then you either go to an RSA approved specialist OR you pay £200 extra to go to one of your choice. Not both.

Also if your policy has not been changed to the new system you can still go to any referral centre you want (as we found out recently).

Sam_Donovan

Also M&S and John Lewis are both underwritten by RSA , hence my deilemma as all the main companies that have good levels of cover are underwritten by them.

PhiltheBear

Sorry, I misread the policy. However, there is no legitimate reason why you should pay £200 to use a vet of your choice and not RSA's.

Tescos NEW policies are all underwritten by RSA - so any new buyer won't have the choice that fairymoneysaver has.

I agree about John Lewis and M&S being underwritten by RSA. And you correctly point out that RSA are making big inroads into the pet insurance market. Sadly the fact remains that the very best policy is Pet Plan. Sad solely because it's very expensive. But you can get a very large lifetime cover (and anything other than a lifetime cover should be avoided like the plague).

PhiltheBear

EllasPa wrote: »

I was checking my renewals for my two cats when I noticed that the amount being taken by direct debit each month was about £4 more for both policies. I rang equine& livestock to find out why and they said it was for optional payment protection and legal cover. If I didn't want it they would refund it.
Surely they shouldn't have took it without my permission in the first place. Not impressed at all.
Anyone else come across this sharp practice.?

E&L are possibly the worst pet insurance company in the country. If you look for reviews of them you'll see hundreds of complaints. The biggest complaint seems to be that they fight every claim that's made.

Sam_Donovan

I was also looking at Direct Line however according to their policy for Advanced cover the £8k vet fees are NOT renewed each year..... can that be correct?

sheramber

Sam_Donovan wrote: »

I was also looking at Direct Line however according to their policy for Advanced cover the £8k vet fees are NOT renewed each year..... can that be correct?

Direct Line- like many companies- give cover on a 'condition basis'.

This means you have £8000 cover for each condition that arises over how many years it takes to use up the amount.

So, if you have a claim for arthritis of £1000 the first year you have £7000 left to cover any further treatment. If you have no claim for arthritis in the second year your cover for arthritis remains at £7000

However if , in the second year, you have a claim for a skin infection of £2000 then you still have £7000 for arthritis cover ( as you have not claimed anything for it) but you now have £6000 for any further treatment for skin infections.

Each condition is covered separately.

If your dog has five unrelated conditions in one year then you have 5x £8000 available for vet fees as you have £8000 for each new condition.

This cover is generally cheaper than vet fee cover renewing each year as you are limited to £8000 per condition over the lifetime of your pet/ your policy if ceased earlier.