Halifax pet insurance ending

zebidee1

Possibly. Never mind assessing the risk of the animal needing treatment, I think it's more a case of assessing which insurer is less likely to rip you off. :eek:

Though I think if a company did that, their pet insurance market would soon collapse round their ears as people simply would stop buying cover from them once they knew this was likely. And wouldn't they have to justify the huge increases to the Ombudsman?

firesidemaid

melbury wrote: »

Surely if you were with a company that offered full lifetime cover, they could easily get rid of you by making the premium ridiculously high so it just wouldn't be viable to stay with them.

this is what i am concerned about when we get our renewel quote in a couple of months - it will be the dogs first full year in the 'over 9 years' category.

firesidemaid

Don't know if anyone else has posted this already, but this thread / Harley is in the Guardian Newspaper today!

In the Money section (my favourite;)) there is an entire page dedicated to pet insurance AND this problem with Halifax/Lloyds etc.

There is also a sub-section on Harley/MSE thread specifically.

melbury

zebidee1 wrote: »

Possibly. Never mind assessing the risk of the animal needing treatment, I think it's more a case of assessing which insurer is less likely to rip you off. :eek:

Though I think if a company did that, their pet insurance market would soon collapse round their ears as people simply would stop buying cover from them once they knew this was likely. And wouldn't they have to justify the huge increases to the Ombudsman?

Just wanted to say thanks for clarifying about the lifetime cover.

Must admit I thought there was only the 12 month cover per condition or the lifetime cover, didn't realize there was anything else, so it's good to know about that. As you say it is not very clear on the More-Than site.

zebidee1

Famous at last! But for the wrong reason!

I've just been re-reading the Petwise quote. It's really very poor and not even a close substitute for what we had with the Halifax. I'm surprised BDML even offered it as a suitable alternative tbh.

What's worse is that it's underwritten by AXA, who also underwite many other policies for other companies but with better benefits.

Previously we had an ongoing Lifetime cover, i.e the benefit for 'x' condition would reset every year and we could claim up to the limit each year for as long at the condition lasted. Now we have been offered a limited policy, and for a much lesser amount. So once we have reached the new limit of £5000, that's it.

They also kindly list an administration fee of £9 over and above the cost of the policy.

I wonder how many people will just sign up because they can't face the hassle of wading through the pet insurance minefield?

It's an absolute disgrace.

ka7e

Well, I have phoned and cancelled Ruby's policy with effect from 17th Oct - I pay monthly and it wasn't due to run out until March. It was very straightforward and the advisor said it was only sensible to cancel now in case we needed ongoing care for a condition that might arise in the next 6 months.

Gocompare is helpful as it includes amount per condition/per year payable. Comparethemarket lists total amount payable per year but the amount PER CONDITION can be just a fraction of this. So it might look as though you can get £20k per year, but that is limited to £2k per condition (Animal Friends).

So far, Argos is looking the best for me...off to check the small print!

UPDATE Took a quick look at AXA (don't think they came up on the comparison sites) and have now got a comparable amount of cover for £6 per month less than I was paying!

666paw

Hi

I have my boy insured with Pet Plan (cat). The installments are not cheap as he is now 18 yrs old but they do lifetime cover which resets every year. I believe I have to pay the first £200 and then 20%. I know this is now very expensive but due to his age I wouldn't cancel just in case something happened. In the 18 yrs I have had him I have never once claimed, but at least it's peace of mind.

Matt_Nixon

Having very recently lost our beloved Chocolate Lab, who had gone though in his life, around £12K worth of treatment with 4 different insurance providers.

Started out with Kennel Club insurance, they closed and moved us to Pet Protect, who didn’t like claims and constructively made us change providers (£1400 / year renewal premium and 40% of the vet bills), then More Than and finally AXA.

Most Insurance companies are very claim averse and will constructively DUMP any pet seen as a risk!

wishihadmoremoney

I just searched to see if anyone knew about this situation and to my surprise, there are already posts about the Halifax. I had no idea of this until I rang to insure a second pet (10 % discount) and they told me all about the situation. My policy has been renewed in September and they seemed to have forgotten to tell me about this. I am disgusted about this. My dog developed a condition whilst under the policy and have been tied into it since ( a good and a bad thing) and to leave us high and dry without insurance for his condition is an outrage and one which I think the Halifax should be responsible for. The amount of animals that will suffer due to financial pressures and even could result in putting animals down as owners can't afford treatment and the Halifax want to walk away from this! I have contacted FSA and will await events but think that something needs to be done. I will be looking into further to see what we can do.....terrible situation

firesidemaid

does anyone know if any of the animal charities are aware or are lobbying about this?