Pet insurance question

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Hi,
Received the renewal notice after the first year of cover and it's increased so I want to shop around. I'm looking on the comparison sites now - but so far none have asked about pre-existing conditions or claims. Is that normal?

Just asking as I've never renewed before and assumed it would be like car insurance where they want to know about any claims. We've had one claim for an injury, so I assume this wouldn't be classed a 'pre-existing condition' as it wasn't a 'condition' - it was a cut which needed stitches.

That said, they haven't asked about pre-existing conditions either. Is this normal for pet insurance?

Thanks.

Turaco

Hi, all pet insurance companies will not cover a pre- existing condition. You do not have to 'admit' to anything as for any future claims your vet will have to send in a full history and that is how the insurance folk will know. As long as your pet does not develop a problem related to the past wound then you should be fine to look elsewhere. All companies have put up their renewal prices due to 'vet price increases'. This is true but from my experience the vet fees have not gone up in proportion to the insurance increase. Look around and if you find a cheaper like for like cover it is worth phoning your insurer to see if they will match or beat the price. Always look at the small print as some companies have added 'excess plus a % off the bill', which is totally out of order, but legal. My cat is with petplan, who only charge excess. I also found Aviva do a good quality policy. Really it's best to go for a lifelong policy and cover for at least £5000. If your pet ends up with a big injury, or a lifelong problem and you're on a cheap or year only policy you could lose out.
Hope I was some help, let me know if you want to know anything else...I'm a vet nurse so know a lot on this!:rotfl:

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Thanks for the advice. I'm with M&S at the moment and have Premier cover - it's lifelong and the cover is 7k per year. I'll check the small print regarding the excess.

The premium has increased from approx £7.50 per month to approx £11.50 per month. I do think it's a big increase, but I'm having trouble finding another policy with the same level of cover.

I assume premiums never go down? I'm just a bit anxious that if it's gone up by this much after the first year, how much will it be in 5 years? If it was car insurance I'd happily switch provider every year, but with pet insurance I feel maybe it's safer to stay with one provider long term, as if anything does go wrong and we have a long-term condition to deal with, we'll never be able to move to another company, so I think it's a good idea to make sure I have a good level of cover. What would your advice be on that please?

Turaco

Hmmm... this is interesting...I've just done a quote for my cat on their website and the quote comes out at £7. 46. Your renewal will go up at touch due to the wound claim and also cos things always go up but £4 a month increase is HUGE!!!!
Would be worth phoning them to question it as this is unfair. At the moment you should be safe to change company as long as the wound has been the only problem, for example your pet hasn't gone to the vets for an ear infection, or a limp or something. Whatever is on the vets records now would not be covered with another company. The only thing with switching is the cost as most companies who would do a good quality cover, a good cover limit and not too cheaky excess and no extra pay % rubbish would be those that charge around £11 anyway (my cat is on petplan lifelong classic, £7000 cover although i get discount for being a vet nurse!:))! I would go for similar or better than you have now as it is a good policy!
Bit of a tough one, I would phone M&S first and do battle with them. If they refuse to reduce the cost it is then a decision whether to live with it or move elsewhere but pay the same!
Unfortunately the costs never go down. That's insurance companies for you! oh and avoid E&L at all costs and any company underwritten by them...oh goodness they are awful! But you didn't hear that from me...:silenced:

*Rainbow*Warrior*

I've only looked briefly at the comparison sites today - there are plenty of quotes around the £6 a month mark, but they don't seem to provide such good cover. I looked at a couple which also gave about 7k cover but when I rang them it turned out it was a max of 7k per condition, so if a long term condition arose they would pay up to 7k, maybe that would be enough for a few years but once the 7k cut off is reached we'd have to pay the rest ourselves.

I have a second cat covered with M&S so get a small discount on that one. The premium for him was £6.50 last year and is increasing to £8.50 (rough figures). So overall I'll be paying £6 per month more across the two policies.

I did ring M&S earlier and they said prices generally had increased and that the claim we made would only account for a small part of it. They couldn't do anything to improve the renewal, but did offer a reduction if I reduce the cover! That seems daft as if I wanted lower cover I'd go elsewhere anyway and get a cheaper policy. Plus the lower cover they offered sounded a lot lower - only 4k and that has to be split across 4 conditions and limited to 1k per condition.

Naturally I hope I'll never need this amount of cover but vet's costs do seem very expensive these days so I think it make sense to be covered.

Turaco

Well done for challenging M&S, damn annoying they won't change the price. :mad:
When I helped my parent look for cover I found comparison websites not much good to be honest. Was quite surprised but the companies I'm used to dealing with just weren't on and there was only the cheap and naff type companies and policies.
I wouldn't reduce the cover, but you sound like your head is screwed on correctly so you wouldn't anyway! I have found that it is VERY rare to need more than £7k cover. This was advised by my own colleagues, who are vets. If you have a dodgy pedigree (persian/ bulldog etc), then i would go for more expense but 7k max is usually sufficient.
As I said earlier for a similar policy you are looking at around the £11 mark anyway so it's a tough decision...leave or stay?! If your vet can tell you of any problems in the past it may help you know whether to move or not. If you're unsure they will tell you. Unfortunately vet fees are expensive and change hugely from area to area. We're not mean but the manufacturers of the medication charge us a fortune too, we have to pass it on.
Have a look at;
Petplan
aviva
Direct line
Pets at home
More than
BUT look at the small print on all. I do think petplan are best, if you do change. Petplan offer diecount on multiple pets but I think it might be 3 or more? Not sure on that one.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

Thanks - I'll look into those.

Yesterday I did ring More Than and Sainsburys and they both said the 7k limit was a max limit and once reached you are no longer covered.

I looked into this in quite a lot of detail last year when I first took out the policy - only found 3 companies I was happy with in terms of cover. One was M&S, another I think was Animal Friends (have you any experience of them?)... and unfortunately I can't remember the third one :mad: Wish I'd kept my notes!

As I've said my worry is that this type of cover isn't like car insurance where you can chop and change. I've had pets all my life but this is the first time I've ever had pet insurance. In the past we would have just paid out of our own pockets for any treatment, but I've heard so many stories of high vet fees I feel more comfortable now having the cover. I'm sure when I looked at pet plan last year I felt they weren't as good as M&S. Do they do the same level of cover?

Our cats are not pedigrees, just moggies - but they ARE family and of course I want to ensure they are looked after if they need it. I'm sure (as you say) the 7k cover is more than we'll ever need, but it's the lifetime stuff I'm concerned about - like if they develop some condition that requires medication for the rest of their lives (God forbid!).

InsideInsurance

Most wont ask about claims/ pre-existing conditions because there is a blanket no cover on it so its easier to confirm it at claims stage than ask people to fill in long forms to get the quote and risk them becoming bored and abandoning the quote or having to go off and find the name or date of something and getting distracted and not coming back etc.

You need to think of it more inline with medical insurance or income protection etc rather than car insurance

balmk

I had a renewal through with tesco which was for 20% more than last years premium despite never having any claims.

They wouldn't match the new customer offer which was half of what I was paying plus a £30 gift card, so looked around.

Went with More Than in the end via topcashback - policy £72 for the year plus £60 cashback. Bargain.

In case it helps when you are looking at quotes, I was advised by a friend that if you have a cross-breed, you should choose "domestic short/long hair" rather than "moggy" as apparently the number of claims for "moggies" have gone up which puts them in a higher risk category.

*Rainbow*Warrior*

balmk wrote: »

I had a renewal through with tesco which was for 20% more than last years premium despite never having any claims.

They wouldn't match the new customer offer which was half of what I was paying plus a £30 gift card, so looked around.

Went with More Than in the end via topcashback - policy £72 for the year plus £60 cashback. Bargain.

In case it helps when you are looking at quotes, I was advised by a friend that if you have a cross-breed, you should choose "domestic short/long hair" rather than "moggy" as apparently the number of claims for "moggies" have gone up which puts them in a higher risk category.

I looked at More Than for precisely that reason (TCB) but when I rang them to check the cover they said it's up to 7k per condition. The cover I have with M&S is something like 7k per condition, but this is renewed every year, so effectively you get up to 7k cover each year, but with More Than it's just 7k cover for the life of the condition (ie if the animal needs medication for life, once you've reached the 7k threshold you are on your own).

hethmar

Thats correct. I hate the way insurance companies dont make that clear and many people must think they are "covered for life" when they are covered just to the max amount and then are on their own

Ive got one of mine with M and S - cant move him as he developed a life long condition which needs meds all the time. The other boy is with AXA.

tbh IF I could have afforded it, Id gone with Petplan as they are longest standing insurers and unlikely to suddenly pack up covering pets like some of the Banks did last year.