Cat insurance

adonis10

Need some recommendations as never had to insure a pet before. So far only had a quote from petplan, cover for life or classic. £27/month or £21/month respectively, with two months free so technically less in year 1. That is for 2 cats.

Thoughts? Recommendations?

sheramber

Petplan is the Rolls Royce of pet insurance but it is expensive.

Beware of cheap policies as they are cheap for a reason.

Stay way from anybody connected to E&L - check out the underwriters of ant company.

Some people have reported difficulty with Animal friend paying out.

Coop have the same underwriters as Petplan so maybe check them out. ( I have no experince of them)

There is a website Boughtbymany who have negotiated reduced rates with some companies due to bulk buying so may be worth a look. A friend was very pleased with her quote for her dog.

I don't know if Brexit will affect those companies whose underwriters are based outwith UK.

Insure sooner rather than later as anything that arises before or during the first 14 days will be excluded from cover.

Jonah01

Been with pet plan for 7 years and although not the cheapest they have been brilliant with fast payments and haven't once questioned anything.

Some people prefer to save rather than get insurance. Our cat came in last year with an eye injury which cost over 2k to treat. This would have wiped out any cat care savings easily.

adonis10

Jonah01 wrote: »

Been with pet plan for 7 years and although not the cheapest they have been brilliant with fast payments and haven't once questioned anything.

Some people prefer to save rather than get insurance. Our cat came in last year with an eye injury which cost over 2k to treat. This would have wiped out any cat care savings easily.

Well this is what I'm thinking. Between my partner and I we are looking at £10-£14/month each which is hardly going to break the bank and far more manageable than a surprise bill of £..k if it happened.

I'm edging towards petplan, certainly for the first year to give me time to do more research.

Any thoughts on the difference between classic and cover for life options offered by petplan?

Jonah01

I think I'm on the classic which is a for life policy.

I didn't feel the need to go for the ultimate as you would have to be very unlucky to exceed the 4k per year treatment limit with a cat.

As for the life bit I would definitely go for this as so many illnesses are ongoing.

One thing over the years I have noticed is that they do increase the excess as your cats gets older. This is probably like most insurance companies.

Pop_Up_Pirate

adonis10 wrote: »

Need some recommendations as never had to insure a pet before. So far only had a quote from petplan, cover for life or classic. £27/month or £21/month respectively, with two months free so technically less in year 1. That is for 2 cats.

Thoughts? Recommendations?

I'm in the 'No Insurance' group.
I consider it a waste of money in the long run.
What I would do if you're worried, is put that £21 in the bank every month and then you have some cash to play with if need be.

adonis10

Pop_Up_Pirate wrote: »

I'm in the 'No Insurance' group.
I consider it a waste of money in the long run.
What I would do if you're worried, is put that £21 in the bank every month and then you have some cash to play with if need be.

I see your point and did consider this but then went down the route of "it's £11 a month each (my partner and I)" and let's say in 3 years time we get a bill of £1,500 we pay the excess and have paid the best part of £800 in insurance. Hopefully it'll never be needed but 36p a day is far less worrying to me than the prospect of a bill that could run into the thousands.


I waste £4 a week on the Lotto so at least, in comparison to that, I get something back (peace of mind) with this!

gettingready

Wise move.

One of my cats had both knees operated on at the age of 7 months and 12 months at a cost of nearly 5k each (I am in London). Putting away the equivalent of his insurance instead of having the insurance would not have worked - would it.

Cats are cheap to insure and really it is a no brainer. If you can not afford the insurance - how can you possibly afford a massive vet bill if anything happens?

Better safe then sorry

ElusiveLucy

Petplan have been great for me. Yes they may not be the cheapest but they don't hike your premium's after a claim. I have two cats of the same age - one who had major claims (up to the max in one year and on-going claims every year) and another who has had minimal problems. They both cost the same to insure each month. Yes they do put the price up each year, but I think their increases are fair as the cat gets older. Mine are now 14 years old and I have to pay the first £125 of any claim plus 20%

adonis10

ElusiveLucy wrote: »

Petplan have been great for me. Yes they may not be the cheapest but they don't hike your premium's after a claim. I have two cats of the same age - one who had major claims (up to the max in one year and on-going claims every year) and another who has had minimal problems. They both cost the same to insure each month. Yes they do put the price up each year, but I think their increases are fair as the cat gets older. Mine are now 14 years old and I have to pay the first £125 of any claim plus 20%

Indeed. I've heard a few horror stories about vet bills that made me realise that £11.50 a month each is nothing to be overly concerned about for the peace of mind it offers (I need to thoroughly read through it, however, as I am sure it doesn't cover every eventuality). Pales into insignificance when compared to the thousands of ££'s I've spent on car insurance over the past 16 years and never needed to make a claim!

McKneff

We are paying £30 a month now for our 15 year old cat with a £200 excess. Getting to be a bit too expensive now and really thinking about self insuring .