Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 3:12 pm Post subject: Pet Insurance
Hi All - Just about to insure Tia after her first month free KC insurance runs out - have spent some time online today and now have brain freeze on all the different policies out there
Anyone got any good recommendations or I guess the opposite - any ones to stay away from !!
Well I don't know about any other firms but we've had to claim on our PetPlan Insured for Life policy for Sam and they've paid without quibble and pretty quickly too.
We have Bailey insured through the Kennel Club. Its a bit pricey but they are very good , we have loads of cover and they are very speedy at paying out. Steer away from Direct Line . When we lost our beloved Bracken ( Teazeldown Cornelius ) 2 years ago It took over 3 months for them to pay our claim for money we had already paid to our vets and Chestergate ( £5000.00 ). They said they has staff issues and there was no-one available to process it.It ended up with a major row before they sorted it out. I suppose you get what you pay for . Good luck with your search
You get what you pay for! Steer clear of the cheaper ones, a friend of mine insured with one of the cheaper ones for £16 a month-had to claim for cruciate surgery and premiums are now £98 a month!!!! She can't change as he has existing conditions now, no they've got you. Petplan don't increase your premiums if you claim, they just go up every year a couple of quid or so as they get older. Cheaper ones often only cover a condition for a year then you are on your own, or they won't cover past a certain age so watch the smallprint. I have 2 with petplan but have just taken out one on my youngest boy with Marks and Spencer which seems good (according to someone who does the claims for a vet)-its a bit cheaper than petplan, but I have gone for the higher cover £7000 as if they ever need referring to a specialist (god forbid) £4000 would soon be eaten up. My last lab died at 13 and by then the premiums with petplan had gone up to about £35 a month, not bad considering I had over the years claimed thousands.
I'm with Direct Line and they have paid the vets direct within about a week of the claim being submitted on both occasions. I have found them really easy to deal with.
Thanks all for the advice - somewhere in the back of my mind a voice was telling me to be careful of the really cheap ones - As you say - you get what you pay for !!
I had a good quote from M&S and their policy did also look like it covered everything - will check out Petplan as well and see what theirs is like
thanks as ever for the advice
Liz and Tia.
P.S. must work out how I can add a picture Technophobe!
I am with Axa. They used to underwrite the M&S policy but now do their own.
Been with them just over a year and premium actually went down on renewal (I hadn't claimed)
Pet Plan were great for my first year (great as in relatively cheap; £35 for unlimited coverage) but when it came time to renew they had changed the cover to a £12k limit and the premium increased to over £50 per month even though I hadn't claimed.
Just make sure you get a policy that covers you for life, not just for 12 months for any particular condition.
Sainsbury's do for life and it's £7,500 per condition and unlimited conditions per year.
They do seem to go up each year despite not claiming however I asked this questions yesterday and everyone advised me to stick as even though I've never claimed, Berry has received veterinary treatment which is on her notes.
Other people with Sainsbury's also advised me they are quick to pay out -AXA are the actual insurers though so to speak.
I'm with Direct Line and have been for years and years. They pay the vet direct so I don't have to worry about paying out and claiming back. What I would say after my recent experience is make sure you get a hefty sum covered per condition. Our maximum at present is £4,000 and we have just spent that in one go with Oscar's latest disaster. I think I will be increasing to the £6,000 limit when we renew. Prices vary around the country but on the London borders everything seems so pricy.
My oldie is with Animalcare, my Pointer with M&S and the pup with Axa, all lifetime policies. Can't say anything about Axa as I've not claimed but the other two have paid out no problem and premiums have remained competitive with other similar policies.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
