Pet Insurance

[Anna]

So I currently have my two 5 month old Jack Russells under free 6 week Pet Plan trial pet insurance which was issued to me from Pets At Home store when I took them to the vets there to be mirco-chipped.

I got a certificate through for both of them, as Pet Plan wasted no time at all getting my details onto their system and sending me out letters.. informing me of my Policy numbers.. and how to call them to set up a full annual Pet Plan insurance for both my dogs.

So this morning I had nothing else better to do as I was sat half watching T4 friends, the pups were snoozing on my dressing gown and I picked up my Pet Plan letters and dialled the 0800.. number and immediately was put on hold.. for around 20 minutes, thank goodness it was a free phone number I thought.

Anyway, eventually I got through to a foreign sounding man who said his name was 'Jo' I thought.. I bet £50 that your name is not really Jo! and I wondered if I had been put through to a call centre in the UK or quite possibly India.. or elsewhere as these large companies like to pay smaller wages to people and sub their call centres out to other countries which in my opinion is rather annoying..

After being on hold for 20 minutes I had to remember to tell 'Jo' that I did not want my personal details passing onto other marketing companies (as it tells you when you are on hold that if you do not state that you do not want your personal details passing on.. Pet Plan will basically sell your personal information to other companies so that you get inundated with junk mail through the post and sales calls after speaking with them).. so I made sure that I said I DID NOT want my details passing on..

Eventually Jo and I got round to talking about Pet Plan insurance and in all honesty I wish I hadnt bothered..



it was going to cost £17.00 each for my Jack Russells per month.. and this covered me up to £4,000 if something should happen to them, but I had a £75.00 excess everytime I visited the vet, so only if my dogs treatment cost over £75.00 each time I took them would I actually be able to claim anything on my insurance..

Which I thought was a rather expensive con..

I had quotes off moneysupermarket.com for £9 a month per Jack Russell.. previously, so I will be going back to look at those quotes when my free Pet Plan insurance runs out on 2nd May.

Blimey.. do people really pay that to insure their pets?

Does everyone have pet insurance? And if you do, who have you gone with?

I was also rather shocked that the Pet Plan sales person Jo, thought that by reeling off his sales speech to me.. I was just going to sit there not really listen to him, say it all sounded wonderful and then pass over my bank card details, the fact that I stopped him mid-sentance several times and questioned what he was saying seemed to really irritate him..

So for goodness sake make sure you REALLY know what your pet insurance actually covers before you take it out and pay an extorsionate monthly fee!

Some Pet Plan insurance the normal 12 month annual insurance will not cover your pet should it come down with an illness that repeatitively needs treatment... it will only cover the illness during the existing 12 month policy but then they will NOT cover it when the renewal comes through.. !! ONLY the Pet Plan Life insuranec scheme will promise to cover any reoccuring illnesses... which is obviously more money...

SO BE AWARE!

I am going to look into Pet insurance in more detail in the next few days and I will post any good insurances that I come across and policies that have the best cover..

will keep everyone updated!

In the meantime.. tell me what insurers you are with and if you think the policies are good or not.. !

thanks

Anna

[crocodile]

Animals Friends insurance - as advertised at the top of the forum.
I guess you don't really know how good any of them are until you need them

[Nick Jones]

True, you never know how good they'll be until you need 'em!

In fairness, Pet Plan pay the most for behaviour modification and is a realistic sum - let's hope you never need that, but the same goes for vets fees too.

There are money sites that will allow you to compare all the different benefits. I personally keep a 'slush fund' if and when needed. My little Border terrier shouldn't be too expensive to stitch back together again. (hopes)

Nick

[Anna]

I just did not expect the monthly premium to be so high considering that there was a £75.00 excess everytime I took them to the vets. So basically unless something serious happens to them which will cost me over £75.00 everytime I take them to the vets.. I wouldnt ever claim at all on my Pet Insurance.

And to be honest I wouldnt mind that if the premium was around £7-10 a month.. so basically my insurance would be fairly useless, unless something serious happened to either of my dogs and they needed an expensive operation that would cost over £1000 however to know that my insurance would take care of that heaven forbid it should happen, would be a load off my mind.

But I am not going to pay Pet Plan £17.00 per month per Jack Russell for that previledge, when moneysupermarket.com were quoting me £7-12 for Pet Insurance per dog for the same type of insurance.

Thats what the Pet Plan guy Jo couldnt understand, he said to me "well the insurances you have been quoted on the internet will also have excesses when you take your dog to the vets.." and I thought yes they will have an excess just like Pet Plan does, however they are only charging me half the price every month for exactly the same insurance!

The Pet Plan man Jo also likened 'Pet Insurance' to 'Car Insurance' and explained to me that every insurance is the same, they all have an excess.. so I explained to Jo that that might be true, however I do not look at my pets like my car... if I was to bump my car and dent it and even damage the paintwork.. if I could not afford to fix it and pay my insurance excess I would just leave the car like that until I could.. however if one of my Pets got ill or broke its leg.. I am hardly going to say.. "sorry Riley I cannot afford the £75.00 Pet insurance excess right now.. so can you manage with a broken leg till the end of the month until I get paid??"

I don't think Jo liked my explaination as to why I did not liken Pet Insurance to Car Insurance!

[stevebenno]

Pet insurance is indeed a minefield. There are several different types of insurance for pets and there are many pet insurers in the UK, some specialist and some big name insurers - although the choice has reduced somewhat over the last twelve months as insurers are finding it more and more diffocult to make a profit and are pulling out of the market altogether - partly because the veterinary surgeons are charging such wildly different costs around the country for the same work.

As an example, my retired greyhound split the pad on his paw and had to have it stitched - it cost us £145 (and thankfully we are insured). Shortly afterwards, one of my good friends went through exactly the same thing - his dog also split his paw and needed it stitched - two more stitches than our dog had and it cost him £456 - the only other difference was that I live in Cambridgeshire and he lives inside the M25 !

Most pet insurers base the price of their premium on the breed, age and sex of the dog, the post code of the owner and the level of cover provided.

Some things to be aware of:

1. There are two main types of cover- life long or 12 month cover. Life Long means that the dog is covered for each ailment for the life of the dog - usually to a maximum total cash amount per ailment, although some are unlimited. 12 month cover enables you to claim for the first 12 months of an ailment and thereafter that ailment will be excluded. You will not be surprised to hear that Life Long Cover is generally more expensive than 12 month cover

2. Your insurance will increase in price every year (sometimes even during the year). Please also be aware that some insurers will stop insuring your dog when they reach a certain age.

3. Read the small print carefully ! Some insurers exclude previous conditions from their policy, others will underwrite each previous condition and sometimes "load" additional premium to compensate for the additional risk.

4. Excesses can vary dramatically - sometimes they will also increase with the age of the dog. Many are quoted as a percentage of each claim, others are a fixed amount and some are both.

5. If you take advantage of a free cover period, be aware that if you claim during that period and then move to another insurer when the free period ends, there is a good chance that the "pre-existing" condition will not be covered with the new insurer, so it may be more advantageous to stay with the provider of the free cover. Also worth considering this issue if you decide to change insurers during the life of the dog - some things may be excluded with the new insurer.

I own three dogs and all of them are insured with Pet Plan. We have always found them to be very helpful (I don't work for them - honest !) and we have claimed many times on all three policies. Although I get very frustrated with the excesses that I have to pay - I do still believe that ultimately we have claimed more than we have paid in - so it has worked for us.

In conclusion - always read the small print. As with most things - you pay for what you get. So although the premium may look expensive - you are probably receiving much better (or larger) benefits than the alternative quote.

My recommendation is that you decide whether you want lifetime or 12 months cover, then decide what the maximum amount of cover (in cash terms) you want and then shop around based on that.

Many of the "brand" insurers such as Tescos, Asda, Argos and others are in fact just agents for well known insurers and may be cheaper or more expensive and still have the same cover - so again, shop around and don't just go for the cheapest one.

Some other insurers to consider:

Kennel Club Healthcare
Kennel Club Crufts Insurance
Marks and Spencer
Pinnacle Pet Insurance
Pet Protect
Animal Friends
BDML
Axa
More Than
Liverpool Victoria
Direct Line

And many more - just Google them!
Hope that helps.

[Karen]

I am with PetPlan and have never had any problems with them. I am suprised that they are charging you so much for your jack Russel I only pay £22 per month for 1 dog given that she is an American Bulldog who is never away from the vets, is pretty good (dont you think), have they definatelty got the right breed of dog on your certificate.

The thing I like about them is the pay up pretty quickluy (or at least have done with me), and their policy is a cover for life policy which means that you can claim the full amount every year you renew your policy.

Some insurance companies dont provide cover like this which means that once you reach your say £4000 limit you wont be able to make any more claims.

However I didnt know that they sold your information to other companies, might explain all the junk mail i get.

Insurance as previously quoted is a minefield but read the policy carefully to make sure you are covered for what you need, oh by the way I have heard a lot of bad things about the Mark & Spencers insurance from a good few people I know, things like not paying for things that they should, bad customer service, claims going missing and taking a lot time to pay.

I also thought Petplan gave you a discount if you are insuring more than 1 pet.

[Anna]

thanks for your replies, you have both raised some useful points.

For some reason the Pet Plan guy Jo, seems to think that Jack Russells are expensive Pedigree dogs and even though I explained that they were not pedigree, nor KC registered nor did I have papers for them.. my premium was £17.00 per month per Jack Russell and that was that.

I think during my evenings this week I will be browsing the internet and doing some more quotes, thank you Steve for your list of insurers to try.

And Karen.. Marks & Spencers arent only bad at Pet insurance...! My boyfriend booked and paid for some birthday flowers to be delivered to my work on Monday.. but much to his dispear he logged into his email at work on Monday morning to find an email sent to him at 2am Monday to state that his ordered bouquet of flowers would not be delivered today as they had a back log...

So he cancelled them and rang a local flourist.. and at 4pm the same day I got a huge bunch of pretty flowers to my work! lol

Anna

[Karen]

Good luck Anna on finding insurance thanks for the warning out M&S flowers wont be ordering them from there then.

[Anna]

I am going to do some more quotes tonight, I have a leaflet from Directline saying you can have 12 months Pet Insurance for the price of 10 months.. so I will try them and afew other recommended insurers.. and be mindful of reading the small print!

Anna

[Anna]

Based upon: 1 Jack Russell Terrier - Age: 6 week - 1 year and a Scarborough Postcode.

The Money Super Market Quote came back with:

E&L Moneysupermarket Exclusive
Bronze : £8.40 per month
Helpucover Pet Insurance
Vital : 11.65 per month
E&L Moneysupermarket Exclusive
Silver: £12.50
Helpucover Pet Insurance
Classic: £14.59
E&L Moneysupermarket Exclusive
Gold: £15.50
M&S
Standard: £16.99
Helpucover Pet Insurance
Premier: £17.39
E&L Moneysupermarket Exclusive
Diamond: £17.50
M&S
Premier: £25.49

[Anna]

This try is Confused.com - unfortunately you have to do each quote individually, it wont do them all at once for you and gve you a comparison list!

Tescos Standard £12.33 for both Jack Russells! up to £2,500 pay out per condition!!
Sainsburys £12.38 per dog - Up to £3,000 vets fees per condition (12 month limit) & reduced cover or £18.59 per dog - Up to £7,500 vets fees per condition. (15% discount if you purchase before the 12th May)
Pet Pals - 1st month free, so 11 payments of Value cover £9.72 vets fee per year £1,000, or 11.32 for Standard vets fees per year £3,000, or £12.57 vets fees up to £5,000 per year, or Accident cover for £6.83 for accident fees up to £4,000.
Pet Wise - Bronze Cover £6.06 (vet fees up to £1,000), Silver Cover £9.89 (vet fees up to £3,000), Gold Cover £11.62 (vet fees up to £5,000) all vet excesses are £50.00

M&S Your Quote:


Quote Reference: MS00XXXXX
Product: Standard Your Premium: £96.72

12 monthly instalments by Direct Debit of £8.06
For your Dog, Dylan, aged 23 weeks, for an annual policy starting 02 May 2009

Standard cover Includes (Read our Policy Summary PDF):
Vets fees up to £4000 Emergency pet minding if you are ill up to £600
Third party liability cover up to £1,000,000 24 hour health advice line

Want more Cover ?

Choose our PREMIER Policy at £11.04 per month.

Greenbee Insurance

Your quote

Thank you for requesting your Greenbee pet quotation. Your quotation reference number is: 171-221-XXX

Your Greenbee Pet Insurance policy:

* covers your pet for up to £7,000 per policy year for vet's fees, with no limit on the number of claims
* helps recover your pet if it's lost or stolen with up to £1,000 advertising costs & up to £1,000 for a reward fund
* will support you with third party liability up to £2,000,000
* where possible, we will pay the vet directly so you are not out of pocket
* includes a comprehensive pet care guide.

Total premium (including 5% Insurance Premium Tax) £231.18
Monthly instalment (you can choose to pay monthly at no extra cost) £19.26
Standard Veterinary Fees Excess (this is in addition to your selected voluntary excess) £75
Voluntary Excess - NONE
Total Excess £75

Confused.com also have 'More Than' as one of their Pet Insurers but the link is not working at the moment.. strange only Tesco give you discount for insuring more than one pet at a time... and how the prices differ!

I will try compare the meer.. I mean market.com tomorrow!

Anna

[angelbarbie]

I thought if I was going to insure my dog I may as well have a policy that would pay out if I needed it to. I took out Pet Plan for life cover, 12 months for the price of 10. I was paying a lot each month..... but felt I had peace of mind......

BUT when the renewal came it was even more expensive. I was in a dilemma, I didn't want to not have insurance or a rubbish policy that wouldn't pay out..... I contacted The Insurance Doctor, a man called Neil Flint who runs a VIP independent company offering free advice on all aspects of pet insurance.

I spoke to a lovely woman and told her what cover I had, and what it was I wanted, but wondered if there was another insurer who provided similar cover for less money. I have seen all the TV and magazine adverts for Pet Plan, none of that comes cheap! I wondered if their policies were SO expensive because they were spending so much on adverts.

I was told about Pet Wise and their cover. Its £10 a month LESS than pet plan, the cover is similar, but they have a ceiling limit on each illness, not a time limit but a price limit. I am very happy with this cover and the saving I made each month...
Regards, Julia