Pet Insurance

[JAX]

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phone them up thats wot i did and then they send u the quote, like i said ive just got 1 and its 117.pound and thats paying extra to keep excess down.

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Who was that with again? :wacko: Ive lost the plot of who you are with , sorry :lol:

 

[lurcherman]

m and s and its a mongrel we have insured with them.

 

[JAX]

:cheers:

 

[chelynnah]

Grr. I've just accepted another year with M&S... and having ferreted out my old policy which is just about to expire, I now wish I'd shopped around. The excess has gone up from nil to £50, and the policy itself has gone up from £98 to £164 for Lola and from £127 to £205 for Josie!!!
The only thing I can console myself with is that M&S do seem prompt payers and the policy is a good one, but next year I'll be shopping around a bit more. Those increases seem excessive in two fit and healthy dogs of 1 year and 2 years who have no illnesses and have had no claims :angry:

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Helen - double check your endorsements at the bottom. There has been some confusion over this which I called to clear up myself today actually. You should still have a line under your endorsements which says "The veterinary fees excess (section1) is reduced to NIL" if you'd already been paying for your NIL excess.

I was startled to find Savvy and Teya's premiums had gone up 65%. Chelsea's went up 35%. BUT I'm still paying less than I would be with PetPlan which I was with before, and I'm very happy with the overall handling of claims etc. I also learned today that where I thought I would lose Chelsea's no excess once she turned 8 (or 9 as the new excess policy is), but as we've had it all along she gets to keep it. Now this is a BIG BIG deal for an older dog.

Also with the new policy wording for the excess for those who have it - they've stopped the tiered excess options and made it a flat £50 for dogs under 9 years and for dogs over 9 years it's £50 excess or 15% of the total bill whichever is greater. I think the second part of that is fantastic! The PetPlan one goes up by amount AND percent every year and after a couple of years it just isn't worth it. 15% of claims for older dogs I personally think is very reasonable esp compared to some other policies.

Anyway, we're staying with them and hoping this giant hike is just a one off. I don't mind small rises each year, and I have to admit I was shocked last year when the premiums stayed the same.

I still think the whole policy is one of the best out there. There still aren't enough other companies who offer cover for life.

Wendy

 

[LasVegasNo1]

We've been with M&S from day one and got our renewal quote for Alfie last week. £195 plus excess!! We are thinking of looking elsewhere now

 

[~Helen~]

We've been with M&S from day one and got our renewal quote for Alfie last week. £195 plus excess!! We are thinking of looking elsewhere now

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Sarah, before you jump ship, check out Wendy's post above, and mine a few before that when I phoned M&S. I felt like you, but I decided to stay after talking to them. As Wendy, says, the excess doesn't apply for Veterinary Fees, and they are offering good cover, and their way of dealing with pre-existing conditions is reassuring :thumbsup:

 

[masta]

We've been with M&S from day one and got our renewal quote for Alfie last week. £195 plus excess!! We are thinking of looking elsewhere now

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Sarah, before you jump ship, check out Wendy's post above, and mine a few before that when I phoned M&S. I felt like you, but I decided to stay after talking to them. As Wendy, says, the excess doesn't apply for Veterinary Fees, and they are offering good cover, and their way of dealing with pre-existing conditions is reassuring :thumbsup:

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why is it that insurance is judged by price? whats the point of having cheap cover that is ineffective i worked with medical insurance for many years and encountered so many people left high and dry simply because they had not read their policy before buying "value" cover, imo M&S is the best allround policy available i have 2 policies and had to claim within 2months for meningitis (£3000.00) they paid quickly without quibble

 

[LasVegasNo1]

We've been with M&S from day one and got our renewal quote for Alfie last week. £195 plus excess!! We are thinking of looking elsewhere now

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Sarah, before you jump ship, check out Wendy's post above, and mine a few before that when I phoned M&S. I felt like you, but I decided to stay after talking to them. As Wendy, says, the excess doesn't apply for Veterinary Fees, and they are offering good cover, and their way of dealing with pre-existing conditions is reassuring :thumbsup:

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We haven't jumped yet, but unfortunately we were never allowed a 'no excess' policy as where we live is classed as 'too expensive' etc etc which means our veterinary fees excess has actually been increased further by £20!! :sweating:

I don't know we probably will stay with them, but we can quietly fume

 

[chelynnah]

That's a shame Sarah. I hadn't thought about that part. What you'll find with most others is the same thing - higher excess for certain areas. M&S was the only one I ever found that offered the NIL excess. I hadn't realised it was restricted though.

When I was doing my research 2 years ago the only other one even remotely close to the cover of M&S and PetPlan was MoreThan. The biggest difference was that although they did cover for life, they covered for life to a maximum of £7000 per condition. Which sounds like a lot till you potentially get a long term thing that requires drugs for life and that will trickle down quickly.

I'm not pushing M&S because I have anything to gain. But I did research about a dozen or more companies before finally switching to them, and even with the price increase now they are still the most competetive for what they offer.

Direct Line and a couple of others did offer a 'kind of' cover for life, but if I remember the prices for those (which they were reluctant to quote you as they wanted to promote their cheaper options) were as much if not more for less cover.

But things may have changed.... If you've not had any issues which could be classed as pre-existing, then if you DO find something equal or better now is the time to change before something does develop. If you decide to change back later though if something has cropped up in the meantime while you're with another insurer it won't be covered under a 'new' M&S policy.

Not trying to twist your arm - just filling you in on some of the things I thought about before switching. Chelsea had a couple of lump removals which shouldn't have been classed as pre-existing if another lump showed up, but when I switched I worried until they came back to me after going through her vet notes and saying they were fine, and nothing was excluded aside from anything to do with her anal glands which have to be emptied every so often.

Hope this helps with what to look for if you are seriously thinking of switching.

Wendy

 

[quintessence]

It's only tentatively related but I was hearing on the news this morning that, I think it was Norwich Union, are looking seriously at their drivers' insurance policies, and there are going to be some pretty large increases so it's maybe a general thing with the insurance industry at the moment.

Jenny

 

[freefaller]

Argos did my whip for £7.00 a month

Jim

 

[JAX]

I noticed Argos to different prices for Peds and NON peds DOGS but not Cats and surely ped s should be cheaper , cos we can trace parents , etc for dozens of generations , how do you know a crossbred /mongrel isnt father daughter mating somewhere alot the line ten times over (w00t)

 

[jok]

I noticed Argos to different prices for Peds and NON peds  DOGS but not Cats    and surely ped s should be cheaper , cos we can trace parents , etc for dozens of generations , how do you know a crossbred /mongrel isnt father daughter mating somewhere alot the line ten times over  (w00t)

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It's because in general, non-peds have less genetic conditions and hence less claims. We're lucky that Whippets are a healty breeds but loads unfortunately aren't. They base premiums on the amount of claims from particular breeds and over many years it has shown that non-peds have less claims. A bit like woman drivers having less claims, hence cheaper insurance.

M & S insurance is a lot cheaper for non-ped than ped now.

 

[masta]

I noticed Argos to different prices for Peds and NON peds  DOGS but not Cats    and surely ped s should be cheaper , cos we can trace parents , etc for dozens of generations , how do you know a crossbred /mongrel isnt father daughter mating somewhere alot the line ten times over  (w00t)

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why would that make it cheaper?

 

[chelynnah]

Chelsea (crossbreed) has always been cheaper at both PetPlan and M&S. I think all pet insurances have crosses as less. I don't think it's so much because of health issues, but I think has a lot to do with replacement value.

Also, another thought to throw out there - just because a dog is a purebred doesn't necessarily mean that it's from good healthy lines or bred by a responsible breeder. Remember there are a lot of BYB/puppy millers out there breeding 'purebred' but not necessarily healthy dogs.

Wendy

 

[jok]

The insurance companies themselves say it is to do with health issues. That is why some companies won't insure certain breeds eg bulldogs. The majority of money that they have to pay out is in veterinary fees and not replacement costs.

 

[masta]

lots of research is done before a company offers insurance on anything peds are dearer because stats show they are treated more than non peds now there maybe several reasons why that is so but having info on several generations ie ped is no help to an insurance comp! the provider takes calcucated risks its their job to understand that risk

 

[chelynnah]

Sorry I phrased my thoughts badly. It should have gone something along the lines of I don't think it's all about health.

But yes you're right - on a similar note to replacement cost - my point in my head which never really translated to paper was that anyone who puts out the money for a purebred is definitely more likely to treat it and go 'whole hog' on treatments for any injuries etc.

I forget that not everyone treats their crosses like they would treat their purebreds. Me - I'll pay whatever it takes purebred or not

So perhaps rather than replacement cost I should have put 'monetary value' of the dog?

Wendy

 

[lurcherman]

its all about making money so the less they spend the more they make its as easy as that..

 

[masta]

its all about making money so the less they spend the more they make its as easy as that..

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of course its about making money its a business