New Insurances - Questions

[SandraD]

Hi all, as some of you may remember we have a 12 week old show cocker called Monty, who came with 6 weeks free Petplan insurance from his breeder. 

I am beginning to look into taking out pet insurance for him and following recent threads concerning insurance policies, wondered which companies COL users recommend.  I have had a call from Petplan today giving me an up to date quote for a cover for life plan and the prices were £35.44 per month budget, £41.70 per month standard and £48.29 per month supreme.  All three quotes included 3rd party liability, complimentary treatment, replacement cost of dog etc., etc., and the annual vet fees covered ranged from £4,000 for budget, £6,000 for standard to £12,000 for supreme.

I may be somewhat out of touch, but I have to say I was shocked by just how expensive the quotes were.  I assume that a cover for life plan is going to be more expensive than standard annual insurance, am I right in thinking it is the cover for life plan that I should be looking at?  I am about to start trawling the internet but any advice or suggestions would be most welcome.

[floydlennon]

currently pricin insureance for my 2 liverpool victoria is the cheapest so far comin in at £31.66 for lifetime cover £5000 per condition sainsbarys looks good to at £33.89 and it includes dental look around some give u 10%/20% for buyin online floyd came with pet plan to but changed him after a while as it was expensive
leeann

[WILCO]

Try 'MoreThan Pet Insurance'. When I was looking into this not too long ago I found this to be a good level of cover and at a good price.

[supergirl]

Have also been looking for good deals on pet insurance - the best I could find was Greenbee @ £10.76 per dog, however not sure if this is a for life cover.  Morethan phoned the other day and gave me a for life quote of £41.57 for all three dogs.  I do wonder how they work things out:

Misha was £12.79 per month - spayed bitch 17months old - never been ill
Roly was £15.99 per month - entire male 11 months old - never been ill
Billy was £13.59 per month - neutered male approx 2 years old.

Why such a difference in prices.

[bibathediva]

My doG petplan has gone up  my 2 are with petplan on the supreme cover and Biba is £28 and Lola £31 per month...i did query why Lolas was more but it because i took it out later so overall prices had increased  it is one of the more expensive ones but seeing as Lola now has a lifelong condition im glad i took it out ...wouldnt be able to swap now anyway as no other company would insure her for the condition  with petplan your premiums dont increase if you make a claim but do go up with inflation...it is a mine field out there with insurance so i do wish you luck 

[SandraD]

Thanks everyone, keep the suggestions coming!!  I have been doing a bit of shopping around on line, but most quotes seem too cheap to be life cover so I think I am going to have to call a few companies to ask the relevant questions.  Will let you know how I get on.

[PennyB]

Mine is a budget for life one with Petplan and it costs 21.45 for each of my dogs

[Mrs K]

OMG - my friend just insured her cocker yesterday with them for £24 a month!!!

ETA realised not very clear, meant with PetPlan

[Nicola]

Misha was £12.79 per month - spayed bitch 17months old - never been ill
Roly was £15.99 per month - entire male 11 months old - never been ill
Billy was £13.59 per month - neutered male approx 2 years old.

Why such a difference in prices.

Young, entire male dogs are considered the biggest 'risk' by insurance companies so their premiums are always higher. Premiums are lower for neutered dogs and bitches are usually cheaper than dogs either way. The older the dog is the more expensive the premium as well and usually the bigger the excess too although this only tends to come into efffect once they reach senior status at 8 years+ or so. According to M&S Pet Insurance this is because young, entire males are most at risk of accident or injury from roaming and fighting; unneutered dogs of either sex are obviously at risk of illnesses that neutered ones can't develop and like older people, older dogs are more prone to becoming ill.

[hamfam]

Be sure to read the policies they vary tremendously

Imagine you had a claim that was to run for ten years then see how much each plan costs over the ten years. All the plans have an excess charge that must be paid for each new claim, some policies will demand the excess to be paid again on the anniversary of each on going claim so if the claim is over ten years you will need to add 10 x the excess to the bill.

Check to see how much the plan will pay out in total for each claim and that the claim will be paid for life and not just for a year.

Assume you have a 5 year old dog and ask for quote. this will give you some insight as to how the costs will increase over the coming years. Some insurers will not even quote!

Try HealthyPets or Halifax

Here is a post i made some time ago after obtaining a quote from petpals

well petplan certainly wont be getting my business - i've just got a quote for Lucy

3 different plans available

Pet Value - up to £3,000 per condition for 12 months only £50 excess and £250 excess for 3rd party claims - £15.20 monthly    

Covered for life - up to £4,000 per year £90 excess and £250 excess for 3rd party claims - £33.47 monthly  you have to pay the £90 excess again for each continuing year!  

Covered for life with unlimited vet fees - no limit on fees £90 excess and £250 excess for 3rd party claims - £45.61 monthly thats £473.72 a year more than Healthypets and whats more if the condition lasts more that a year you have to pay the £90 excess again for each continuing year!

so a ten year claim on the best plan, assuming the pemium remained static, which in reality it wouldn't, would cost (£45.61x12x10)+(£90x10) = £6319.20 in premiums and excess payments  

Healthypets gold cover gives me £5000 per condition for life with £50 excess (one off payment per condition) £100 excess for 3rd party claims - £6.15 monthly. over ten years the premiums would be (£6.15x12x10)+£50 = £788 that leaves a difference of £5531.20 to add to the £5000 per condition before i would have paid out more than i would have under petplan

So no i won't be switching to PetPlan  

[Rhona W]

Young, entire male dogs are considered the biggest 'risk' by insurance companies so their premiums are always higher. Premiums are lower for neutered dogs.

I always thought that and was soooooo disappointed when I had mine neutered to be told by Halifax that it made no difference to their prices.  In fact, for two years Reuben (entire) was cheaper than Casper (neutered) as he had second dog discount. 

Just got my insurance renewals through and it has gone up to around £16 each. (It was around £13 last year.) That is for £6000 a year for life. 

[Jeanette]

I'm with Halifax for Indie, £6000 per year for life cover.   It went up this year to £16.00 per month but have claimed twice now for her and both times they have paid out really quickly.   

[jann]

I've just switched from M&S to Greenbee at about half the price, (it is lifecover supergirl)

[tillyson]

i'm with petguard lifelong cover £20 per month excess is £60 and have £7000 worth of cover each year

[floydlennon]

some dont cover for life cover just an amount like tesco will cover a condition up to 6grand it will cover your dogs conditiond for life as long as it doesnt come to more than  the 6grand i got quoted £25 for both mine for tesco