CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Health => Insurance => Topic started by: stuffster on July 24, 2009, 08:05:53 AM
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I know it is a thread that often comes up - which is best/cheapest etc in pet insurance, and I often recommend Greenbee to people.
By the time Alfie is done getting his cruciate ligament fixed the vets bills will be up to around £3000. I rang Greenbee to see if I need to get it okayed before going ahead and they said "No, just send in the bills". The people Ive spoken to on the phone have been great and the claims Ive already submitted have been paid into my bank within a couple of weeks.
Even more amazingly, I got the renewal for Purdey's insurance through last week. "Oh doG, here we go" I thought. And it was exactly the same amount as last year!! It hadnt gone up at all. I was amazed.
Really cant recommend them highly enough!
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I've been with them for a couple of years now & was astonished at the last renewal the price had actually gone down, although the excess had increased but it's good to hear from people that have had to claim, as lets face it, until we make a claim we really don't know how good these insurance companies are
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I have all good things to say about M&S insurance.
We have several big claims over the years and they pay out every time...never had a claim refused....they understand about continuation claims and their cover is very good at £7000 per illness per year......so its unlikely it will ever run out.....
Jessie is currently at over £3000 for her cancer and we are getting the checks 2 weeks after the claim form being submitted by the vets...before I need to ay the credit card....great service I say!!
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This is interesting, I didn't have insurance for Ben, luckily the only thing he needed was dental which wouldn't have been covered anyway, but I have been looking at insuring my new pup and Greenbee was recommended.
On a comparison site it mentioned Greenbee pay directly to the vet, I was wondering if this is better option than having to pay out the money then get it back.
Wading through all the quotes for insurance is a bit of a mindfield, I've decided to pick a couple and decide from there, so far it's between Petplan Greenbee, M&S and More Than, the last 2 were mentioned by doggie friends in the park but they've never had to claim yet.
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On a comparison site it mentioned Greenbee pay directly to the vet, I was wondering if this is better option than having to pay out the money then get it back.
Not sure Pamela but you might have to confirm with your vet first .....Brea has been with Greenbee since a puppy ....well she sort of still is thankfully have not had too call upon the insurance again anyone i have spoken too have praised Greenbee very highly and still too hear one single negative comment
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A lot of vets won't accept direct claims, they insist on the money upfront, so always best to check with the vet.
I've got 4 weeks free insurance with Duggie, not sure whether to stay with them or go somewhere else. Gari was with Tesco and they were really expensive.
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I have been with petplan and have been of 17 years with my first dog
made lots of claims and all were paid
and have been with them again with bob for 4 years touch wood we have not had to make a claim for him yet, i was thinking about changing to HSBC they were a bit cheaper
but i do not know anyone who has used them so i am not sure if they payout, so have stayed with petplan
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Well, I've had an exciting afternoon ploughing through pet insurance quotes ::)
I am looking for lifetime cover and third party insurance mainly but the difference in the quotes was unbelievable.
I though I had a good one from More Than at only £11.50 a month until I realised they charged 10% of the claim on top of the excess amount, this really put me off.
The Greenbee site that was recommended offered the kind of policy I wanted but when I phoned they quoted more than the internet price, but did say that they would honour the internet quote and were very nice on the phone.
Greenbee quoted me for £14.50 which seemed reasonable too, PetPlan wanted £24.80 so I guess I'll be signing up with Greenbee tomorrow.
I had to laugh though when the guy on the phone, asked if my 8wk old pup had been used as a guard dog :005:
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I know it is a thread that often comes up - which is best/cheapest etc in pet insurance, and I often recommend Greenbee to people.
By the time Alfie is done getting his cruciate ligament fixed the vets bills will be up to around £3000. I rang Greenbee to see if I need to get it okayed before going ahead and they said "No, just send in the bills". The people Ive spoken to on the phone have been great and the claims Ive already submitted have been paid into my bank within a couple of weeks.
Even more amazingly, I got the renewal for Purdey's insurance through last week. "Oh doG, here we go" I thought. And it was exactly the same amount as last year!! It hadnt gone up at all. I was amazed.
Really cant recommend them highly enough!
I pay £14 a month with Greenbee for Dennis but i havnt needed to claim yet , so it reassuring to know that they are good :D
A lot of vets won't accept direct claims, they insist on the money upfront, so always best to check with the vet.
I've got 4 weeks free insurance with Duggie, not sure whether to stay with them or go somewhere else. Gari was with Tesco and they were really expensive.
Its worth remembering that when you take out new insurance they have a 14 day period were they dont cover you , so i made sure my kc insurance and Greenbee overlapped so i was still covered :D
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I was with Argos for the first year with Smartie, but they went from £5.55 to £16 on renewal!
I'm with Tesco now, £5.65 for platinum cover I think it is, was the cheapest at the time. Will def look up Greenbee if my renewal goes up tho.
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I was with Argos for the first year with Smartie, but they went from £5.55 to £16 on renewal!
I'm with Tesco now, £5.65 for platinum cover I think it is, was the cheapest at the time. Will def look up Greenbee if my renewal goes up tho.
That seams very cheap is it cover for life :huh: how much dose it cover you for each illness per year :huh:
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I was with Argos for the first year with Smartie, but they went from £5.55 to £16 on renewal!
I'm with Tesco now, £5.65 for platinum cover I think it is, was the cheapest at the time. Will def look up Greenbee if my renewal goes up tho.
Wow , that is cheap . Greenbee was one of the most competitive i found when i was looking. Alot of them were at least double :-\
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We tried Greenbee but it wasnt for us. They wouldnt offer a discount for multiple pets and I would of had to of insured each seperatly and had seperate direct debits for them all. That would mean Six seperate policys and six direct debits!!!!!
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Just wondering if all of your quotes cover lifelong conditions or do they just cover for a year?
I was going to ring Petplan to get a quote for Duggie, as I've got 4 weeks free insurance with them for him, but they rang me yesterday. I was in the middle of stuff, wasn't feeling well, Duggie was ripping my feet, and while I was answering the phone he poo'd on the floor, so I ended up saying yes to them to get off the phone. ::) They are £25 for the year plus another month free, but it's lifetime cover for conditions, could be worth it even just for potential ear problems, but hopefully he won't have anything serious.
I'm going to have a look online though, as I do have the 14 day cooling off period.
I had to laugh though when the guy on the phone, asked if my 8wk old pup had been used as a guard dog :005:
I laughed too, and I nearly said yes as at that precise moment he had ripped a bit of skin right off the top of my foot cos I'd dared to walk past him! :o :005:
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we are with petplan Holly had £205 worth of treatment on her ear sent the claim off-recieved £2.74p because i did not read the small print the vet back dated it for 14 months she is only coverd for 12 months at a time >:D it would cost me £5 on the bus to get to my bank to cash the cheque!
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Hi Fiona, I confirmed a policy with Greenbee today,
It costs £14.59 a month direct debit, life cover -£7000 per condition, per year and the usual 3rd party insurance, holiday cancellation etc. £75 excess.
Have a look on the website and see what you think, although it's not the most exciting way to spend an hour :005:
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;) I changed from M&S to Greenbee a year ago but haven't claimed yet, I have just renewed it and I am about to send in a claim for
Flo so will let you know what happens :shades:
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Unless things have changed, I'm sure Tesco only cover each condition for a year.
Fiona, not sure if PetPlan still do it but if you say that you work in a vets, you get a little discount ;)
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I think your probably right about tesco, given the price I'm paying. Will have a look at Greenbee when it's up for renewal.
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I've just had a quick look at Greenbee and I can't see anything about it providing lifetime cover for illnesses, but maybe I'm missing it? :huh:
Gari's Tesco insurance did only cover 12 months illness, I was getting fed up trying to find insurance for an older dog, at the time, that I just didn't read it until later, but luckily never needed it really. :-\
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;) Greenbee is lifetime cover Fiona :blink: I pay £11.94 a month for Flo !
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I was quoted £16 something for Duggie, wonder why it differs? It's a lot cheaper than Petplan anyway, I'm going to cancel theirs tomorrow.
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Can anyone who's spent half their life looking at Greenbee and Petplan ( :005:) tell me what the main difference is between the two?? (if there is one?) Does Greenbee lack something which Petplan does? I'm very tempted by Greenbee too! £10 on average less a month is just to tempting to ignore!
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I dont think Greenbee is lacking anything that PetPlan offers - Petplan just rely on people being too lazy to shop around after getting their free puppy insurance (they have to make the money for all those free policies somehow!)
I did ring to check it was lifetime cover etc etc before I took out the policies!
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Greebee does offer life long cover but they do it a bit different.
With other polices I have looked at you get X amount, s :-\ay its £7000 to treat each condition and once its gone thats it.
So If you dog got hit by a car and it cost £3000 in vet bills, then he got diabetes you would get another £7000 to spend on the treatment but when thats gone you have to pay for it yourself.
With Greebee you get £7000 at the start of each year to cover everything so in the same senario £3000 would of been spent on the accident and you would have £4000 left to spend on other treatments and when you were up to the £7000 you would have to pay for any bills yourself. But when you renew your policy the £7000 would start again and ongoing conditions covered by it.
Does that make any sence?
TBH I cant decide which way is best, I suppose it depends on how many different complaints your dog gets :-\
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I thought Halifax was good at £6k per year, lifetime cover and I pay £16.00. Just got a quote from Greenbee and got quoted £11.74 which seems too good to be true :-\
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M&S who we're with for Jessie cover each illness £7000 per year....and it all resets when you renew. As long as you dont break insurance with them its lifetime cover also....
I am so pleased with them - we paid £215 for Jessie last year - £18 a month and they have paid up on every claim we have put through!!
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I dont think Greenbee is lacking anything that PetPlan offers - Petplan just rely on people being too lazy to shop around after getting their free puppy insurance (they have to make the money for all those free policies somehow!)
There are quite a few exclusions in the Greebee policy that Pet Plan cover; they might seem like small things (the terms relating to dental work, and use of prescription diets, for instance) but when you are faced with the bill, it can make a huge difference.
There is also a very interesting term in the Greenbee policy; Behavioural issues are only covered for those problems which have not been caused by the way in which the dog has been trained :o
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I dont think Greenbee is lacking anything that PetPlan offers - Petplan just rely on people being too lazy to shop around after getting their free puppy insurance (they have to make the money for all those free policies somehow!)
There are quite a few exclusions in the Greebee policy that Pet Plan cover; they might seem like small things (the terms relating to dental work, and use of prescription diets, for instance) but when you are faced with the bill, it can make a huge difference.
There is also a very interesting term in the Greenbee policy; Behavioural issues are only covered for those problems which have not been caused by the way in which the dog has been trained :o
Yes Greenbee did change their policy regarding dental cover last year
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I have just had my renewal quote in from tesco, and guess what, it has doubled, to £12.04.
So I just got a quote from Greenbee, £8.76, and have just taken it up, so I hope its as good as you guys say, as it wasn't the cheapest quote I got (the AA was cheapest, £7ish)
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After reading this I got a quote from Greenbee for Henry, and it was £25! :o What's different about me? :huh:
With the amount of money I spend in John Lewis/Waitrose, I think I should get at least 10% off :lol2:
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After reading this I got a quote from Greenbee for Henry, and it was £25! :o What's different about me? :huh:
With the amount of money I spend in John Lewis/Waitrose, I think I should get at least 10% off :lol2:
And me!! I got a quote from Greenbee and it was in excess of £30 per month - in fact they took second place to Pet Plan for being the most expensive!!
I was looking at Animal Friends which seemed quite a bit cheaper, but as yet haven't got around to studying the small print on what is and what isn't covered. Rosie was on prescription diets for about three years and that cost in excess of £100 per month - she also had hydrotherapy, so I'm very aware of how the cost of these treatments can mount up - Rosie wasn't insured, and when I finally did get insurance in her 13th year, practically everything was excluded! This time around I want to make sure that I'm covered against every possible scenario so I won't have the financial aspect to worry about. I did notice that the premium with Animal Friends remains the same up to 8 years of age and then only increases slightly for dogs over 8 years - has anyone on COL had any experience with them?
I need to study the various policies available asap as I am only one month away from my little one coming home!
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I knew I was special!!!
Seriosly tho, thats a big difference in price isn't it? Were your twos' dogs older or something?
I'm gonna have to study the small print when the policy arrives.....................
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William is insured with NFU, lifetime cover, up to £4,000 in any one year and last year it cost me just over £16 per month. Definitely not the cheapest, but they were recommended to me by neighbours whose 10 year old Cocker has auto immune problems and their 7 year old Cocker has terrible joint problems. NFU have paid everything for both of those poor boys over the years.
William's renewal is at the end of this month. I've just had the quote and it's gone down a bit! I've asked about adding Louis and if I do it will make both proportionally cheaper again. But having read so much about Greenbee on here I'm going to get a quote from them as well. I'll be interested to find out what their policy will be on covering William's pre-existing back condition.
PS to annie_9_17, I'm collecting Louis today. When do you get Henry? Maybe we could have a new puppy mini meet sometime?
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OOOOOhhhh Elaine, we want puppy piccies!!! I'll look forward to them, could be tempted...................
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I'll be interested to find out what their policy will be on covering William's pre-existing back condition.
I don't think they will cover it Elaine. This is what it says on their website:
What conditions will you have to pay for yourself?
Most policies don't cover routine check-ups and treatment for pre-existing medical conditions. You need to check your policy carefully to see what exclusions it might contain.
It may be worth contacing them though, to ask.
Good luck today with Louie, let us know how it goes. :D
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I wouldn't think any company would pay for pre-existing conditions would they? Except maybe with a big hike in the cost !
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I knew I was special!!!
Seriosly tho, thats a big difference in price isn't it? Were your twos' dogs older or something?
I'm gonna have to study the small print when the policy arrives.....................
No! Henry's just a baby, not even home with us yet, so no pre-existing conditions! I don't think I live somewhere incredibly dangerous for cockers :huh: :005:
PS to annie_9_17, I'm collecting Louis today. When do you get Henry? Maybe we could have a new puppy mini meet sometime?
We're getting him tomorrow (squeaks excitedly :005:). :D A puppy mini-meet would be lovely. Hope young Louis settles in well. :luv: :luv:
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Does it make a difference in price if they are not microchipped ? Dennis is and his is £14 pm with Greenbee
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Smartie isn't.............................
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I can't remember if I put down if Henry was chipped or not (he isn't but he will be) :huh:
He comes with temporary Pet Plan, so I will have to shop around. The cats came with Pet Plan and I've never got round to changing it - just lazy really ph34r
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hi guys just had a quick look through all the posts its all a bit mumble jumble to me
what advice can you give me on insurance should i be looking for a life cover one and one that pays a good few Ks per condition and also what is does third party mean
or is it ok just getting a 12 month quote for my pup ::) ahh the joys of looking for insurance
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You are really best with life time cover. Then they will pay out year after year for the same illness providing you keep paying the premiums.
12 months cover they would only be covered for a particular illness for twelve months. If it reoccurs after that you wouldn't be covered.
Third party insures you for any damage, accident to a third party. Usually not people who live with you.