CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Health => Insurance => Topic started by: ruby ruby doo on August 08, 2007, 11:17:01 PM
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puppy insurance due to run out have researched this and healthy pets seem reasonable..does anyone know better? thanks for any reccomendarions!
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If you do a search you will find lots of threads on insurance, it's a bit of a hot topic. In terms of cover offered PetPlan and M&S are probably the best ones but they are both expensive.
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avoid E&L like the plague and if you go with other insurers make sure that they are not underwritten by them, they have a reputation of NOT paying out even when you are covered.
I've got petplan and other than the huge price and the large excess they have been as good as gold, Ayla is on M&S but I can't comment because so far I haven't actually made a claim she's been very healthy. :D
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All ours are insured with M&S. Though it's not the cheapest anymore, we have claimed lots and have never had any problems with payments at all.
Vera
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oh I just had to make the big leap into insurance for the first time.
I took a whole afternoon of researching and comparisons. I ended up with Petplan, BUT, they will not insure Daisy (12 weeks) third party liability, whilst she is with me at work. None of them would. And she is with me all day long at work, Monday - Friday. Luckily we are on our own in the middle of a 3 acre field, so (hopefully) not much can go wrong!!! I'm paying £22.80 per month, but I got the first month free.
I know some people who are paying £7 a month, but I never found any as cheap as that. The cheapest I found was £13 per month, and the most expensive was £35 per month.
You just have to read it all and make a gut decision in the end - and we all hope we never need to call upon it.
Good luck!
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thanks! think post code may be an important factor healthy pets came in around a tenner a month..which seemed pretty reasonable to me ...obviously a savings plan is another option..don t want to take chances with my reckless "ruby" though.. comparing like for like does my head in.. i guess something is better than nothing!I really appreciate your comments. if they can make unreasonable exceptions i guess they will!
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thanks! think post code may be an important factor healthy pets came in around a tenner a month..which seemed pretty reasonable to me ...obviously a savings plan is another option..don t want to take chances with my reckless "ruby" though.. comparing like for like does my head in.. i guess something is better than nothing!I really appreciate your comments. if they can make unreasonable exceptions i guess they will!
Savings plans won't be enough to cover third party liability claims, if you are unlucky enough to need it - the cover offered by insurance policies is £millions ;)
It isn't just for bites/attacks either; if your dog causes a road accident, or even ruins a crop of watercress by going swimming, you might just need it :-\
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pedigree dogs don't get the cheaper insurance but if its a heinz 57 meant to be healthier because its not inbred they get a cheaper insurance also because of the reduced value.
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We've used Petplan for Charlie, and they are really good. Our other dog and the cats are with E&L, and we've not been too happy with them >:D - personally, I wouldn't use E&L again.
Silkex
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whats E&L?
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Equine and Livestock - an insurance.
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Be very careful to read the small print. When we had our Yorkie Meg, we thought we had very good insurance for the dogs we had. However, when Meg was taken ill (She had Cushings already, then developed diabetes and got an infection, which unfortunately finally killed her) we discovered that what we thought was lifetime insurance, was not
Had Meg lived, we would soon have been in the terrible position of her medication costing so much each month that her insurance would have run out really quickly - and then we would have had to carry on paying the medication costs ourselves. The Cushings medication was not too bad (about £1.00 per day) but had she lived I have no idea how much her diabetes would have cost us each month, and she may have been left with other medical problems that needed long term treatment too. Once we realised this, and after Meg had passed away, we immediately changed our other dogs to a lifetime cover insurance policy - even though it meant that they had 2 policies running together for a while until the first one finished.
Just be careful!
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I am with petplan at the moment as this is what Alfie came with from the breeder but am now looking around ready for when this runs out. My mum is with pinnacle for her Airedale and she recommended them to me. They had quite a few problems with his legs as he was growing and had many trips to the vets, they always paid up quickly and were very helpful. I think they pay around £17 a month for their most comprehensive cover (it is lifetime as well).
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Hi All,
We are picking up our new puppy Lola on the 2nd Sept.Our breeder has her insured with the kennel club . She is covered with this for 6 weeks after she gets home . Any one out there have any experience with them as an insurer ? Any advice would be appreciate.
Thanks MaryAnne
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ive got lady insured with buddies. costs me £6.75 a month x
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I am with M & S and have had no problems with them paying out on claims. I would recommend you read the small print carefully as I have previously got "caught out" I had an excess of £65 to pay on a policy and the next year it jumped up to 15% of the claim which I didn't realise until I put a claim in. Unfortunately I had a very poorly spaniel who needed intensive care and specialist treatment and the bill was £6000 so I ended up paying £900 for the excess. The Insurance company were less than helpful >:D
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I'v gone with halifax for Ruby. Haven't made any claims as Ruby is new to us.
Halifax were reccomended to us by a friend. I pay £7.96 for their best package. It seems really good. As with all insurance companies the real test will be when they have to pay out.
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We're with M & S.
We pay £16.95 pm with no excess.
We've claimed well over £1000.00 since we've had Ruby and there have been no problems with them paying out.
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We are with E&L- wish I had read a thread like this before... To be fair to them when Dave had his histiocytoma they paid out no arguments but it wasn't quick by any means.
The problem I have with them is trying to get someone on the phone- we had great trouble when we were chasing the delayed payment for Dave's treatment. The worst thing about them though is they send you post that says "we are going t upgrade your account to... from this date your monthly direct debit will increase to (an extra £2 ish) if you wish to opt out you must let us know by email or in writing" This makes my blood boil- I didn't read the first one properly then noticed on my statement that it had gone up so chsed up and that day we got another so it would have gone up again- in my opinion they should give you the chance to opt in not opt out.
GRRRRRR.
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Both our cat and dog are with petplan, yes its the most expensive but at least we're covered that if anything happens at all they will be fine. they have paid out quickly when simminie cut her paw the only down side is when tabatha ate a bee the excess was almost as much as the bill so we didnt really save anything - i have to say if ur paying out that much a month to insure them for life why then do u have to pay £100 excess! but alas never mind. Azurie will be covered with petplan wen she finally arrives (4th sept 12 days and counting...)
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From past experience Pet Plan ;)
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argos is pretty good price
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I had this a few weeks ago, after reading a few topics on here decided not to continue with Tesco's very bad writeup and i've gone with healthy pets, not sure how good they are but insured both my dogs for £16 per month in total, and a few people recommended them on here.
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I've got Willow insured with the Halifax costs £7.00 per month!! :D
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I use more than, never had a problem with them yet. I have claimed several times over the years always very hassle free.
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Im with Tesco, and I have never had any problems with any claims
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I have to recommend Healthy Pets! The premium is very very competitive (about £5.50 per month for Ben but about £13 for Ben + 2 cats). This is for a lifetime cover so if Ben develops an ongoing illness then they don't exclude it the following year. Ben is just 2 years old and I've already claimed at least 3 times without any problems at all.
What ever plan you all go with - just read the small print!
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I'm with Healthy Pets too, (I used to be with Tescos, but found they only covered any illness for the first year). Have had two claims and paid out with no problem. Choose the Gold option though ;)
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we are with healthy pets. i think it's about £9 a month for the gold cover.
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Hi,has anyone used argos pet insurance?am thinking of taking out cover with them for new pup.
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Having just made a claim for Ronald with Petplan, I can recommend them very highly - the bill was settled direct with the vet within less than a week.
Yes, they're expensive, but it's the old adage... you get what you pay for! :D
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Has anyone used Direct line ? we are thinking of trying them as we have all our other insurance with them ? :huh:
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Hi,has anyone used argos pet insurance?am thinking of taking out cover with them for new pup.
Only the Argos Platinum Cover offers ongoing cover for conditions that last longer than 12 months, all the other Argos policies are for the first 12 months only - and all their policies are subject to a huge list of exclusions compared to the "premium" companies such as Petplan and M & S. Direct Line has a long list of exclusions, too - I opted to change from them after 12 months (fortuantely, we had never claimed), as they changed the policy, and things I would want included (such as pre-op blood tests) were no longer covered :-\
It really depends what you want your insurance to cover you for - they are defintely not all the same :-\
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We are with Pinnacle, we pay £21 a month. My OH searched for cheapest that has a decent policy. You have to be really careful about the small print as people have said, what they will pay out for, how long the will pay out for and the excess. Kennel Club is similarly priced but something was wrong with it...Think you have to pay the frist £??? of any claim and it was a lot, sorry can't remember why we didn't pick them!
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Another vote for Healthy Pets here, had four claims and never a problem
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Thank you everyone for your advice! :D got a real headache comparing like for like! agonized over this decision. ::).but wanted to stick to a reasonable budget! wanting life cover and at least £5 K vet cover for each condition suffered.. I settled on healthy pets eventually. the highest gold cover at 9.50 a month wanted to stretch to Halifax.. but figured if premiums then go up the next year..i wanted to keep cover affordable.. introductory offers seem all very well.. but i do not want a shock when they do not apply the next year. (i.e. two months free) . I researched and questioned dental care which seemed a bit contradictory..It seems dental injury but not work is covered.. or covered after holding a policy for 2 years.. I have learned form researching this that should your pet require treatment for an ongoing condition you are effectively tied to your company as other insurers will most likely not want to take you on. So being sure you have chosen wisely to start with seems to make sense! The other point i have realised is that, although covered for that "free" 6 weeks..you will have tied yourself in to that insurer if a condition develops.( and may not like their terms!) AND... your new insurance does not commence for the first 10 days..so i reckon you should tackle insurance issues 1 /straight away...before purchase or 2/at the least two weeks before the free insurance runs out. May still shop around next year however...although reckless ruby seems to be showing some signs ..dare i say it ! of calming down!! :luv: Thanks all for advice! hope you have all good experiences! I wonder how many of you have had to claim off other dogs insurance!