Mumsnet users share what they think of pet insurance providers

[EllieMumsnet]

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We want to know what you think of all things pet insurance as well as pet insurance providers. Have you found the perfect plan for you? Is there something you wish providers would do more of? Perhaps you can share how you found the pet insurer you are currently with?

Whatever your thoughts and feelings are about pet insurance and the providers, please share them on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

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I pay £100 into an ISA each month. DCat is now 9, and all he’s had done is have his teeth cleaned. It was when I got a quote of £50 a month to insure him an was told I couldn’t claim for six months that I decided not to go for insurance.

We had lifetime cover for our dog but when he turned 8 the premium went up from around £250 to over £800! By that time he had pre existing conditions so other policies were giving similar quotes. We felt well and truly ripped off. In the end we opted for the most basic cover and paid the vet fees ourselves. Even though he was quite ill at the end of his life it was still cheaper than it would have cost to stay with the original insurer assuming they wouldn't have increased the premiums even more which I'm sure they would. It's one reason why we don't have any pets now.

I really wish I’d understood the difference between lifetime cover and maximum per illness cover when I was first insuring our dog. We’d have been better off putting the insurance payments into a separate pot and using that to pay the vets bills.
And like other insurances, I hate they way the premiums get hiked massively at renewal, even if you haven’t made a claim.
The other thing I find frustrating is that it is harder to get insurance for older pets -and yet generally, that’s when you are most likely to need help with bills.
It feels like the industry is entirely weighted in favour of the industry, and not the individual.

Our cat is just over 5 and we have always used the same insurance company until this year. She is a housecat, has all her vaccinations, had been spayed never claimed yet this year the premium shot up. I'm assuming due to her age although 5 is hardly old for a cat ! I shopped around and got the same level of cover for almost half the price.

I made the mistake of rushing the vet with every ailment - real or mostly perceived - when dog was a puppy.

I didn't realise that this is on his record whether you claim on insurance or not, and this information is accessible to insurers.

Exclusions include ear-related problems (he was stung on the ear by a wasp), stomach problems (he ate a roll of wrapping paper), bone fractures (he went to sleep on his paw and I thought he was paralysed ) and a few others besides.

Consequently I am stuck with Pet Plan who are good payers but evilly expensive. This year it was a toss up whether to pay (£600) or save the money. I am a bit superstitious, though, and just know that the minute I stop paying he will be struck by a genuine ailment, and such is my love for that dog that I will be storming the gates of Supervet to help him, even if I have to remortgage the house.

petplan are excellent. we were recommended them by our friends and we insure our dog through them.

A lot of them provide good cover but the prices always jump up dramatically after the first year.

I'm not sure I really trust pet insurance providers. We had a cat, but she wasn't insured as we didn't see the point. She was just a normal moggy, if she'd have been pedigree, we probably would have insured her. If we had a dog, he/she would definitely be insured. But I'd need to do a lot of fishing and reading on the internet before I chose the provider.

All three cats have covered for life policies with petplan. I wouldn't insure them with anyone else, one of our cats last year was found to have cardiac issues and petplan covered everything. She had numerous heart scans at £800 each plus drugs costing hundreds a month. If it wasn't for insurance we'd have had to have her pts straight away, due to insurance and the amazing care she received from our vet, her final year was lived in comfort and the best care money could buy. We've never had an issue with petplan

Catface is insured with petplan. She’s on the medium level of cover as is currently an indoor cat. So less of a risk.

I chose them because dparents always used them when they had cats and the few times they did need to claim they were excellent. Easy to deal with and helpful.

Hopefully I’ll never have to use it. But it’s there in case.

We use an online company to insure our 5 year old lab. We previously used Petplan but this company was half the price for the same cover. 18 months ago our dog was diagnosed as epileptic. Fortunately his insurance does cover this and will do for life. In the first year claims were well over £2k. We get most of that back except excess of around £180 so can’t complain. The thing that drives me crazy is how bad they are at paying out! It always takes 3 months and countless phone calls to get the money we are owed back. We are fortunately able to pay the vets bills for his meds (around £170 a month with no extra problems!) but it is so frustrating that it takes so long to pay out on a pre-approved claim. The excuses they dish out are the same every time - ‘it’s in the pile to be approved’, ‘we’re short staffed’, ‘it’s in the pile to be paid’ and so on. Even after notification of payment it still takes 4-5 days to reach my account. If I could change without incurring huge fees for a pre-existing condition I would. And I wouldn’t recommend this company. I guess we will have to put up with the long payment times. At least he’s covered I suppose.

I should point out that at the end of the first year, with them paying out £2k and knowing it was a lifelong condition, our premiums didn’t rise excessively. It’s really only the payout time that frustrates me.

We also have our cat insured with them but have never had to use it.

Pet plan as they support the homing charity our pet came from. Bit pricey though.

It’s all good until you’re pet starts getting old !

i have two pugs which are the number 1 breed for having breathing difficulties so it was important for us to get pet insurance that covers lifetime illnesses. we went with pet protect and so far so good. one of our pugs now has been diagnosed with liver shunt...a lifelong illness which is will be on medication forever (unless it stops working and we have no choice but to do high risk surgery costing 7k). so definately lifelong insurance is a must!

money making robbers

I've always used MoreThan, my cats are 15 and they have paid all the bills without quibbling, it has amounted to about £5000 to date. Sadly one cat has died but the other is still going and all her medical bills have been covered. I really do have no complaints. They are over 10 so I have to pay 10% of any calim and £150 excess but I have still saved thousands by being insured.

I used money saving expert to search the best deals for pet insurance for my dog and cat. I’ve never had to use this, so for now taken out the cheapest deals.

I went with L&G for lifetime cover. They didn’t send out any paper work when asked twice, hardly knew the policies themselves (that I spoke to) and seemed to be unhelpful (spoken to 3 different staff members). Overall not very satisfied so cancelled with them and went over to Tesco pet insurance, which have been great so far.

There seems to be so much that isn't covered with insurance! My cats needed dental treatment which wasn't covered. I assumed it would have been. I'll be reading the small print much more closely in future. Especially for my indoor cat, the tho us covered seem less likely to effect her.

Currently annoyed with my insurance provider.

Been with them 3 years and had never claimed. Premium started at £12/month, and increased yearly to £16/month.

This year the MuttDog is 9 and the premium will go up to £21/month because she is an 'older dog'

She got an injury at the start of the summer,
Needed a small surgery. Cost almost £300. Put in a claim. Excess is £99 so was expecting almost £200 back.

Had a phone call from the claims department - we insured her as a medium mongrel. Apparently that only covers up to a weight of 20KG and because she is almost 21kg (middle aged spread!) she is now a large breed and her premium needs to go up to £26/month.

Also, if we wanted the claim to be paid we had to pay retrospectively to the last time we renewed, and sign up for another year at the new cost - a back payment of £56, an increase for this month of £10 (plus the new cost of £26/month from now on).

So on a claim of almost £300 we were entitled to the princely sum of £135 - which was then reduced to £128.50 for 'admin'

It's not even the money I'm annoyed about, but the sneakiness of the whole thing.

(And she's not a 'large breed' - she's an overweight spaniel sized mutt - the vet suggests she should be between 18-20kg. My friends working lab is a lot larger in stature than her, but considered a medium dog because she weighs 18kg)

We have never found pet insurance an easy thing - I wish there was a 'charitable insurance company' that would consider rescued dogs (an any rescue animal) more easily. As a family we have adopted many older rescue dogs and thus insurance companies are reluctant to offer insurance.....I do not blame them really as often so little is known about the animal but it works out so expensive sometimes

If it doesn’t have lifetime cover it isn’t worth it

After 20 years of dealing with clients and their policies the overwhelming feeling is how few people understand their policy and what it covers. Very, very few people can even find their excess on their policy documents and even fewer understand on what basis they are insured lifetime/ fixed limit per condition /12 month per condition.
So many people on the thread blithely saying PetPlan, but not all pet plan policies are the same and not all PetPlan policies are lifetime. When PetPlan was set up by Patsy Bloom it had only one policy that was lifetime and was excellent. It is now a sub-brand of Allianz and like any other insurance company with a range of products.

I am with Tesco Pet insurance for my 7 year old Springer Spaniel, I claimed 2 years ago when she cut her eye on some barbed wire - she needed an operation which cost £2,550. I needed to fill in lots of forms, and request lots of paperwork from the vet - after 3 months they eventually paid up, but only through sheer persistence on my part. My premium did go up, but it went up year on year anyway. It's a necessity really if you own an active dog.

Tesco have been brilliant with both my cats. They both had claims totalling £15000. It will take 19 years of premiums to be out of pocket!