Pet Insurance

[Skippy]

I need some opinions!

I've currently got Harry insured with Petplan, which is going to go up to just under £15 a month and pays £4000 per year for vets fees. I did a quote with Homebase, which will be £6.99 a month, but will only pay £2500 per year.

I'm now not sure what to do - do I keep him with Petplan and pay the extra, or do I change to Homebase? Has anyone got any experience of either company?

Or if anyone would like to confuse me further perhaps they could recommend another company!!!

[Max]

Keep with Petplan - before we had Henry our dog had cancer - over three years Petplan paid out £11,000 - for ops and chemo - never quibbled about a thing. Henry is insured with them and because Boxers often have heart murmurs they paid for a vet cardiologist check because the local Vet was not sure. J

[Skippy]

Thanks for that J. I must admit I prefer the idea of Petplan as they only deal with animal insurance, whereas I was in Homebase last night ordering a kitchen sink and it made me feel a bit uneasy about insuring Harry with them!

[Max]

You are welcome. J

[kallis3]

Suzie is with Petplan and whilst it's not one of the cheapest, I think their cover is good. It's one thing I always check out when searching around. I prefer to have a decent amount of cover, plus continuation of the treatment after the twelve months if needs be. But I won't pay really extortionate fees.

I can't remember who Lloyd is with - I think it's Esure.

I shall take a careful look at our renewal when it comes through though - you'll be paying more for Harry than we do for a big dog!

[Skippy]

I've just phoned Petplan and asked why the premium has increased, and it's because I had a 10% discount last year, and they have had to put their prices up due to vets' fees increasing.

I asked if they could reduce it, but they said no, so I'm not feeling like a valued customer at the moment as they obviously don't care if they lose me!

[Max]

Sorry about that - we got three months free plus a 10% discount because we had been with them for so long - ring again and see what happens. J

[Skippy]

It's only my second year with them so I probably don't qualify for a loyalty bonus yet, but I'll give that a try next year!

[martgoingmad]

Hi I found an excellent place for pet insurance after Tesco's were going to put mine up by £8 per month.

Try these people:
http://www.animalfriends.org.uk/

They were reasonably cheap for some good insurance.

Martyn

[kallis3]

If Petplan do the same with me then I shall be looking around as well.

[Skippy]

Thanks for that link.

In the end I decided to go with Homebase as although the annual pay out for vets' fees is lower there are more benefits. The adviser at Homebase went through everything with me and I felt happy with them.

When I phoned Pet Plan to cancel they didn't even ask me why I wanted to cancel - obviously easy come easy go to them!

One other thing for anyone looking for pet insurance - beware of some of the covered for life plans as they are not as good as they seem. I found what sounded like a good one as it was paying up to £7k in fees, but when I read the small print it was £7k maximum for the life of the pet, not per year. Pet Plan and Homebase both pay up to a certain amount each year, and if you use the full amount it starts again the next year.

[lilmc]

Now you've got me thinking Skippy, both my cat and dog are with esure, and it's not cheap, just been renewed, Cat (Stella) is £10.99 month, Dog (Lil) is £13.99 month, the only reason I went with them is the fact that it's upto £7k per illness, will have to check small print when I get home form work.....

[kallis3]

Funnily enough Skip, we had a months free insurance with Payplan when we got Suzie last year, and when I phoned up to cancel as I had a cheaper quote elsewhere, they managed to bring the price down!

With the sort of dog she is - and she will eat anything if she can get hold of it, then I need high vets bills cover. Although we gave got away with it so far, I am sure the day will come when she gets hold of something which will cause her harm and I want to make sure I can get all the money back!

[plasticdaft]

The really big thing with pet insurance is continuing care. Many plans offer cheaper insurance but wont cover you if your dog needs continued treatment for the same condition after your first year,and by the no other companies will touch you.
Petplan offer this service and know full well that customers end up tied to them regardless of price especially if your dog has required ongoing treament(and I should know!!).

In a word,there are plenty cheaper than petplan but I havent seen one with such comprehensive cover. We can even get our vets to work directly with petplan so we dont pay anything out until after the insurance has paid up after which we get a bill for any excess.

Worth having if you can get it passed your IP(if not still worth having but incorporate the costs into the household budget or something(be creative)).

Paul

[Skippy]

The Homebase one has continuing cover which is why I decided to switch - if it hadn't I wouldn't have done it as I want to know that if Harry was ill he could be treated for the rest of his life.

I've also got a lower excess and some of the benefits that they will pay are higher than Pet Plan.