Topic: Woah! Petplan alternatives? (Read 7760 times)

Bee · « **Reply #22 on:** July 23, 2013, 22:08:36 PM »

Just to update, OH called today and they said the 3 months starts again from the date of the vet visit and after that they would review... I think the key there is that they didn't say they would definitely remove it.

rachelburdett20 · « **Reply #21 on:** July 23, 2013, 21:52:36 PM »

from personal experience, (working at a vets) would stay clear of anyone underwritten by E+L (animal friends ect) we cant even do direct claims with them ....

Bee · « **Reply #20 on:** July 22, 2013, 16:41:06 PM »

Thanks , think I will, have 14 days to cancel so will if they say we won't be covered.

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #19 on:** July 21, 2013, 22:10:55 PM »

That is apalling!

I would ring them and ask................you have nothing to lose and £30 a month is daylight robbery!

Bee · « **Reply #18 on:** July 21, 2013, 20:09:38 PM »

Sorry to resurrect this but it's a bit of a specific question in the hope someone might know the answer...
So when we got Mo he had the runs, honestly it was nothing, most probably stress but we had to declare it on our insurance as they medicated him. So we got a 3 month clause against any payment on gastro illness. They said they'd remove it if after 3 month out vet sent the records to say he'd been clear. Unfortunately this weekend he was sick and to be safe we took him to the vet. Again probably nothing, they could find nothing wrong with him but said he may have a slight bug so we opted from anti sickness and long acting antibiotic to be safe. Now I'm worried Petplan will see this and refuse to insure against tummy problems.
My question is, how wide ranging is this? I mean we wouldn't claim on this kind of thing anyway as its £85 excess and it wasn't much more but if he gets something serious later like stomach cancer (god forbid) will they refuse to pay? I don't want to pay £30 a month (and that's the cheapest we could find!) if they will use this s an excuse to never pay out!

Ay ideas?

Bee · « **Reply #17 on:** July 04, 2013, 18:21:56 PM »

Thanks for all the replies guys, really helpful. On average reading through, I think £26 for one cat still seems extortionate, I knew he's young and not currently neutered but they haven't said it would go down either...I will check all suggestions. My main concern is pay out if needed. They are lower risk not being roamers but as we learnt only too painfully with Bass this doesn't make them safe from illness.

In the meantime, I hate Petplan just a little bit more today. I'd class this as harassment.

lau200 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 03, 2013, 22:25:31 PM »

I cancelled my petplan cover years ago when the increase went up to £30 for two cats and instead insured my four with argos. Within 2weeks penny was rushed into the vets with serious illness. She spent a week in the vets before being pts due to antifreeze poisoning but the stay cost over £2000 and argos paid up straight away, no problems. We pay around £8 a month now per cat, Penny was only £5 but that was around four years ago. You could always do a quote to see on line

Lyn (Slugsta) · « **Reply #15 on:** July 03, 2013, 17:41:27 PM »

Thanks for that Souffle, I think we might look into it.

souffle · « **Reply #14 on:** July 03, 2013, 17:14:02 PM »

Quote from: Slugsta on July 03, 2013, 12:04:24 PM

Alfie is with PetPlan and they are charging us around £15 per month. He is 20 months old, DSH. We have just acquired Cleo who is around 10 years old, so I suspect we will be better 'self insuring' her, rather than trying to find a company that will take her on as a new customer without costing me several limbs!

Animal friends would do Cleo for between £8.50 - £14.50 ish a month even at her age depending on the level of cover. Excess is £99 I think though.

Lyn (Slugsta) · « **Reply #13 on:** July 03, 2013, 12:04:24 PM »

Alfie is with PetPlan and they are charging us around £15 per month. He is 20 months old, DSH. We have just acquired Cleo who is around 10 years old, so I suspect we will be better 'self insuring' her, rather than trying to find a company that will take her on as a new customer without costing me several limbs!

souffle · « **Reply #12 on:** July 03, 2013, 10:50:02 AM »

Have a look at Animal Friends - they do have a good range of covers and will insure up to any age without the price hike ups. You can also choose a level of cover and a policy to suit your priceband.
Let me know if you are going to choose them before you go ahead because if I recommend you I will get a £20 Amazon voucher which I would donate to the Purrs Auction

http://www.animalfriends.org.uk/

Rosella moggy · « **Reply #11 on:** July 03, 2013, 09:39:34 AM »

It still irritates me that Axa made me push so hard to get an admission that the underwriters insist that number of claims for the individual/cat are now taken into account when setting renewal premiums. Due to family problems taking over, I never took it further and they never replied to my letter so I have nothing in writing. So unprofessional.

I wonder if perhaps premium hikes depend on number of claims rather than amounts claimed? So you get walloped if you claim more than 3 or 4 times per cat or worse still for crazy people with 8 cats maybe 5 or 6 times per owner?

Just a thought as I had claimed a number of times for Bob in a very short period due to his cat flu in summer 2012 and also recall had a few vet visits when he first arrived 7 months earlier due to skin problem on back of neck after fitting a cat collar. I'd say sickly little man but he's a tall leggy chap and strong as a horse now

I've just had reminder from vet for Bobby's annual vaccination and will need to have a chat with vet first as he came down with cat flu 3 weeks after last year's jab.

I found that Axa premiums reduced very slightly for ours after they reached 2 years old. So pleased your premiums remain at a decent level Helen. If we only had two, they would certainly be insured.

Tiggy's Mum · « **Reply #10 on:** July 03, 2013, 08:18:10 AM »

I think whatever company you go with premiums for older cats are astronomical compared to younger ones - that's not just an oddity with Axa - obviously older cats cost them more so it's all about risk, they are in the business of making money after all

I've been with them five years now and overall would recommend them. I've had a fair few claims with Riley (ironically the biggest, strongest one as Lu is definitely the r u n t of the litter but don't tell him I said so!

) and it hasn't affected the premiums up until now - fingers crossed it stays that way! They are sometimes slow to pay out but the last claim came through very quickly if I remember rightly.

Either way they are the best price for what is very good cover and I am now in the position that I'm stuck with them come what may as I have claimed for both boys over the years so would be classed as pre-existing conditions if I went elsewhere. Just out of interest PetPlan quoted £13.71 per cat for the same cover as Axa's £8.69 (7k per year, covered for life).

Edit: Just remembered my last claim was for a grass swallowing incident resulting in Riley collapsing and struggling to breathe and me rushing him to vets now on a Sunday... £250 for him to chuck up the grass blade as we walk through the surgery doors

That was defo last year and I didn't claim for Lu at all last year so I wonder if there is a threshold for next years premiums to rise as a result of claims. My renewals were April 2013 which post-dates Rosella's experience and like I say both premiums went up by the same amount (pennies) despite having claimed for Riley and not Lu

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #9 on:** July 02, 2013, 23:27:05 PM »

Axa now have changed and increase based on claims.

I dont know how Helens cats are so cheap!

I now pay about £15 ish for Misa who is coming up to 12yrs................how can such a big kitten be 11!

Sasa coming up to 15yrs is more but cant remember and she had major work done last yrsince last renewal

Lupin is a pedigree and just under £12 and will be 3 in Aug.

I tried keeping a slush fund for Napoleon and Ducha, started with £500 and added money every month but it was all taken when Ducha broke a bone in his ankle and then a few months later Napoleon was taken very ill and ended up with £2000 to pay after losing him. I only paid that off this year and cant afford to not have insurance again.

Both were about 16/17yrs when I stopped there insurance because axa wanted to hike it ip to an amount I couldnt afford!

Cats under one year old cost a lot more than cats from 1 yr and axa do varying amounts of excess, go for £50 cos it doesnr save that much goiung higher and it will mean all the basic visits will come withing the excess if its £75 or over.

Bee · « **Reply #8 on:** July 02, 2013, 22:44:35 PM »

Just read through the AXA thread.. Interesting. PP. told me the expense was purely on postcode but we had a claim for Bass... Hmmmm...

Bee · « **Reply #7 on:** July 02, 2013, 22:35:32 PM »

Thanks guys! Ill review and see, pp was £44 WITH a discount

I just think even insuring only Mo elsewhere might be cheaper, I'm hesitant to give up the ok price with pp for Drum right now as my experience with them paying out was excellent.... but will inquire. I just can't afford such a high monthly payment.

Rosella moggy · « **Reply #6 on:** July 02, 2013, 22:24:02 PM »

Quote from: Tiggy's Mum on July 02, 2013, 22:01:24 PM

They don't put up premiums based on individual claims .......

Think they do now Helen as I discovered when Bobby's went through the roof due to his cat flu last summer.

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,42435.msg752993.html#msg752993

I cancelled all 7 policies (had to cancel Billy's a few years back due to increase). Having 8 cats no longer justified the cost and we have spent last 3 years building up a fund to cover potential vet fees and continue to add to it. They should be OK.

Tiggy's Mum · « **Reply #5 on:** July 02, 2013, 22:01:24 PM »

The Axa policy is life cover, 7k per year each and every year. I'm not London but am South East and the preimium increases (so far - touch wood!) in the years I've been with them have been very reasonable. I now pay £8.69 per cat (six year old neutered males) and think it was around £7 per cat when I first insured them with Axa when they were one. They don't put up premiums based on individual claims but claims in general in the area apparently, same with PP I guess. I can testify to this as I claimed for Riley and not Lu but their premiums are the same. There's a risk with any insurance company that premiums will rise at renewal so I guess the moral is to go with the best cover you can now and worry about renewals if/when it goes up.

If you did decide to switch Drum too then double check that your vets have a clean file on her, even so much as a scratched eye or tummy troubles will have a new insurer trying to exclude future claims to do with that part of the body. Also worth noting that Axa do a 5% second pet discount so if you did end up insuring them both then do two separate quotes and insure the cheapest one first so you get the second pet disount on the more expensive one

Bee · « **Reply #4 on:** July 02, 2013, 21:47:20 PM »

Oh, & thx Gill, do they do lifetime do you know?

Bee · « **Reply #3 on:** July 02, 2013, 21:45:45 PM »

Drum is healthy apart from deafness which is fine, but to be honest I'm considering staying with pp for her & just going elsewhere for Mo. I like pp, it's just a huge boost! Apparently it's cause we are in London, as if we don't pay for that already! I mean ours don't even roam!

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2013, 20:57:11 PM »

Try AXA , geeeeeeez these increases are getting so big.

Dont change if either have any lifetime problems or these will be not paid for

Bee · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2013, 20:10:43 PM »

So.. Just went to extend our policy with PP for Mo and they want to charge us £44 a month for two cats... We currently only pay £15.80 for Drum and used to pay £24 for both when we had Bass. Apparently their pricing has changed but still, this is a HUGE increase!

Now, obviously if we have to pay it we will, but we aren't exactly rolling in it so if anyone has any alternatives I'm interested! I do feel we are being ripped off a bit! it's Lifetime cover btw.

Author Topic: Woah! Petplan alternatives? (Read 7760 times)