Insurance Recommendations

[Anka]

My 3 and my daughter's 2 are all insured with Argos Platinum:



This is underwritten by Axa anyway...

7k per year seemed like a sufficient amount for a cat till George needed 2 ops on his back legs that came in total to over 6k now and we stillneed to do Xrays.....

[Rosella moggy]

They used to be really efficient but those days are long gone   

Learn to be patient and they are pretty good    6 of ours are insured with them. 

[Tiggy's Mum]

I agree they're not the quickest at paying out but they get there in the end!

[Lindsey (thefunkyinuit)]

Well it seems like AXA is the best bet! Thanks for all the info guys 

[JenGeorgieBob]

I am with AXA, and although they sometimes take their time with payments, I have found them to be very good. They were the only insurance company that didn't have a list of exclusions for Benji due to his FIV status, but go on what the vet says instead (I think petplan e-mailed me a list of everything excluded and it was shocking how much they wouldn't cover! including allergies, stomach problems and cancer???)
Benji has an excess of 50, the kittens are 75 each but I don't have to pay a percentage of the cost. They have also e-mailed me a blank claim pdf form now, instead of having to wait for one in the post, which is very useful, as both Ginger and Benji are claiming lots at the moment.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Sorry missed the bit that Helen picked up.

Axa have a range of excesses that affect the price of the policy and do not charge any surcharge.............I have 3 cats insured with them and two are 10yrs old plus.

So if you opted for £50 excess it would cost more per month than a £100 excess.

[Tiggy's Mum]

My top picks would be Petplan or Axa as they both offer 'life' cover ie a set amount each year to be spent that re-sets each year meaning you are covered for life as long as you renew the policy each year. There have been a few branded insurance policies recently (Halifax is one) that have pulled out of the pet insurance market leaving those thinking they had life cover and claiming for an ongoing condition high and dry as no other insurer will cover the pre-existing medical condition. Petplan are solely pet insurers and have a very good reputation so they are unlikely to pull the policy and Axa underwrite themselves and are solely insurers so as safe a bet as you can get.

A lot of insurers (petplan included) charge an excess PLUS a percentage eg 25% of the bill for older pets. I'm fairly sure Axa don't or at least they didn't when I took my policies out.

Tip from the top: If you do take out Axa polices for both of them you get a 5% discount on the second pet so take out Molly's policy first as 5% of Lacie's premium is more than 5% of Molly's premium if you did it the other way round 

The reason Axa don't ask about pre-existing conditions (I queried this when I switched the boys from M&S as Riley had previously had investigations into heart issues - thankfully all OK) is simply because they wouldn't provide cover for anything pre-existing so no need to mention it at the quote stage as they are not relevant to the policy or the premium, even if she had 15 pre-existing conds she would cost exactly the same to insure as they just won't pay out for anything related so she is no more of a 'risk' if you see what I mean.

AXA is the best and cheapest but no insurance will cover pre=existing conditions so you need to leave the cat with ill health where she is as nobody will cover her and its better to have some cover rather than none.

The current policy only covered the conditions for 12 months so no they are not covering the diabetes or kidney issues there's no value in staying with them as it's a poor policy in that it only covers for 12 months and the payout at 2.5k is low. As there's nothing else pre-existing Axa and the current insurers would offer equal cover as neither would cover kidney or diabetes related stuff.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

AXA is the best and cheapest but no insurance will cover pre=existing conditions so you need to leave the cat with ill health where she is as nobody will cover her and its better to have some cover rather than none.

You will find the info about pre-existing conditions in AXAs terms and conditions and what it covers..............very bad if they are not mentioning it online............you can always ring and check but know I am right, sadly.

[Lindsey (thefunkyinuit)]

Does anyone have any recommendations for pet insurance?

I'm mainly looking for insurance for Mollie (healthy 3yrs 5mth old moggie) but also looking at the possibility of a new policy for Lacie (13 yr 8 mth old moggie) .

Currently Lacie is insured with Tesco, who I have no problem with but the policy is only up to £2500 per condition or 12 months of the condition so I now can't claim for her diabetes or kidney disease & don't think that £2500 is nearly enough cover. Also my excess is £100, she had a scratch on her eye last week and all in all that cost me £100 so a policy with a lower excess would be better. At the moment her insurance is about £15 a month.
The best price I have found so far was £15.50 a month for a policy for up to £7000 total vet fees per year & also covers long term illnesses, BUT I thought it strange that when I did the quote, it didn't ask about pre-existing conditions, I know that no company will cover pre-existing conditions but would have thought it would make a difference to the price of the policy? That one was with AXA. I also looked at John Lewis which was over £20 a month for the same cover & Petplan won't give this type of cover for her, I assume because of her age. Axa would cover Mollie for £7000 per year for about £5.50.

Both are chipped & neutered. Preferably I would like them both to be on £7000 per year policies.