Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: Hippykitty on February 27, 2010, 03:35:48 AM
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I'm considering having Victoria and Fred insured against vet bills. I don't know where to begin looking. They are both neutered and had original vacc.s for FLV, flu and enteritis, but I prefer not to have boosters. They will be approx 3 years old in June and are in good health at the moment.
I want a policy which doesn't require yearly boosters or bloods and will pay out quickly when necessary. I don't really want to cover the cost of them going walkies, or crossing the bridge (they are both domestic short hairs), just vet bills.
Has anyone had good or bad experience with various insurers? Any advice would be very welcome, thanks.
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I'm AXA all the way as they were great with Max and the various claims we had with him ;D
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AXA will accept cats who have not had vaccs but of course will not pay out if they catch any of the diseases they could have been vaccinated against
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AXA have fully vaccinated in their terms and conditions, however they were happy to cover Noah when I explained he had a bad reaction and cannot have boosters.
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Same with Max, we did not vaccinate due to FIV and they were informed of this. They just wouldn't cover any illness relating to lack of vaccination I think.
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I mainly use petplan and have one kitty with axa, i rate petplan alot better, much quicker at paying and havnt quibbled lolas specialist visits and have lifted simons exclusions. Axa on the other hand have taken weeks to pay me £90 for gooey :tired:
Everyone has different experiences with all companies so the one thing id say is to avoid ANY policy underwritten by E&L ;)
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Who are E&L?
A friend has her 5 insured with Tesco, but they have a weird system: females, regardless of neutering status, cost more than males to insure! Their age system seems odd too. She's tried to explain it, but it's very muddled. There are also several levels of insurance. She's paying a fortune.
I'm eligible to take mine to the PDSA. Have avoided this in the past because of suspicion that if they're watching the cash, they won't be able to perform certain proceedures (like the NHS!); also, was a big fan of one of the vets at the surgery I've used, but he works less and less due to ill health.
Have been considering insurance because vets are so expensive now. Sam, bless her, cost me about £1000; though I don't begrudge a penny of it I want to be prepared if anything happens to Vic or Fred. :thanks:
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Another Axa fan here, I didn't have to wait too long for Zi's claim, and Mabels' the other year was paid up very quickly. The problem with people like Petplan is the excess changes when they hit 9.
Off topic - I can't believe these two are 3 HK, it doesn't seem that long ago since you trapped them!!
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I trapped them in November 2007, at which time I estimated that Frederick, Victoria and Winnie (only the first two still with me, the others homed and renamed) were about 6mths old, and the twins, Smudge, Nubi, and Alfie were just weaned. I think this makes Fred and Vic about 3 years in June. Maths is my weakest subject, so feel free to correct me.
To my shame I still have the four I trapped a year last November (in Nov 2008). I'm terrible at this rescue business cos I fall in love with them all! :Luv: They're beautifully tame now and I really must let them go both they and I would be better off. I keep saying I'll do it, then something crops up. :innocent:
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AXA again here and Franta no longer has boosters due to vet advise and he is 16 1/2. This year am also going to stop boosters for his litter brother Ducha.
E and L are to be avoided at all costs.
You are only h=going to get what you pay for with any insurance and if you go for one like E and L you will not gey much, with AXA and Petplan you will get decent cover but Petplan is much more expensive to get the kind of cover that AXA gives
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Millys excess as an 'older cat' was an extra £20 so not a huge jump
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I think the phrasing re the vaccination bit can be interpreted in more than one way. It says something like must be vaccinated in keeping with vet recommendations. Stick a comma after vaccinations and you have must be vaccinated, in keeping with vet recommendation. Leave it out and you can put a totally different meaning to it - ie vaccinated as recommended by vet. So if the vet says doesn't need to do boosters every year then you are vaccinating in keeping with vet's recommendations, right?
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no reputable insurance would want the risk of you going against your vets advice, so as long as your vet is onside, you are safe
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It comes down to they wont pay for a 'vax-able' disease if your cat gets it and isnt vax'd for it. I would expect them to want annual boosters to class a cat as protected. It wont affect claims for other health issues if they dont have boosters
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I'm another AXA customer. They've been great so far, but then again I've only claimed once.
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But who are E&L? I googled them, but still not sure which pet insurances they underwrite.
I tried to get an online quote from AXA but filled in the form wrongly, so they thought Fred was over 10, when he's 3. The cost was something like £20 per month, which would be prohibitive multiplied by 2 cats. Also, the excess seems too much on all the pet insurance. One trip to the vet is £50 even if it's a checkup and maybe an antibio. This wouldn't be covered cos of the excess. Would several trips of this nature for the same illness still fall under the heading of "excess", hence, not covered?
Been chatting to friends and leaning more in the direction of taking them to PDSA in future. Could be a £30 taxi fare return, but would be cheaper than a vet consult at current vets. As the excellent vet rarely works now, and the others aren't that good (some are awful), it's a question of whether I'd trust the PDSA to give the best care.
Also, the nearest PDSA to me becomes VetsNow at night. What would happen if a cat needed overnight stays? Do I have to pay VetsNow? (Who I don't trust anyway.)
I'm on income support with a disability top up, so qualify for the PDSA but I think I'd find the costs of insurance too much.
I really don't know what to do for the best.
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Forget E&L they are not a good company. Cant tell you who they are and do not think they are an under writers they will be under written by some one else.
One of the reasons that most of us use AXA is that they underwrite many companys but its cheaper to go the the horses mouth and get better insurance.
Refill the axa form out right and excess is now £75 which is the same across all the good insurers.
Check ups are not covered by insurance and a vet visit and anti biotics will be less than the excess. When I say check ups that is assuming you have not taken them because they are ill!
If they are ill the first £75 you will have to pay each time unless its a repeat of the same illness, if it is then all of the rest will be paid by AXA.
PDSA are not a very good option as they have limiuted funding and go for the cheapest way out as cc will tell you about Ollie treatment, compred to what he gets now at a private vets and he is so much better.
I pay around £10 a month each for Sasa and Misa with Axa and its only just renewed. They are 8 and 10yrs old. The birman boys cos lots more cos they are peds and they are 16 1/2 yrs old.
AXA has paid out thousands for Franta in the last year and a bit and he has an illness that keeps recurring so becomes a continuation claim. If I had needed an MRI scan for him , it would have cost somewhere in the region of £3-4000 but it was decided that he was to ill and old to go that route with 10 hrs travelling. But Axa would have paid all of that but I would have had to pay first!
Virtually all PDSAs become Vets Now at night now, unless you have a vet loacally or within travelling distance that has 24/7 cover,,,,,,I travle 30miles plus return if I need care at night and that cost me about a month ago well over £100, the difference is that vet has Frantas records but Vets Now would not and even if the cat is dying all animals are chucked out at 0800.
Cat care now is expensive and a lottery but I would opt for insurance every time.
Unless you have a bad post code !!!!!!!!!! then for a 3yr old cat I would expect the insurance with Axa to be under £10 and you get a small discount on any othe insurances....make sure you insure the cheapest first and then the biggest one will get the discount. :shify:
Some insurances have a floating excess where you have a flat rate for up to a certain amount and then it goes up as the bill gets higher..Sainsburys used to be like that.
So you have to read all small print but I would stick to well known companys who give a decent level of insurance AXA, Pet Plan, Sainsburys who I believe are underwritten by AXA. Look to see who the under writer is and if its AXA you will get better and cheaper insurance with AXA.
Do not bother with cheap companies like E&L cos they have a very bad reputation and it will be a waste of your much needed money.
I would go back online and change the form you have down to make the details right, try also Sainsburys , Tescoes and Petplan, Aviva and any other big ones you can think of, not all appear of the sites that comparec nsurers.
Come back and tell us what each is charging and we will try and sort out the small print for you if you need some help.
If say £4000 to cover the life of an illness......say 15yrs.........is as much as you can afford then you may have to go with that and wish, at that point the needs of PDSA will be required or a a painless trp to the Bridge. The cat maybe so ill you never get to that point, but everyone is struggling in the financial climate so basically you get what you pay for.
If your cat gets very ill with cancer or kidneys or something you will be forced to stay with the insurance that covered it at the time cos no other will give you cover, same if your cat already has an existing condition.
You have nothing to lose but to try the various companies online and there are so many........all the supermarkets and car insurers,,,,,,, but every one you need to check the small print to see what they are offering..try and stay with big companies only as many on Purrs have been stung.
I am willing to help if you Pm me the details of your cats and your post code, age , name , sex, pre-existing conditions and anything else you needed to put on the AXA form. :hug: :hug:
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i have one male, one female both currently 3 1/2 years old insured with axa for £12.36 per month together. not had to claim yet so cant comment on how quick they are etc
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I tried to get an online quote from AXA but filled in the form wrongly, so they thought Fred was over 10, when he's 3. The cost was something like £20 per month,
Mosi is with Axa. His recent renewal was £74 a year and he's a 4 year old pedigree. Get a new quote for Fred and it will be somewhere near Mosi's I'd guess, probably a bit lower.
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I insured Poot when we adopted him with Axa and we pay £9 per month, he's about 2 years old :)
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HK, your point about excess' is right, many vet trips are under that amount BUT that is an affordable amount, most people could source that somehow, insurance is for the big problems that cost hundreds, illnesses that reoccur and add up huge bills.
OOH care is expensive and if you needed it thats where the insurance will help, £110 to get in the door when i went with lola!
I will always pay out for insurance as it seems im destined to always need it, iv had £2500 for lola (so far!), £1200 for milly and £600 for George plus smaller claims dentals, bloods etc simon will be going through at £600 for anorexia. This is over a 3/4 year period. Iv had some small visits and iv suffered the bill but i would have had some serious penny pinching to do for the above bills.
If its beyond your reach then go for the pdsa option but do requote fred and make your decision from there :wish:
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I agree with the re-quote, I ran Noah through twice with different ages just to see what price was so you definitely can do it. I currently pay £7.50 a month with AXA and Noah is registered as a three year old. I am on JSA at present but think it's worth it for the peace of mind, you don't want to suddenly find two of yours are poorly at the same time and you are panicking about getting the money together. :'( You could still use the PDSA for more routine stuff I would think?
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I've just been through the Axa form again and the quote for Fred was £81.43.
I picked up a leaflet from the Post Office regarding their insurance (underwritten by axa). I've just run through their online form, which is virtually identical, as is the cover, as far as I can tell. Strangely the quote is £76.87.
Why the difference? Odd. :Crazy:
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some start cheaper to get you in, that was the case with sainsburys I thought
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Examining the wording, the post office say they cover up to £5,000 "per condition"
whereas axa's own is £7,000 "per period of insurance".
:Crazy: :Crazy: :Crazy:
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That's why I've stuck with Axa, their cover is per year per condition, not a set amount per condition which does not renew ;D
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I have pm you a quote from axa for victoria and is £74 a year, so £6.xx a month.....you will not get anything better anywhere ;D
The pounds £7000 will renew every year for the life of the cat but applies to all conditions in that year, the wording onthe Post Office is for each condition for the life of the cat and you will find they put you with a certain company, if its like cars and will probably change it every year which if they do is very bad for animals.
I didnt do a quote for Fred with Axa but if you do what I have done for Victoria . it should be slightly cheaper as explained in my pm
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HK, your point about excess' is right, many vet trips are under that amount BUT that is an affordable amount, most people could source that somehow, insurance is for the big problems that cost hundreds, illnesses that reoccur and add up huge bills.
OOH care is expensive and if you needed it thats where the insurance will help, £110 to get in the door when i went with lola!
Yes, that's the idea with the excess. If they paid out for every vet trip, they would pay out a lot more in total and all our premiums would be higher to pay for it.
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I agree. If they paid out for everything, I'm sure the premiums would be £500+ Insurance is really like gambling on both sides and they (like any other business) are in it to make money, not because they love animals :evillaugh:
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Insurance can be really confusing. :Crazy:
I had a disastrous experience with my previous insurer so I decided this time to thoroughly research into who had the best reputation for both service standards and value for money. In the end I went for a pet insurance specialist called Healthy Pets, who has covered Jewel for up to £7500 per claim with a £70 excess. I cant remember exactly what the monthly fee is but I remember at the time they offered the most cover for the money. ;D
I also noticed they were strongly recommended through the online reviews! Perhaps they are worth checking out?
xx
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Afraid I dont run with online reviews unless they are on Purrs.
I have never heard of that insurer and who was the bad one?
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I have heard of Healthy Pets, think on CC - could you check your paperwork for the underwriter? I have a suspicion it might be connected to E & L? Have you had reason to use them yet? Also, £7500 per claim isn't the best cover, per year is better.
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I have heard of Healthy Pets, think on CC - could you check your paperwork for the underwriter? I have a suspicion it might be connected to E & L? Have you had reason to use them yet? Also, £7500 per claim isn't the best cover, per year is better.
For a minute there I couldn't even find the paperwork....worrying!. Healthy pets is underwritten by a company called Amtrust, not sure who exactly they are to be honest.
They are not connected to Equine & Livestock.... I made 100% sure of that when I took out the policy. Thankfully I haven't had to make a claim through Healthy pets yet, but know quite a few friends (the ones who recommended them to me) who have without any problems. I did look into a few other companies that offered more cover but the monthly payments were too high :(
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do you have a link to their website?
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do you have a link to their website?
Sure! I made a mistake though, the excess for Healthy pets insurance is not £70 but actually £75! Still they were the best I could find for the cover and value for money...
They specialize in pet insurance so all of their plans come with lifelong cover which I quite liked. I think only Pet plans top expensive policy comes with this?
Found the whole experience quite confusing to be honest, its hard to properly compare them all. :-:
Anyways, here is a link to their website. http://www.healthy-pets.co.uk/index.htm (http://www.healthy-pets.co.uk/index.htm)
Hope that helps
xx
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do you have a link to their website?
Sure! I made a mistake though, the excess for Healthy pets insurance is not £70 but actually £75! Still they were the best I could find for the cover and value for money...
They specialize in pet insurance so all of their plans come with lifelong cover which I quite liked. I think only Pet plans top expensive policy comes with this?
Found the whole experience quite confusing to be honest, its hard to properly compare them all. :-:
Anyways, here is a link to their website. http://www.healthy-pets.co.uk/index.htm (http://www.healthy-pets.co.uk/index.htm)
Hope that helps
xx
the life long cvover with this company is to a max of £7500 per condition, which is good but not as good as £7000 every year for all conditions.
I think its swings and roundabouts here cos there is currently a cat on Purrs who has clocked up a bill of £3500 in a week, sadly uninsured and if Franta had had an MRI scan last year it was gonna cost about £4000. and there would have been another £3000 left for that year for treatment and then a new £7000 this year. Even without an MRI scan he clocked up about £2000 in bills.
Under this company he would be close to the end of his cover on his current problems and if he was a yopung cat say 2yrs old, he would be out of cover very quickly with most of his life still to go and no other company would take him on as it would be a pre-existing condition.
So although on the face of it it looks good cover, it is as long as your cat has no serious outlay in the first 10-12 years of its life. I think the top Pet Plan cover equates with AXAs unless it is per condition rather than per year.
We do have another cat aged about 2yrs on Purrs who suffers from epilepsy and has had MRI scan and treatment and will be on treatment for the rest of his life and suspect will have used all the money way before he is an old cat if he was insured under this company.
One also has to remember that costs of vets and treatment is going up at an alarming rate and I find this companies site just a little to glib concerning the underwriters.
I still think that AXA is a better option, being big, well known and their own underwriter. sorry
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I just got a quote from Healthy Pets ... Gold cover for a 2 yr old, neutered male. It came to £96 per year, whereas my current policy with AXA is only £88 per year. For that I get £7,000 renewed every year for life compared to healthy pets which is just £7,500 per condition.
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Interesting! I will go and check out Axa now :)
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I had a quote from Axa this morning. For Chuch, who's 9-ish, it was less than £9 per month and for Charlie, who's 7, it was less than £8 per month. It's a lot to pay when i'm not working, but it does seem to be the only one for life and not condition and everyone seems to recommend them. Don't think i've got a choice really...............................
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Axa actually looks to be pretty good for me! Putting in Jewels details into their system came out with a quote of £69 which isn't too bad. My existing pet insurance policy with Healthy pets is £51, so a bit of a difference but not a huge amount. But then Axa's cover works differently so perhaps its worth it? Still from what I can see AXA only has one plan compared to Healthy pets 3, so its either premium or premium with AXA. Have they got other cheaper options with perhaps a slightly lower per year cap?
I would be interested to find out if their cover is lifetime? I might be missing it but I cant see any mention of it, would they insure an old moggie? :)
People seem to rate them quite differently for pet insurance at the review centre tho.
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews10674.html
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews57553.html
I think half of it is luck to be honest, hopefully I never need to claim for my bundle of fluff!
xx
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Yes AXA is lifetime and that £7000 renews every year.
They only have one type of cover.....premium as you say ;D
Yes they will insure older cats and I have both my birmans insured with them, they are 16 1/2 now and I insured them around 13yrs.
They are expensive because they are pedigrees.....sigh but am so pleased they are insured because Franta cost so muich in the last year and he now has an ongoing condition.
I think you will get all of the reviews that you need on Purrs for AXA as so many of us are with them and many of us moved from M&S who started to rip us off very badly but they were underwritten at that time by AXA so we went to the horses mouth :innocent:
AXA dumped M&S but some got caught because there cats by then had conditions that they could not get cover for anywhere else.
You can pay monthly at AXA at no extra cost so a few pounds is spread across the year.
There is a 14 day period at the beginning of your first year that you cannot make a claim to enure that you are not cheating them and bringing a seriously ill cat onto the system.
Spo insurance is always best taken out before a vet visit or anything is known ;) ;)
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AXA is lifetime cover, unlike Healthy Pets which isn't. AXA will also insure Oldies. They do only offer one level of cover.
I read the reviews and the Healthy Pets are recent, whereas AXA are from 2006. To be honest though I'd never go with review centres. I would go by pet specific places .. eg. Purrs. Here nearly everyone is in the same situation with wanting to look for pet insurance and everyone shares their experiences. I see AXA recommended A LOT on different animal related forums, and there are never any negatives unlike with numerous other companies.
Most people have done the hard work already comparing insurance companies, which is why many can be so quick to recommend companies.
Personally speaking I cannot rate AXA highly enough. If I didn't have the money I'd find it, because it's much cheaper to find the money to pay for the Insurance than having to find the money to pay for an unexpected hefty bill. It's is also for this reason that I'd only go for lifetime cover, because I wouldn't want something to happen when my cat is young which will require ongoing treatment for life. With lifetime cover I'd never have to worry about money, with per condition I'd have to pay out myself after the money had been used up. And some medication can be very expensive per month.
So even though policies look expensive to begin with they can be a much cheaper option in the long run. Especially if you think older cats are more likely to require treatment, which can be very expensive.
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Well plenty of food for thought :) I wish I had a conversation like this when I was looking for insurance!
My pet insurance with Healthy Pets is lifetime, i know this for a fact else I would not have taken it.
Anyways I will let you know how I get on with them :thanks:
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This is on their website in the Policy section ...
"Section 1:
Veterinary Fees Cover
We will pay You or Your Vet for all reasonable and customary charges made for Treatment carried out by a Vet. Cover is provided for an Accident, Illness or Incident occurring to Your Pet, subject to the indemnity limit of £1,000 (Bronze) or £4,000 (Silver) or £7,500 (Gold) dependent on the cover selected and Excess as specified below and subject to written notice of such Accident, Illness or Incident having been given to Healthy Pets within 60 days of occurrence. The limit of cover and Excess are on a per Incident basis.
Cover remains in place for each Incident until the Policy limit is reached subject to the payment of relevant premiums."
That means say your cat develops an on going condition .. Each time you claim, the £7,500 will go down until it runs out. When it does, you have to pay the bills. You do get money for each condition. It's per condition, not lifetime :(
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This is on their website in the Policy section ...
"Section 1:
Veterinary Fees Cover
We will pay You or Your Vet for all reasonable and customary charges made for Treatment carried out by a Vet. Cover is provided for an Accident, Illness or Incident occurring to Your Pet, subject to the indemnity limit of £1,000 (Bronze) or £4,000 (Silver) or £7,500 (Gold) dependent on the cover selected and Excess as specified below and subject to written notice of such Accident, Illness or Incident having been given to Healthy Pets within 60 days of occurrence. The limit of cover and Excess are on a per Incident basis.
Cover remains in place for each Incident until the Policy limit is reached subject to the payment of relevant premiums."
That means say your cat develops an on going condition .. Each time you claim, the £7,500 will go down until it runs out. When it does, you have to pay the bills. You do get money for each condition. It's per condition, not lifetime :(
I meant no matter what age Jewel is, Healthy pets will always insure her. _Alot_ of companies out there are happy to insure young kitty's but not when they get old!! :-:
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AXA will insure at any age and the same terms apply
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I meant no matter what age Jewel is, Healthy pets will always insure her. _Alot_ of companies out there are happy to insure young kitty's but not when they get old!! :-:
Even companies with age caps wont stop insurance, they can refuse new policies for cats at a certain age but they cant withdraw cover as they age (aslong as your paying your premiums ;) )
The top petplan policy is unlimited life cover, i didnt choose it as i think the chances of needing that much are quite low, i'd take a loan if i were in need tho :scared: so didnt think it was worth the extra. Saying that its only £5 extra p/m than my axa policy so still reasonable value for those with additional worries!