Helpucover (former Pinnacle pet insurance) is now offering healthcare cover for rabbits.
Helpucover has been specialising in lifelong pet insurance for years now and recently extended its range of policies to rabbits. With only a few companies providing rabbit insurance, Helpucover will prove a sensible choice for a monthly budget of about £10.
Despite the credit crunch, specialist pet insurance provider Animal Friends Insurance (AFI) has reported a 40% increase in sales. The success of the non-for-profit organisation lies in 3 things:
• a new, more comprehensive website coupled with an increased visibility online
• a wide range of policies: lifelong and per condition available, from £500 to £6,000 per year in vet fees
• cheap prices: from £6.36 per month
In period of an economic downturn, people tend to make more rational decisions with their money. They see pet insurance more positively as they realise pets are likely to visit the vet each year and engender heavy vet bills.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) urged dog and cat owners to buy their pets the present of pet insurance this Christmas. Anyone who gives and receives a pet this year should ensure they have some sort of insurance cover. A survey conducted by the association showed that 31% of people considered purchasing gifts for their pet and acknowledged that insurance is a very important part of responsible ownership.
This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Dogs Trust tagline “A dog is for life not just for Christmas”. According to Clarissa Baldwin – Dogs Trust chief executive, there are still 1.8% of dogs bought as gifts: as many as 131,400 per year. Read more
In time of an economic downturn, it’s even more important to buy pet insurance says Mike Powell from financial research company Defaqto. According to the general insurance expert, pet insurance should be seen as seen as part of general pet healthcare and shouldn’t be cancelled because of economic difficulties.
“If you can’t afford to pay for insurance cover, how can you realistically afford to pay a vet bill?” asks Mr Powell. As credit is getting more and more difficult to obtain, cat and dog owners without pet insurance may struggle to borrow money to pay for expensive vet bills. There were reports earlier this year that vets were often forced to put pets to sleep because their owners couldn’t afford treatment. Read more
Comparing lifelong pet insurance online can be tedious. There’s no such thing as a moneysupermarket.com for pet insurance, so if you’re looking to compare price and level of cover you would have to go to each single insurer’s website, enter all your details each time and write down the quote outcome.
Luckily, you’ll find below a shortlist of pet insurance companies that provide lifelong cover and a couple of quote examples to give you an idea of prices.
With PDSA pet insurance, you can protect your pet but also help animals in need of veterinary care all over the UK. When you take out Petsurance from PDSA, 20% of your premium will go towards UK’s number 1 veterinary charity, which helps sick and injured animals.
Some insurers impose a 12-month limit on claims for a specific condition. After that period the condition is excluded from the policy and no further claims can be made. However, with PDSA there’s no time limit. Your only restriction is the financial limit you can claim for a condition: between £2,000 and £7,000 per condition depending on your cover level. This ensures your pet can receive the best of care for ongoing conditions that require longer treatment.
Pets are great companions. They’re part of your family and bring joy to the household, at Christmas time especially. It’s no surprise then that British pet owners buy presents for their four-legged friends. But when it comes to choosing the best gift, you may want to consider pet insurance seriously.
You care for your pet and you want them to stay happy and healthy. Unfortunately, they get up to mischief and have accidents, especially at a young age. They may also catch illnesses such as diabetes, various infections or even cancer. Should this happen, would you be able to afford the cost of vet bills?
Veterinary medicine advances at an amazing pace and conditions previously thought incurable can now be alleviated with positive results - but comes at a high cost. With pet insurance, you can claim back your veterinary expenses and, more importantly, you won’t have to make the heartbreaking decision of putting your pet to sleep because you’re financially unable to provide for them. Read more
Are you looking for pet insurance for your older cat or dog? If so, you’ve probably already found out it isn’t an easy task.
Most companies are happy to insure young pets, simply because they are less at risk of illnesses. The older your pet gets, the more veterinary care they will require, so the more they will cost in claims. That’s why some insurers decide not to insure older pets: it’s just not worth it for them as they are too exposed to paying claims while not receiving enough in premiums. Therefore, they impose what’s called an “upper age limit“: this is the age limit above which the company will not insure your pet. Read more for find out pet insurance for older pets
Marks and Spencer pet insurance have warned against the increasing danger of pet poisoning it has been reported.
Reported cases increased by 34% this year says M&S according to statistics from Vetphone, their 24-hour vet helpline dedicated to their insurance customers. The free service allows policyholders to phone experienced veterinary nurses in case of a pet emergency, which is especially useful during the non-opening hours of vet practices.
Nicotine can be fatal to your pet. Read more about pet poisoning and nicotine
Are you looking to insure your pet with lifelong cover? Then you may want to consider Marks and Spencer pet insurance.
No so many companies offer lifelong cover anymore these days. Pet Protect, Helpucover and Petplan are some of the reputable companies providing such type of policy, and so is M&S. Lifelong/lifetime cover means that conditions are covered year on year, without exclusion, provided you keep renewing your policy. Plus, your vet fee benefits are fully replenished on renewal, giving you £4,000 to spend per year with the M&S Standard option and £7,000/year with M&S Premier.
According to the Missing Pets Bureau, more than 2,500 dogs and 3,200 cats go missing every week in the UK. Worse, 38% of these dogs are actually thought to be stolen, usually for ransom, resale or breeding purposes. Read more and find out how pet insurance can help
Two weeks ago, I found myself in a meeting with representatives of pet insurance companies, discussing the trends in and challenges of the pet insurance market. It was quite an open discussion but companies of course didn’t reveal too much of their analysis, as this will help them take an edge over their competitors. Nevertheless, a few interesting themes came up.
Is the credit crunch affecting customers’ perception of pet insurance and have insurers seen any change in policy sales?
Most insurers said they haven’t yet seen any big impact on sales but reckon that customers tend to shop around more come renewal time. In a recession period, every penny counts and if I had insurance I would shop around at renewal. People are used to look for a better deal every year on their car insurance. Why not for their pet cover?
During a credit crunch period, every penny counts. So it’s only good news to hear that Direct Line pet insurance have increased their online discount to 30% when you buy a policy before the 30th October 2008.
Even better, they also offer an additional 15% multipet discount when you insure a second pet.
Remember that Direct Line offer 2 type of policies:
>> Buy pet insurance online now and benefit from this great offer from DL.
According to Tesco, Britons are nearly twice as likely to insure their pets rather than taking out private health insurance for themselves.
In 2007, 23% of pets were insured in the UK whereas only 12% of humans actually had private medical cover. Allan Burns from Tesco said: “I’m not surprised by this finding. We have known for a long time that us Brits are pet mad. Tesco Pet Insurance continually finds ways to make pet cover more affordable for our customers, helping them through tougher times. This is why we are the second largest pet insurer in the UK.”
Britain is indeed a nation of pet lovers and it is believed a great proportion of pet owners put the needs of their cats and dogs before their own: pet insurance, food, grooming and exercise accessories now represent some of the essential spendings of the household.
Luckily, pet supplies are often cheaper on the Internet, especially for food and medicine, which are up to 70% cheaper than from the vet’s. All major pet insurers also offer a discount when you take out pet insurance online. So make the most of it and start saving now!
Compare pet insurance and get online discounts >>
As from 1st November 2008, vets will have the possibility to charge a fee for writing a prescription following a change in law.
This marks the end of a three-year ban during which vets were not allowed to incur any fees for producing a prescription: the ban was introduced to break the monopoly vets were holding on medicine supply. Since then, vets have been forced to lower the price of medicine due to an increasing competition of online pharmacies that offer the exact same products at a discounted rate. As a result they have been clawing back on lost revenues but increasing other charges like consultation fees, treatment costs and possibly, from 1st November 2008, prescription fees too. Read on
It’s official: September’s here and possibly the most frustrating month of the year! Back to work, heavy rains and low temperatures… So here’s something to cheer you up: new discount codes for buying pet supplies and medication online this month.
| Buy supplies for dogs, cats, fish, small pets, birds. Offer: £20 off on orders over £100 - Code: psbig20 Offer: 5% off all purchases - Code: intro5 |
According to Petplan (source: 2008), 97% of vets witnessed pet owners forced to put their pets to sleep because they couldn’t afford to pay for veterinary treatment. It’s ever more the case in times of economic uncertainty and Sainsbury’s Pet Insurance to confirm that 80% of vets can’t always dispense necessary care because customers are financially strapped.
Vet fees inflation has been rising high above the inflation rate for years, +15% solely last year, and pet owners now struggle to pay what proves to be an expensive bill each time they walk into a vet practice. To top it all up, pets are increasingly suffering from obesity (36% of dogs and 29% of cats) and behavioural problems due to a shift in lifestyles, especially in urban areas. Read more
According to Petplan (source: Datamonitor 2008), 98% of pet insurance claims are for vet fees. The remaining 2% are for non-core benefits such as advertising and reward costs, boarding fees and 3rd party liability.
When you consider buying pet insurance, it is essential that you look at vet fees into details before even considering extra benefits. The first thing you need to do is choose between the 3 types of pet insurance available, then determine the amount of vet fees you need to be covered for and then, lastly, additional benefits.
In pet insurance, you really pay for what you get, so the more comprehensive the cover the more expensive. That’s why lifelong policies are generally more expensive than per condition ones, because they basically cover more. Read more about things to consider when buying pet insurance
Tesco pet insurance run a special offer of 40% off when buying cover online before the 17th September 2008. With the discount, Tesco pet insurance policies are now available from £3.00 for cats and £6.00 for dogs.
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Petplan remains the number 1 pet insurance in the UK with 40.2% market share according to the latest industry reports.
Petplan has been established since 1976 and provides cover for dogs, cats, rabbits and horses but also small mammals, birds and reptile via subsidiary Exotic Direct. More on Petplan
