Virgin Active, Cannons & LA Fitness
Less than half price loophole

There's a massive loophole which can permanently cut £400/year off Virgin Active, LA Fitness or Cannons gym membership, even for existing members. Just get a private medical insurance policy costing as little as £20/month to gain free gym membership worth up to £80/month. This means it's worth doing even if you don't want medical insurance.

How it works: The basics

Get Pruhealth's* medical insurance and it gives you free gym membership at Cannons and LA Fitness or just £5 to £15/month at most Virgin Actives. Though at more expensive London gyms or if you opt to use multiple gyms in the chain, it'll cost more, yet as it's heavily subsidized, the savings are often even greater.

While the cost of gym membership is usually £40-£80/month the insurance is only £20-£40/month, hence it's a substantial saving; even if you don't want or need the insurance.

On top of the obvious publicity a deal like this attracts, Pruhealth's idea is by encouraging healthy gym use it'll diminish claims. Due to this, to get the free membership you must attend the gym at least twice a week.

Do you have to actually use the gym?

Your gym attendance is assessed by how many days you've swiped in. It used to be possible to just swipe-n'-go each time you walked past to get over the threshold. But in May 2008, Pruhealth changed its terms and conditions to say you need to "engage in physical activity" for it to count as a gym visit.

What if you don't go often enough?

The cost is allocated quarterly based on your prior three month's attendance.

• Regular users: average 2+ visits a week. This qualifies you for free gym membership at Cannons & LA Fitness and £5 or £15/month at most Virgin Actives (some of its expensive central london gyms are more).


• Occasional users: average 1-2 visits a week. The fee is discounted between 25% and 75% depending on the club. It's also the fee paid for your initial three months while you're assessed.


• Infrequent users: less than once a week. Here the discount is negligible.
  

This means only regular gym goers should go for this. Gym newbies be careful, often the initial fervour doesn't last long, so don't bet your cash on good intentions.

Yet thankfully, unlike normal gym membership it can be cancelled at any time by cancelling the insurance. Though do be aware technically the insurance policy is a 12 month contract, so you could be forced to keep it (not the gym) running, yet I've never heard of this actually being enforced.

If this loophole isn't for you, there are many other ways to save money on gym membership. To find out more, read the full Gym Membership Cost Cutting article.

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How to calculate whether you'll save

Once you've checked Cannons, LA Fitness or Virgin Active to see if there's a club near you, there are three steps to assess your usage.

Step 1: Get a quote from Pruhealth

Private Medical Insurance costs depend on age, health, location and whether you smoke. So non-smokers in their 20s get it much cheaper than overweight 54-year-old smokers. Yet there are ways to reduce the cost.

Assuming you're only interested in the gym membership, the aim is to get the cheapest possible cover. To get a quote go to Pruhealth* and opt for the lowest level cover, with the highest excess and exclude treatment in London hospital (even if you live in London).

It’s worth noting that while the cheapest cover level is called ‘Core Cover’, it doesn’t allow you to select an excess; instead the next one up ‘Essential cover’ allows £1,000 excess, so actually tends to work out cheaper. Do try both though to double check.

Example quote

• Sarah Savvy, aged 21, female non-smoker: quote £21/month, £252/year.
  
  
• Colin Cunning, aged 35, male smoker: quote £35/month, £420/year.
  

Step 2: Add any Pruhealth additional gym membership costs

Everyone will need to pay a £25 initial activation fee, plus you must pay the ‘occasional user' rate for three months while your usage is assessed. Then add in the remaining cost for the year for your specific club, which for Cannons & LA Fitness users will be nothing; and at Virgin Active a small charge depending on the club (details on Pruhealth*).

Example costs

• Sarah Savvy, plans to visit a London Virgin Active three times a week. Cost: £25 activation, 3 mth x £40 occasional user, 9 mths x £15 regular user (it's £15 in London and certain other clubs). Total £280 for first year.
  
  
• Colin Cunning, goes to Cannons once a week. Cost: £25 activation, 12 mth x £25 occasional user. Total £325 for first year.
  

Step 3: Find out the standard gym fee

Next compare it to what you'd actually pay to get membership of your local Cannons, LA Fitness or Virgin Active.

• Sarah Savvy, peak use at the Virgin Active Strand (London): £78/month+£20 joining fee which is £956 for the first year
• Colin Cunning, peak membership Cannons Northampton. £40/month + £30 joining fee, which is £508 for the first year

Now work out if you'll save.

Example savings

• Sarah Savvy. The Pruhealth method costs £252 for insurance and a further £280 for additional gym costs. Yet as the standard membership is £956 this is still a £420 saving.
• Colin Cunning. Using Pruhealth for the gym would cost £745 compared to just going straight which would only be £508. So Colin shouldn't use Pruhealth.

Huge savings are possible for some, but not all; under 40s, non-smoking, regular users do best of all. Yet it's worth noting savings increase in year two as there's no three month initial saving assessment, and you'll have earnt reward points which will decrease the insurance cost, plus don't forget you do get private medical insurance too.

Pruhealth has signed a five-year contract with these three gyms, so while this deal isn't guaranteed to last exactly as is, changes should be limited.

Example Savings Tables

The three tables below show where savings are possible, and where this deal should be avoided.

Savings Table: Virgin Active London’s Strand Standard First Year Membership Cost £956 (1)
	Insurance Cost (2)	Infrequent User Less than once a week		Occasional 1-2 times a week		Regular 2 or more times a week
		Saving (over 1 year)	Saving (over 2 years)	Saving (over 1 year)	Saving (over 2 years)	Saving (over 1 year)	Saving (over 2 years)
Female, 21 non-smoker	£21	£82	£150	£199	£423	£424	£948
Male, 35 smoker	£35	-£86	-£186	£41	£97	£256	£612
Male, 55 non-smoker	£56	-£362	-£714	-£245	-£441	£4	£84
(1) Based on peak 1 year contract at Virgin Active London (Strand), which is £78 a month plus £20 joining fee.. (2) Quote is for an essential plan with £1000 excess excluding hospitals in London and excludes Vitality rewards points.

Savings Table: Cannons Northampton Standard First Year Membership Cost £508 (1)
	Insurance Cost (2)	Infrequent User Less than once a week		Occasional 1-2 times a week		Regular 2 or more times a week
		Saving (over 1 year)	Saving (over 2 years)	Saving (over 1 year)	Saving (over 2 years)	Saving (over 1 year)	Saving (over 2 years)
Female, 21 non-smoker	£21	-£186	-£386	-£69	-£111	£156	£414
Male, 35 smoker	£35	-£354	-£722	-£237	-£447	-£12	£78
Male, 55 non-smoker	£56	-£606	-£1248	-£489	-£975	-£264	-£450
(1) Based on peak 1 year contract at Cannons Northampton, which is £39.90 a month plus £29 joining fee. (2) Quote is for an essential plan with £1000 excess excluding hospitals in London and excludes Vitality rewards points.

Savings Table: Virgin Active Birmingham Standard First Year Membership Cost £548 (1)
	Insurance Cost (2)	Infrequent User Less than once a week		Occasional 1-2 times a week		Regular 2 or more times a week
		Saving (over 1 year)	Saving (over 2 years)	Saving (over 1 year)	Saving (over 2 years)	Saving (over 1 year)	Saving (over 2 years)
Female, 21 non-smoker	£21	-£206	-£546	-£89	-£273	£136	£252
Male, 35 smoker	£35	-£374	-£882	-£257	-£609	-£32	-£84
Male, 55 non-smoker	£56	-£626	-£1410	-£446	-£1074	-£284	-£612
(1) Based on peak 1 year contract at Virgin Active Birmingham, which is £41 a month plus £20 joining fee. (2) Quote is for an essential plan with £1000 excess excluding hospitals in London and excludes Vitality rewards points.

Boost the gain

Some of the cashback membership sites such as Quidco and Topcashback* pay serious cashback if you get this deal via them, which makes the tables above even better. To find out more about cashback sites please read the Top Cashback Sites article.

Existing Pruhealth or Gym Membership rules

Those currently on Pruhealth policies with the old six months free gym membership will be moved to this new gym membership model at renewal. Though if you prefer this model you can cancel and renew immediately, though you will be charged a £25 activation fee.

If you're already a member of one of the three gyms, the situation varies:

• Cannons Gyms. Those outside their contract terms can contact them directly and ask to be transferred to the Pruhealth deal; otherwise you'll need to wait for renewal.
  
  
• LA Fitness. All members can switch to Pruhealth immediately.
  
  
• Virgin Active Gyms. Those outside their contract terms will need to cancel their contract and rejoin as a Pruhealth member; if you're out of contract you'll need to wait for renewal.
  

Anything to watch out for?

There shouldn't be too many problems with this deal, PruHealth has previously run other gym promotions and in the previous incarnations of this article, many MoneySavers used this loophole with acclaim.

The only possible negative is for those who were planning to get a private medical insurance policy even before this deal. That's because most PMI policies exclude pre-existing conditions, therefore sign up to this policy, and have a problem, and you'd be stuck with PruHealth, as if you tried to switch in future you wouldn't be covered for that condition.

Yet this is a minor worry, PruHealth isn't a bad PMI provider, and if you weren't planning to get a policy anyway, there's nothing lost, and private healthcare gained. If this does worry you, read the Private Medical Insurance Cost Cutting article to compare PruHealth to other providers.

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