Which Pet Insurance?

[katnav]

I've just left petplan for our 4 year old pointer as the yearly increases were outrageous. Our latest quote was £144 per month for our just turned 4 year old pointer.

We have moved to Admiral after lots of research and reviews this week. Now paying £40 per month for better coverage of 15k per year and a lower excess to pay than petplan.

I always found petplan good but the price increases were not an option for us, God knows what it would have been by the time he reaches 7 or 8 years of age and they hike it up.

[borntoshop]

Ours were with many pets but had to raise a complaint last year. One of our boxers had to have her tail amputated. They paid the very small amounts but took literally months for the £1200 for the main op. I ended up phoning every week as they kept emailing vets for more information.
My vets won't claim direct due to the delays in settling claims. We claimed £2000 in total but was paid back in £30/£40 bits.
Then in July they wanted £3800 for a 2 year old and a 6 year old boxers to insure them.

[Lell]

We don’t insure ours and just pay bills as needed, thankfully only ever had one expensive bill in over 30 years of having dogs and that was for £1000 last year. Have you considered opening a savings account and paying in what you would pay for insurance every month?

[Leggibone]

Originally Posted by Lell

We don’t insure ours and just pay bills as needed, thankfully only ever had one expensive bill in over 30 years of having dogs and that was for £1000 last year. Have you considered opening a savings account and paying in what you would pay for insurance every month?

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This is A good option if you have some cash in the initial years (takes time to build £1000, £30 at a time) or take a cheaper policy in the early years whilst you build a pot, but if you don’t had a couple £k in savins to start I would have some kind of insurance (or a couple k you’d be alright spending on the dog instead of a holiday)

[mitch84]

Originally Posted by Lell

We don’t insure ours and just pay bills as needed, thankfully only ever had one expensive bill in over 30 years of having dogs and that was for £1000 last year. Have you considered opening a savings account and paying in what you would pay for insurance every month?

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We do this too, we have 3 horses, 2 donkeys, 2 chickens and 3 dogs in the family that my husband and I pay vets bills for.
I have just had an expensive bill with my dog that lives with us. But I’m still on the right side of it with him.
I prefer to treat conservatively, if we have a sore leg we take ibruprofen and see if it improves. We don’t go straight to MRI etc or surgery. GA poses a risk every time.
That said I’d do absolutely anything for our animals. Even the vets thought I was a bit mad when I had a minor surgery on my hen Matilda but it worked and she’s happy and healthy
I have savings and so will never I sure. Can highly recommend an independent vets over a chain though

[Wismgari]

Originally Posted by Leggibone

This is A good option if you have some cash in the initial years (takes time to build £1000, £30 at a time) or take a cheaper policy in the early years whilst you build a pot, but if you don’t had a couple £k in savins to start I would have some kind of insurance (or a couple k you’d be alright spending on the dog instead of a holiday)

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I agree to make sure you have a decent amount straight away if you are going to go down this route. I did not insure my cats and had a savings pot instead. My 8-year old cat cost me 3k in one weekend a few years back when he collapsed due to heart failure. We got him stabilised and happy and he lived for almost 5 more years, but continued to cost me a fortune in that time in heart scans, lots (and lots) of meds, then a diagnosis of hyperthyroidism, then investigations for suspected bone cancer (thankfully not), and then a lot of meds and vet visits as he deteriorated at the end. For him I would definitely have been better off with the life time insurance policy, even with huge monthly payments I am assuming it would have been less than the £500 a month I was paying in meds and bills by the end.

My other cat (who is 17) however, doesn't cost me too much although it is obviously increasing as she is older and I was definitely better off not getting insurance for her!

A long post just to say, make sure you have a lot of money available if you go this route. The emergency vets who I paid £3k to in one weekend wanted half up front to even treat him!

[JudyC]

I always thought pet insurance covers in case your pet caused an accident and you had to pay out for a third party. Our dog is pretty good but god forbid a cyclist decided to whizz past without warning while she is off lead and she got in the way, then I get the blame.
As well a medical attention for our dog I take the above into consideration and have pet insurance

[mitch84]

Originally Posted by JudyC

I always thought pet insurance covers in case your pet caused an accident and you had to pay out for a third party. Our dog is pretty good but god forbid a cyclist decided to whizz past without warning while she is off lead and she got in the way, then I get the blame.
As well a medical attention for our dog I take the above into consideration and have pet insurance

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You can get third party liability insurance for dogs if you wish

[Lell]

Originally Posted by JudyC

I always thought pet insurance covers in case your pet caused an accident and you had to pay out for a third party. Our dog is pretty good but god forbid a cyclist decided to whizz past without warning while she is off lead and she got in the way, then I get the blame.
As well a medical attention for our dog I take the above into consideration and have pet insurance

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We have 3rd party liability insurance through Dogs Trust which costs £25 per year and covers all our dogs

[Libby29]

Had a nightmare of a time with “many pets.” Wouldn’t pay out and kept making excuses. In the end the ombudsman went in my favour and they had to pay out, I would never go with them again. Awful experience from start to finish with them.