Pet insurance advice

[appleimac 10]

can anyone advise the best insurer to go for? will there be any excess? not had pet insurance before,interested to know the pro's and con's, my dog is 16 mth old.

thanks

[Evei 10]

can anyone advise the best insurer to go for? will there be any excess? not had pet insurance before,interested to know the pro's and con's, my dog is 16 mth old.

thanks

 

Insurance for me is essential if you could not afford to pay out 3-4K in a lump sum. You can get cheaper insurance that does not pay out for your vet bills but covers you for any accidents your dog causes which I would always have.

 

I am however getting a little more wary of insurance as the average large dog to insure is about £25 a month (old dogs even more and certain pedigrees) so a year you are looking at about £300+. Now a dog lives 12 years so you could have saved £3600+ in it's lifetime. The price of insurance seems to be constantly increasing. The excess is £100 so a lot of the treatment my dog has ever had comes just on or under it and I'm not going to claim for it as it would increase the payments

 

In the end it comes down to your ability to pay a lump sum and pay it off and the decision of treatment. I might be more likely to try risky treatment if I know I dont have to pay for it due to insurance when it might actually be better to pts and not put the dog through a lot of pain and stress.

 

Personally I will stick with it for my current dog as I've paid for 3 1/2 years now (life time cover policy) and I would be annoyed if I stopped and then something happened as I've already paid them over £1K. But for a new dog I think I would be tempted to put the money away and rely on savings already in place. Not everyone is as lucky and so it comes down to what you can afford to do, not that insurance is actually that great!

Edited March 5, 2011 by Evei

[appleimac 10]

thats whats concerning me if i end up with a large vets bill,and dont have the money to pay it. its a small dog i own.

so far ive had 2 quotes one from direct line £8.00 mth £80.00 excess other from pet plan £13.00 mth £100.00 excess, do they just make the prices up as they go along.

i agree with you re: putting a bit of money at one side incase of emergency.

thanks Evei.

[nikita 10]

Avoid E&L they take your money but hate paying out,look at reviews on insurance before you commit to it.

I found the review site for E&L when it was too late,I dumped them and now i put money away each week he is an older dog.

[Evei 10]

If you do decide to get pet insurance watch for the following:

 

1) It is a life long policy so they will not refuse to insure your dog after a certain age (though they WILL hike the payments up)

 

2) The excess

 

3) If the insurance will stand for long term conditions

 

4) What the maxium claim is per accident/ condition

 

Good Luck!

[katkin 10]

I rate petplan. Yes it's pricey but tbh once the monthly direct debit was in place I got used to it and they have never rejected a claim. They also allow your vet to claim direct which was a huge relief in November when Ailsa had major surgery and we didn't have to fork out £1000 up front. Downside is cost, she's 9 and a Doberman and over the years the premium has shot from £12 to £47 a month (ouch) but I can't swap insurers now because they won't pay for any conditions she's already had diagnosed. I think if I had an emergency slush fund or a credit card, I wouldn't have the insurance but having said that, I don't have to worry about other people claiming from me in the event say that Ailsa accidentally caused a traffic accident, perish the thought. I had it for the cats for a few years but it was way too expensive and I seldom haf claims much above the excess

 

Ailsa's excess is £105!

[mummysaz21 10]

Healthy pets are fab,mine is 12pound a month.75 excess,covers 7500 per cnditin,already had to make a 4 grand claim.had i not had insurance i would have had to have him put down x

[ShirleyJay 10]

My dog is insured with Argos, it was the best cover I could get for the lowest price, have a look.

[rpmf24 10]

HI, i also chose argos. It seems a reasonable price for the cover.To me insurance is just insurance, pet,car or house, its all good until you need to make a claim. Argos just edged with the excess and other fees they say they cover.

[appleimac 10]

thanks for all the advice much appreciated, will give argos a go, and avoid E&L.

[midgecat 10]

Check just what you're covered for. We changed our insurance a while ago when we realised that long term conditions eg diabetes were only covered for a year - then you're on your own with it. Switched to M&S which seem pretty ok. Have claimed twice - once for a rather large sum and it was no hassle. With my cat though the level of excess went up when she reached 9 years old and you had to pay a proportion of the vet fees. On balance financially it was still worth it when she was really poorly. And emotionally it was soooooooo worth it. I'd have hated to be in a position where she was poorly and I had to refuse treatment just cos i was afraid of the cost.