Dog Insurance......................When is enough, enough?

[wytonpjs]

As some may know from past posts we've currently got 3 dogs: my third and fourth rescue Vizslas (our 7th and 8th V) and Wiggy, our Teckel. Some may also recall that I took PetPlan to the Financial Ombudsman (and won) over their failure to honour some surgery costs and as a consequence, I moved all of the dog's vet insurance from PetPlan to Many Pets. Over the last year, that has worked out at £150/month; still cheaper that what I was paying before. Today, I've just received a renewal notice for next month - an increase to £207/month! I thought the £150/month was a lot but £2500 for the year is making my eyes water!

True, some bills I have had across the years have been double that but I'm thinking that it's time to do what my brother has done for years and to set aside the monthly premium in a savings pot and to "take the chance". Fortunately, we are compared to many fairly comfortable and will stand (at present) any high bills given the dogs are family but am I alone in my thinking that the new premium is ridiculous For F@$k's sake, it's more costly to insure the dogs than all 3 of the cars we drive!

 

[nic531]

I took that route about 6 years ago when my older lab bitch hit 7 and her insurance doubled to 70 quid a month.... up too that point the only time I had made a 'profit' on insurance was when it covered their kennelling cost when I had heart surgery. With 3 dogs I decided enough was enough. Most vet bills were pennies under the excess amount.... strange coincidence possibly!!!
so just on that one dog have saved 70 x 12 x 6 = £5040... I have 3 other dogs as well, none of which is insured.
Luckily we have no mortgage and have some savings so when the pup (15 month old lab x springer) decided to eat a sock and two pairs of the wife's knickers and only throw up a sock and 2 x half knickers, the £31/2 k bill still left us in profit!

I have dealt with insurance a lot over a number of years and people seem to forget it is basically a gamble and that the insurance companies are not there to help you but to make a profit for their shareholders.

 

[Rake Aboot]

Never had insurance and am quids in

 

[Camdig]

At my peak I had six dogs, each dog was roughly £25 a month to insure, when they wanted £55 for couple of the older dogs I cancelled all insurance and put premiums in a pot, my worst bill was 3.5k for a shattered elbow and the rest have been small bills, we now only have two borders and will never pay insurance again.
Insurance companies and pharmaceutical have major influence on how up and coming vet students are educated and imo this why you get pain relief and antibiotics when not necessary

 

[sh1kar]

My two dogs are 6 and I got them as I retired. I self insure them and myself. Being young (the dogs!) I thought I would get several years trouble free and build up a good pot. That’s pretty much happened. Luckily I haven’t needed anything either
D

 

[SikaSeeker]

No pet insurance, but I’ll get them any treatment that they need, until it’s either too serious or expensive.

 

[NullMac]

Never had insurance. Posh term is "self insurance".

Pet Insurance is so expensive because many people now extend human levels of care to seriously ill dogs. A recent article said many of these issues would have been "treated" with euthanasia in days gone by. IMO many of these treatments are inherently cruel for an animal that has no understanding of what is going on. I do not want these treatments and am not prepared to help fund them for others.

If there is a big incident that the dog can make a recovery from then I lose out (maybe) but I am happy with that.

 

[Pedro]

As above, pet insurance companies (like all insurance companies) are in it to make money. Which means that people who take out insurance will, in the long run lose money. So it makes sense to finance your own vet bills.

Of course it’s a personal choice and insurance can soften the blow of big bills. But if you fear you won’t have the dosh to pay a big bill if one does come along, I expect you’d still be quids in long term if you have to pay that bill with an overdraft/credit card /bank loan.

 

[David Barker]

This insurance hike is as a direct result of Vets putting massive bills to there public.

 

[SikaSeeker]

Never had insurance. Posh term is "self insurance".

Pet Insurance is so expensive because many people now extend human levels of care to seriously ill dogs. A recent article said many of these issues would have been "treated" with euthanasia in days gone by. IMO many of these treatments are inherently cruel for an animal that has no understanding of what is going on. I do not want these treatments and am not prepared to help fund them for others.

If there is a big incident that the dog can make a recovery from then I lose out (maybe) but I am happy with that.

Amen to that

 

[tonyshooter]

We put £15 pw away for our 5 moth old ESS puppy and £12 pw away for our 7 year old ESS dog.

Other than one bill for £1,700 for the older dog, we are well in front with their savings pots !

However, it is only fair to say, that our vet ( small private practice ) is incredibly fair and worth every penny we spend with him !

 

[venisonpie]

I just got my renewal through from many pets for our lab/springer bitch, next year's premium would be £92 a month so double what we've paid this last year. I'll be looking for quotes elsewhere but if its more than £60 a month I'll be going the same route as discussed above and save the money just in case. Unfortunately I wasn't able to train her to a standard anywhere near passable for working our shoot so she is purely a family pet, I'd like to think the risk of her suffering an expensive injury is small but she is daft so there is always a worry. Touch wood her health has been good up until now!

 

[Dickie]

When our springer got to 10 the insurance rocketed in price but to go with that we would have to pay I think it was 20% as well as the excess.
Put money in the bank each month and had a credit card on standby.

 

[Rusty Gate]

I bank the policy amount each year, in seven years it’s not been needed.
If I had a policy it would all be gone & friends have had to pay towards most or all (if not covered) of the invoice.

 

[Deerkeeper2]

Stopped paying dog insurance several years ago now. The premiums are just ridiculous. We put extra into our joint or savings account each month and have a credit card in case there is ever anything huge. When I did have dog insurance I only tried to claim once and that was for a dog that was killed in an RTC. The shysters at the insurance company (Direct Line) tried every trick in the book to avoid the claim. Two of the more memorable attempts were: I failed to take photos of my dead dog before burying her and I didn’t take her to a vet to confirm that she was dead.

 

[Alan2791]

I’m with Many Pets and it’s just gone from £53 a month to £72 a month but I’m worried if I cancel I’ll need it..

 

[Jon P]

I’m with Many Pets and it’s just gone from £53 a month to £72 a month but I’m worried if I cancel I’ll need it..

£864 a year- what is the excess to pay before they cough up? - I would be tempted to save the money in a high interest account that you can access when required.

And harden the heart a bit, if next vet quote is to high next time , call it a day unfortunately.

 

[Alan2791]

£864 a year- what is the excess to pay before they cough up? - I would be tempted to save the money in a high interest account that you can access when required.

And harden the heart a bit, if next vet quote is to high next time , call it a day unfortunately.

I really want to cancel and start saving the money instead I just worry about something serious going wrong. I have to pay the first £69 anyway and most things are minor and cost anything from £50 to £80 so it is a waste of money, I need to have a good think about it…

 

[McKenzie]

I’ve usually covered my pointers until they are 10 or so, then they can take their chances. I try to keep the 3rd party element running for a while longer if it’s not excessive as that’s where things can get seriously expensive.

 

[eldon]

A guy at work has just had a back operation on his dog after it started limping and being lethargic.
His bill so far is over £8k and he's sweating now hoping the insurance will at least cover SOME of it. There are lower thresholds i.e. excesses, as well as upper limits, so he's still going to be well out of pocket either way.
The rods placed next to the spine apparently is a novel, or a rarely used solution, so the vet was saying that he's using it for his worldwide journal. To complete the story write up he told the customer he would need to do yet another CT scan so that his journal would be complete.

How much is that then?

Oh just ANOTHER £3K



I did ask my colleague what the vets contribution was to his own publicity tool?