Discussion
Hi everyone, hopefully someone can give me a steer!
I bought a puppy and he came with 4 weeks insurance with Pet plan, which comes to an end shortly so I need to get insurance sorted.
I've never had a dog before and, woah, far too many choices for my simple brain can cope with, so realistically what level of cover and which companies offer said cover at a reasonable cost?
he's a cocker spaniel if that make a difference.
Thanks in advance everyone.
I bought a puppy and he came with 4 weeks insurance with Pet plan, which comes to an end shortly so I need to get insurance sorted.
I've never had a dog before and, woah, far too many choices for my simple brain can cope with, so realistically what level of cover and which companies offer said cover at a reasonable cost?
he's a cocker spaniel if that make a difference.
Thanks in advance everyone.
You could just stay with Pet plan 
.
Seriously though, use them as your basis to compare to.
Other ones that we seem to get good responses to are John Lewis and M&S.
Pet plan has been around forever though and are vet trusted. Not the cheapest I know but cheap often means buyer beware.
Sadly due to rules and regs I am limited in how much I can recommend/ discuss!
12 month budget options are very limiting is the only other thing I will say.
.Seriously though, use them as your basis to compare to.
Other ones that we seem to get good responses to are John Lewis and M&S.
Pet plan has been around forever though and are vet trusted. Not the cheapest I know but cheap often means buyer beware.
Sadly due to rules and regs I am limited in how much I can recommend/ discuss!
12 month budget options are very limiting is the only other thing I will say.
The problem with E&L is not so much that they don't pay it's that they are picky to the extreme, can be very slow to pay out (esp if direct to vets) and the most likely to refuse payments of things that other ins will pay out for.
They can work well for owners but we won't allow direct claims with them, like we will for most others.
They can work well for owners but we won't allow direct claims with them, like we will for most others.
We were obviously very lucky with them.
We always settled the vets bills personally and then asked them to fill the forms in and post them off. E&L would then give us a refund, so that may have helped a bit. They paid out month in, month out, for the diabetic one for his insulin and syringes.
We always settled the vets bills personally and then asked them to fill the forms in and post them off. E&L would then give us a refund, so that may have helped a bit. They paid out month in, month out, for the diabetic one for his insulin and syringes.
Just a warning:
We use More Than and our Cavalier now has cushings. After telling the insurance company it seems that he is ONLY covered for the first year or upto £3000 whatever comes first. IF he broke he leg or whatever then he can be covered again but NOT for the same condition.
SO READ THE SMALL PRINT! I really, really wish I had.
We use More Than and our Cavalier now has cushings. After telling the insurance company it seems that he is ONLY covered for the first year or upto £3000 whatever comes first. IF he broke he leg or whatever then he can be covered again but NOT for the same condition.
SO READ THE SMALL PRINT! I really, really wish I had.
I'm a final year student (feels quite scary to say that now!) and with the amount of bad experiences I've seen owners put through, regarding insurance companies not paying out, I decided to check with a couple of insurance companies as to what the average monthly premium is. I then set up a direct debit into a separate bank account paying in that amount each month for my cats. They are young and we live in a quiet village and are away from any roads with traffic so their risks are low and, should anything go wrong, I will have a good chunk of money available to deal with it.
I tend to suggest this as a good option to owners now because that way you are at least guaranteed to have a chunk of money available to you for immediate treatment. Assuming you have the self discipline not to dip into it!
I tend to suggest this as a good option to owners now because that way you are at least guaranteed to have a chunk of money available to you for immediate treatment. Assuming you have the self discipline not to dip into it!
GokTweed said:
I'm a final year student (feels quite scary to say that now!) and with the amount of bad experiences I've seen owners put through, regarding insurance companies not paying out, I decided to check with a couple of insurance companies as to what the average monthly premium is. I then set up a direct debit into a separate bank account paying in that amount each month for my cats. They are young and we live in a quiet village and are away from any roads with traffic so their risks are low and, should anything go wrong, I will have a good chunk of money available to deal with it.
I tend to suggest this as a good option to owners now because that way you are at least guaranteed to have a chunk of money available to you for immediate treatment. Assuming you have the self discipline not to dip into it!
You may have to rethink that when you start in practice. You'll soon realise that these type of clients are few and far between. Your boss may not agree with this either!I tend to suggest this as a good option to owners now because that way you are at least guaranteed to have a chunk of money available to you for immediate treatment. Assuming you have the self discipline not to dip into it!
As far as I am concerned and with over 24yrs experience I can say with certainty insurance works for the vast majority (Inc myself) these days. Insurance was a rare thing when I started but the veterinary world and it's treatments has come on a long way since I started and as a result so have the costs.
E&L were paying out £120 a month for three and a half years for our diabetic cat.
We have had thousands back over the years.
In the last couple of years, as the cats were then seniors of 14 and 15, the premiums were £11.90 per cat per month.
Pet insurance is a no brainer in my book, especially as they get older.
We have had thousands back over the years.
In the last couple of years, as the cats were then seniors of 14 and 15, the premiums were £11.90 per cat per month.
Pet insurance is a no brainer in my book, especially as they get older.
bexVN said:
GokTweed said:
I'm a final year student (feels quite scary to say that now!) and with the amount of bad experiences I've seen owners put through, regarding insurance companies not paying out, I decided to check with a couple of insurance companies as to what the average monthly premium is. I then set up a direct debit into a separate bank account paying in that amount each month for my cats. They are young and we live in a quiet village and are away from any roads with traffic so their risks are low and, should anything go wrong, I will have a good chunk of money available to deal with it.
I tend to suggest this as a good option to owners now because that way you are at least guaranteed to have a chunk of money available to you for immediate treatment. Assuming you have the self discipline not to dip into it!
You may have to rethink that when you start in practice. You'll soon realise that these type of clients are few and far between. Your boss may not agree with this either!I tend to suggest this as a good option to owners now because that way you are at least guaranteed to have a chunk of money available to you for immediate treatment. Assuming you have the self discipline not to dip into it!
As far as I am concerned and with over 24yrs experience I can say with certainty insurance works for the vast majority (Inc myself) these days. Insurance was a rare thing when I started but the veterinary world and it's treatments has come on a long way since I started and as a result so have the costs.
. Granted there are certain insurance companies that are better than others but often the clients go for the cheaper one, assuming they are getting the same service, (because who reads the small print really) and getting caught out. Some vets may not mention it as an option but I know some that do so its a bit swings and roundabouts really. IMO if you're not prepared to pay for the more expensive (but more likely to pay out) insurance premium I think its a viable option to save the money you would give to a cheaper company and save it yourself. That way there is a better guarantee of accessible funds should you unfortunately need it. Makes sense to me and I think that's why some of the vets I have seen practice with also think like this and suggest it as an option with new owners
Clearly my limited experience is nothing on yours and I hope that in time I will see a difference!
I always advise your suggestion to people who don't want to insure or for whatever reason (breed of dog, age etc) insurance wouldn't pay to have but as a practice with over 45% of clients having insurance (average is approx 20% I think poss less), it really does work for our clients majority of the time. Of course it helps that we have a nurse that knows the ins and outs of pet insurance and is brilliant at helping our clients when it comes to checking small print etc.
There is a risk I guess that there'll a time when pet insurance burns out!
There is a risk I guess that there'll a time when pet insurance burns out!
GokTweed said:
IMO if you're not prepared to pay for the more expensive (but more likely to pay out) insurance premium I think its a viable option to save the money you would give to a cheaper company and save it yourself. That way there is a better guarantee of accessible funds should you unfortunately need it. Makes sense to me and I think that's why some of the vets I have seen practice with also think like this and suggest it as an option with new owners
Sorry but this is a horrible idea for 99% of people. I posted on here about this at the time, but a while back I flatted a dog in my Porsche. It had escaped from a garden and went a wander, liability wasn't in question. The bill for my car repair alone was nearly 8000 euros in the end. The dog survived but was badly injured... I'm unaware what the bill was there. Vets are actually very good and fairly priced here compared to UK, but this was a big dog and a nasty injury.
I managed to avoid hitting any other cars or people so no other 3rd parties looking to be paid. I didn't injure myself so no whiplash claim or anything. I didn't bother pushing for a hire car so that kept costs of claim down. Even with all of that, you're looking at a 10 thousand euro liability for the dog owner.
The dog was 3-4 year old.... if he's saved 48 x 20 euros rather than paying for insurance in the first place he's going to have 960 euros in his pocket and owe me and the vet 10 grand between us...
if you need to actually set the money aside monthly in case you need it, then you're too poor to not have insurance. imo you need to be in a position to simply take a vet bill on the chin if something happens, or pay for insurance. And please bear in mind its not just a vet bill or tablets or something - it could have been your pet needing cleaning out of my front grill and you'd have owed me the money for it.
I know it's a common thread so i though i'd pick this one to update to ask for a bit of advice. We have 2 cats, both 9yrs old this year. We had pet insurance until October last year when we had to cancel it due to mortgage applications (long story).
Obviously this has gone and jinxed things and one of our cats Kira is now over £1300 into treatment for a broken tail and subsequent hematoma which ruptured. It's the 2nd major trauma she's had after a car hit her 5yrs ago resulting in broken pelvis/legs (no issues since)
So... now that we've completed on our new mortgage, we want to get insured again so looking for recommendations on ones which actually have the best coverage and least exclusions etc? M&S policy looks pretty good but are there any better? We were with PetPlan before.
I understand Kira's recent injury or anything resulting from it won't be covered in future, but if say she has another accident with a car, and breaks the same bones etc.. would that likely be covered or excluded as it's happened before? From reading some T's and C's of a couple of policies, I would expect it to be covered but has anyone experience differently?
Obviously this has gone and jinxed things and one of our cats Kira is now over £1300 into treatment for a broken tail and subsequent hematoma which ruptured. It's the 2nd major trauma she's had after a car hit her 5yrs ago resulting in broken pelvis/legs (no issues since)
So... now that we've completed on our new mortgage, we want to get insured again so looking for recommendations on ones which actually have the best coverage and least exclusions etc? M&S policy looks pretty good but are there any better? We were with PetPlan before.
I understand Kira's recent injury or anything resulting from it won't be covered in future, but if say she has another accident with a car, and breaks the same bones etc.. would that likely be covered or excluded as it's happened before? From reading some T's and C's of a couple of policies, I would expect it to be covered but has anyone experience differently?
Been with Petplan for about 14 years, now on our second Staffie with it. Had a few of minor claims over that time for minor ailments, not an issue with them reimbursing for us. When we lost our first Staff he went for diagnosis in a swanky specialist vets and had x-rays and what have you, Petplan settled directly with the vets with no issues whatsoever.
I think Petplan are one of the only insurers that guarantee to cover pets for life, rather than refuse to cover them as they get older. Fair enough premiums might be a bit more than elsewhere, but in our experience it's well worth the extra.
I think Petplan are one of the only insurers that guarantee to cover pets for life, rather than refuse to cover them as they get older. Fair enough premiums might be a bit more than elsewhere, but in our experience it's well worth the extra.
There was a thread not too long ago (albeit about a puppy!) with some recommendations:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Insurance always causes debate on forums. I had a quote of £75 pcm from pet plan for my own rescued rottie and decided this was too much. We use Petplan as standard in the practice, but got no discount for the fact that he would be treated for 99% of his issues by me foc. I believe this is a difficult amount for joe public to put aside each month for their pets. If pooch gets something disastrous then it will be for me to afford it, so maybe the RS6 gets sold! If its mildly serious then perhaps just the FZR.
Not much help but its up to each "parent" to decide what they want and then accept the consequence of life's foibles. I have to afford vets and nurses to provide care, and they do, but different peeps want different care levels, which isn't always easy to accommodate.
Not much help but its up to each "parent" to decide what they want and then accept the consequence of life's foibles. I have to afford vets and nurses to provide care, and they do, but different peeps want different care levels, which isn't always easy to accommodate.
Right well we've just set up a policy with M&S Insurance. Just over £20 a month as opposed to £36 with Petplan for 2 moggy cats. The information available online seems good, £7k limit per year. The policy booklet is mega long so i need to sit down and read it properly and check i'm happy with the cover for any long term treatment, but as it takes 14 days for the policy to kick in I decided to take it out now and then read it over the next few days.
I changed to m&S from Saindbury's a few yrs back with Jimmy. He ended up with a terminal illness 3 months after we joined them. They paid out every penny of his care that they covered on the policy about £3.5k
They even paid for his euthanasia and cremation fees upto £100 (not many will) when I spoke to a lady to discuss this she was so lovely and understanding (especially as I was struggling not to breakdown!)
I was very impressed with them (even though the circumstances of needing them were awful)
They even paid for his euthanasia and cremation fees upto £100 (not many will) when I spoke to a lady to discuss this she was so lovely and understanding (especially as I was struggling not to breakdown!)
I was very impressed with them (even though the circumstances of needing them were awful)
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