Dog insurance - question

[sider]

Hello all.

Basically, our dog took ill just under 4 weeks back. He's made a decent recovery so far, but it's cost us a bit - first consultation was an out of hours £180 job, then two £40 ones (including drops etc). So around £260 down.

Just checked my policy with M&S and apparently i need to let them know within 30 days, so i'm ok on that.

BUT it says on the claim form about ringing their Petfone service before taking him to an out of hours vet.

The policy doc says nothing on this so i'm going to continue with the claim on that basis.

HOWEVER, my excess is £70. He's 8 years old so it's just the excess.

Next year, it's the excess PLUS 20% of any fees.

My annual policy is roughly £280 and we've been with M&S for around 5 yrs, without a claim.

So, if i claim, i'll get around £190 back.

BUT, question is - is it worth it? Obviously as he gets older, the premium increases anyway - but is it worth claiming when they may well whack me with a bigger premium next year (in addition to the usual increase!) to cover the claim?

I can afford the money for now - it's not like i've a credit card bill for it waiting to be paid, but just not sure what to do.

Any advice appreciated.

[otolith]

I didn't think pet insurance policies were individually priced to that extent - I was under the impression that it was pretty much a fixed price for age/breed/sex. I don't think our cat insurance has ever gone up as a result of claiming.

[nick_j007]

The question here in essence seems to be does the policy premium take a hit due to you making claims upon it?

For dog behaviour work (which I do) with Pet Plan they have told me it does not affect the policy premium. Any increase are related to inflation rather than making claims. I would call M&S and seek clarification on your policy.

Regards,

Nick

[gd49]

Is there likely to be any recurrence of the condition? If so I'd definately get a claim in, you don't want to risk the claim being refused further down the line due to not getting it in soon enough.

Never heard of a claim being refused due to not ringing the helpline first, I imagine the advice from these lines must be "if in doubt see a vet anyway".

No idea if a claim now would affect the premium next year

[Upatdawn]

I just cant bring myself to trust insurance companies, if the worst happens ill use my credit card and pay it off monthly rather than pay upfront for something i may never need and may not even get paid out for if i do take out cover, then theres excess....

plus ive put £500 cash in the safe just in case

(and yes, i know all about credit card interest)

weve got 3 dogs, 1 broken dew claw cost £120 but after an excess id have gotten £50 back?....

[RB Will]

Your insurance probably wont be loaded much. We claimed a few hundred back for stuff done to our dog and the premium only went up by about £2 a month.