[Closed] Pet Insurance?

I asked the same question when the wife and I were looking at insurance for our Cocker.

Went with PetPlan in the end because they do life cover for the pet and we got a discount as our other dog is with them. And they allow the dogs to work and still be covered.

Ours are with Direct Line who I have found to be very helpful when claiming for torched cars or hit-by-cars kittens.

On our first kitten I had paid two months premiums and the poor thing got run down. Direct Line paid out and we made a profit on the policy. Not big or clever but a slim silver lining to a dark cloud.

just looked into this for our new puppy (see my thread from a couple of weeks ago) and we are going with PetPlan for the following reasons;

1. It offers cover for life eg. if your pet has an injury/illness that is long lasting they will continue to cover whereas some of the cheaper ones will not renew your annual policy after it expires so you only get cover during that year.

2. Our vet recommends PetPlan and is happy to deal direct should the need arise and PetPlan are happy to pay the vet direct rather than us having to fork out and then claim back the costs

Petplan

£29 cashback here

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/retailerdetailPetplan.htm

Thanks for the info above.

2. Our vet recommends PetPlan and is happy to deal direct should the need arise and PetPlan are happy to pay the vet direct rather than us having to fork out and then claim back the costs

Gooner, that's very interesting, would make the whole process easier I guess.

Definately worth it - our cat is with Tesco & it has saved us in region of £5k. Insurance company has always paid out with very little fuss & Vet claim directly from insurance co to avoid us having to pay & then claim back later

Check you house hold insurance as some do a pet insurance as well so you can get a bundled product discount, alternatively put some dosh monthly in an account, if after 12-15 years you have no claims then its a holiday for you rather than the insurance agent.
Just remember pet insurance is a serious golden egg for the insurance companies

Pet plan here for the same reasons as above, saved us a fortune in vet bills as our cat seems to be a bit accident prone.

catvet thanks for the advice, I take it you are a vet from your id?

Is it true that pedigree pets suffer more complications than you average mixed up parent variety pets?

So, I guess, the plans take this into account?

Just remember pet insurance is a serious golden egg for the insurance companies

pet insurance paid out £1500 for our cat to get repaired when he got run over. We don't have that kind of money kicking around, so would have really struggled. we do have £9 a month for the insurance - that £1500 is nearly 14 years of insurance payments. I'll take that thanks.

What ever you do stay away from E&L.

Bunch of TW$%$

Made me wait 6 weeks before they paid out what was a legitimate claim, stalled me for weeks.

Most of the vets and pet folk warn against them as well.

More Than or Pet Plan.

Pet plan have recently revamped their cover so it is now much better that it was a few years back.

I think all the vet's recommend petplan 'cos they are on a "4 weeks free deals" with them which gives the vet 4 weeks free reign to milk the policy.

Petplan seem v expensive but does seem to offer v comp cover

Speaking as a cat lover,

My cat-before-last I had from a kitten to 18. Insurance for her over that time would've been (based on figures here) over two grand, whereas her actual vet bills over that time came out at a tenth of that.

I think therefore that I'd put aside an amount every month into a 'disasters' pot and any bills over a grand would be fixed with a new cat. A side benefit of this is that you don't need any extended warranties or any of that other nonsense that always gets foisted on you to bleed more money out of you whenever you buy anything. When it all evens out, you're likely to be out of pocket (by definition, insurance companies wouldn't be in business otherwise). It's like playing fruit machines or casinos; you might score the odd prize but in the long game the house always wins.

Partner works at a vets and Pet Plan is by far the best.

They paid out £9k for one of my old dogs, it would take over 20 years for us to pay that in premiums!

All the vets love PetPlan, the coverage is good, but you pay heftily for that. We use GreenBee for our dog, aka John Lewis. Very similar level of cover for a much lower premium. It's underwritten by AXA, who are usually very good.

In any case, as with car insurance, premiums seem to differ massively depending on your area too. Don't really understand that with pets, cars yes, pets, not so much. 😕

We use GreenBee for our dog, aka John Lewis.

Funny name for a dog.

I use PetPlan and have had about £800 out of them already and he is only two.

As for putting the money in a disasters pot. Well that might work out, but I have spoken to too many people who have been landed with big bills (including someone yesterday who got a 2K bill on first visit after their dog impaled itself on a stick). to be brave enough to risk it.

We use PetPlan - always paid out without quibble and that's definitely worth it.

Up until last year our cat had several occasions of scratches from fights that had got infected. Each time, it was a few hundred quid to get sorted. Petplan always paid up.

Then last year cat had major illness (vets never got to the bottom of it), but it resulted in £3000+ of vet bills split between our normal vet & the Cambridge Royal Vet Hospital. They paid out with no bother at all which was a major relief.

mrs c-d here. I would strongly recommend pet insurance, you may not make a claim, but that's the nature of insurance - I rather hope that mr c-d doesnt get to claim on my life insurance! It certainly means that finances don't have to come into the decision making process if your pet is injured or unwell, it's a case of what is possible and what am I willing to undertake, rather than what can I afford - it's always depressing to have to euthanase an animal with a potentially treatable condition, or amputate a leg that was fixable, but by an orthopaedic specialist at great expense. Broadly pet insurance is either an annual policy, where an animal is covered for 12mths from WHEN THE VET FIRST SEES IT FOR THAT CONDITION (not when you first claim), or life policy where the animal is covered for as long as you pay premiums. Life policies tend to be further subdivided, some will give you a pot of cash for a year, once the pot is empty you are on your own, until the pot refills at renewal, others will allow you a certain amount per condition, this keeps on getting totted up, once you hit the limit you are on your own for that condition. Just make sure you know what you are getting, and any limits for vet fees are high enough.
As a new grad vet I didnt insure my cats as i am a vet, so didnt really think I needed to. A few grand (2k for orthopaedic surgery, 3k for a complex medical problem)later after having to send both of them to specialist centres, when cat no 3 came on the scene he was covered as soon as he was old enough. Vets do tend to recommend pet plan, purely because they tend to be very good to deal with, and generally pay up with little fuss & fairly promptly. E&L are notorious for using every trick in the book to avoid or delay paying.
The other thing that is worth checking is what their annual premium increase tends to be - I have had some clients get what seemed like a great deal for year 1, only to have a massive premium hike at renewal. it's fine to shop around if your pet has been well, but generally any pre-existing condition will be excluded by the new company, so if Fluffy was seen for sore ears, even if a claim wasn't made, the ears will be excluded by the new company.
i hope this helps, and dare i say 'this thread is useless without pics'!!