Pet Insurance - doubled!!

[tugglesf239]

Morning

Has anyone changed pet insurers for animals that have pre existing conditions? My Springer Buster is neary 10 (god me wee boy is getting old ) has a had claims made for an allergy and also hip dysplacia.

Hes premium jumped from 35 qud a month two years ago, to 55 quid last year. However renewal just come in for the year at 95 quid a month!!!!

I can see that i can move him to another level of cover with no cover for existing conditions. this comes in at around 35-40 per month but trying to find one for preexistigis hard and might cost me a fortune.

Half inclned to take a new cover out. Save the remaining 65 quid a month in a seperate account and hop that i dont need to dip into it.

Does anyone have any tips or experiance?

 

[KenL]

My mate recently told me the cover for his ageing yorkie had a renewal of £195 per month. That was doubled too. He was raging. Not sure what he did in the end.

 

[tugglesf239]

Its bad tbh

In terms of claims i have made over the last 10 years i would think it has come to around 600 quid.

To think tht they have had nearly 6 grand off me already and want to charge me a grand a year moving forward is sickening.

 

[rudebhoy]

I've come to the conclusion that insurance is a waste of time for dogs. Policies typically have a £100 excess. When a dog gets to 8, the insurers apply another 20% excess. One of our Springers had to have on op on his prostate when he was 10. The vets bill was £600. The insurers paid out £380, so I had to find £220. That was on top of the cost of the annual policy for both springers which was £100 a month.

I cancelled it, and started putting the £100 into a savings account every month. I've now got a couple of grand in that account.

I know quite a few owners who do this. You need to be self-disciplined, but I think it's a better strategy.

 

[tugglesf239]

I've come to the conclusion that insurance is a waste of time for dogs. Policies typically have a £100 excess. When a dog gets to 8, the insurers apply another 20% excess. One of our Springers had to have on op on his prostate when he was 10. The vets bill was £600. The insurers paid out £380, so I had to find £220. That was on top of the cost of the annual policy for both springers which was £100 a month.

I cancelled it, and started putting the £100 into a savings account every month. I've now got a couple of grand in that account.

I know quite a few owners who do this. You need to be self-disciplined, but I think it's a better strategy.

Cheers pal. I think ill take a level of cover but will save the cash aside in case i need it. Its the fear factor that i wont be able to fiix anything that could happen to him that keeps me paying it.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I cancelled it, and started putting the £100 into a savings account every month. I've now got a couple of grand in that account.

I know quite a few owners who do this. You need to be self-disciplined, but I think it's a better strategy.

That’s what we did when our first rescue Staffie had her insurance go from £20 a month to £38, that was about 20 yrs ago. We did the same with our second rescue Staffie, never bothered insuring him and just put money away each month to cover the bills. We saved quite a lot of money and TBH I don’t know I would ever bother with pet insurance again.

 

[GB72]

I think pet insurance is another area that is starting to price itself out of its own market. With a £100.00 excess, I would suspect that 90% of vets bills would not be covered in any event so what you are doing is paying in case of a really big bill. I have had cats all of my life and only one has had a big bill (for a leg amputation). With the rest, the big cost has been the little stuff after fights etc. With none of that being covered, I think I would now be better of saving a couple of thousand pounds in a vet fund just in case of that expensive emergency.

 

[rudebhoy]

The other thing that winds me up when vets ask 'are you insured?" If you say yes, it's a green light for them to bump the bill up massively. The same springer had to have a different op about 4 years ago. I asked the vet for an estimate, she said it would be £400-£450. When we went to pick him up, they presented us with a bill for over £800. I queried it, and their answer was "you are insured, what's the problem?"

The insurance company paid their bit, I was due to pay about £300, I refused to do so and complained in writing. They threatened me with court, I wrote again as they hadn't responded to any of the points I had made. They eventually gave up and I moved vet, left a nasty taste, did that.

 

[tugglesf239]

The other thing that winds me up when vets ask 'are you insured?" If you say yes, it's a green light for them to bump the bill up massively. The same springer had to have a different op about 4 years ago. I asked the vet for an estimate, she said it would be £400-£450. When we went to pick him up, they presented us with a bill for over £800. I queried it, and their answer was "you are insured, what's the problem?"

The insurance company paid their bit, I was due to pay about £300, I refused to do so and complained in writing. They threatened me with court, I wrote again as they hadn't responded to any of the points I had made. They eventually gave up and I moved vet, left a nasty taste, did that.

I have 100% seen that happen too. A number of times

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I remember my second rescue Staffie, Diesel, had what was diagnosed as a floating knee cap in his back left leg. The vet said it would be at least £500 to pin it, and grind the bone. However being "that type of dog" there would be no guarantee it wouldn't come unpinned, or lead to him gettign arthritis in later life. Dont forget this was 16 yrs ago. I told them I would leave it, and see how he went by giving him glucosamine supplement. The vets response was "dont you love your dog?"
I thanked the vet for his time, and left paying the consultaion fee on the way out. Diesel went onto glucosamine as I said I would, and after about 3 months the knee cap stopped sliding out of place and he stopped going lame when it did.
I'm sure the glucosamine tablet he had (I am also taking them) didn't amount to £500 over the 10 years he lived after I got him.

 

[Rooter]

I have 100% seen that happen too. A number of times

Ours cut one of her pads, admittedly it was a decent cut, say 2-3cm and 5mm deep. Final bill was over 800 quid. (I informed them at first appointment we had insurance!) 800 quid!!

 

[Jamesbrown]

There’s a company I’m waiting to move to that covers existing conditions. You must wait 3 months after any treatment or consultation on that particular injury and they will treat your pet as one without problems. (Allegedly) can’t remember the name but there’s only a handful of insurers that cover pre existing conditions.

Go without insurance and the bill is usually cheaper so could always put money aside.

 

[patricks148]

Some PI is just daylight robbery, when Balrick was diagnosed, they doubled the prem, almost £200, i somethine think you would be better just putting money aside in an account to just use at vets

 

[USER1999]

Our cats used to be insured, but are no longer. It just got silly. I have only ever made one claim, which was massive for sure, but over 20 years, the insurance adds up to more than the one claim. To me, it's not worth it.