Pet Insurance
- Thread starter Culchie
- Start date
Z
z107
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I remember reading the small print on one of these policies and decided against pet insurance. They didn't seem to cover much.
It turned out to be well worth while for our dog. We received about 600 euro for surgery, medication etc. and we have only paid an annual premium of 90 euro. It's not really useful for smaller things though as it only kicks in when the costs exceed 50 euro for a particular illness.
Originally we only took out the policy for cover if the dog happened to bite someone or cause an accident. We didn't think we would we claiming for medical benefits. It's the only insurance I've ever claimed anything on!
Originally we only took out the policy for cover if the dog happened to bite someone or cause an accident. We didn't think we would we claiming for medical benefits. It's the only insurance I've ever claimed anything on!
After paying out a fortune for investigative surgery on cat a few years ago I decided to insure her afterwards. She never was as healthy the following year. So I cancelled the premium in October. She went missing now a week ago and is gone! Could have claimed if I had kept up insurance but then again - I would prefer to have her back. I don't know of any other company that does pet insurance apart from Allianz.
"In my experience, they covered nothing! Complete waste of money. I paid one year's premium & called it a day, the annual premium would cover the vet's bill for the year!"
Well, we've done ok out of it. The annual premium is around 100€. There's a €50 excess for any one illness in a year and it doesn't cover vaccinations. There's a limit then of 3 or 4k annually. I'm not sure what it is exactly. So, if you have anything which is over €50, you can claim the rest up to 3 or 4k. We claimed for surgery to remove a benign tumour, shots and antibiotics for a bad bout of gastroenteritis and blood tests for a kidney problem. I haven't checked to see what exclusions there are but everything we've claimed for so far has been covered.
Our dog is a mutt so the premium is lower than for purebreds.
It's the only insurance I've gotten any use out of so I'm pretty happy with it.
Well, we've done ok out of it. The annual premium is around 100€. There's a €50 excess for any one illness in a year and it doesn't cover vaccinations. There's a limit then of 3 or 4k annually. I'm not sure what it is exactly. So, if you have anything which is over €50, you can claim the rest up to 3 or 4k. We claimed for surgery to remove a benign tumour, shots and antibiotics for a bad bout of gastroenteritis and blood tests for a kidney problem. I haven't checked to see what exclusions there are but everything we've claimed for so far has been covered.
Our dog is a mutt so the premium is lower than for purebreds.
It's the only insurance I've gotten any use out of so I'm pretty happy with it.
Surely such policies would have exclusions for pre-existing conditions possibly rendering some or all of the cover useless?
That's over twice what I pay to insure our house! What have been your total premiums and total vet bills over the years? Would it have made more sense to "self insure" by not taking the insurance but saving the money instead?I pay €570 odd per year for two dogs and two cats
Clubman - it's also twice what I pay for my house insurance. Never had to use it for the cats but did use it for one of the dogs last year - had early stages of cancer so removal of cysts, stay in vets etc came to over €1000. I know it's expensive but I do feel better knowing that its there - particularly with purebred dogs who are prone to certain ailments eg - labs are prone to hip problems in later life. In fact my mam's lab had a hip/back leg problem which was covered by pet insurance - amounted to about 500 euro expenses after x-rays and tests etc so for us it has been worth it. I'd hate to have to put an animal down because we didn't have the money to pay vets bills.
Two years worth of premiums - perhaps "self insuring" would have been more prudent after all?
How so if the premium was about the same amount?
Well the problem is ongoing and her hip will probably get displaced again in the future - it also causes problems with her tail - so we will be covered for all future problems. Re cancer - again even though she has had a large section of her skin removed on her stomach she will be very prone to cysts from now on which have to be very carefully monitored and removed immediately each time - all of which is very expensive. Other than this our cavalier has had glands removed. Overall worth it for us particularly as we know some of these problems will be ongoing - although granted some years nothing will happen and I will be paying 500 plus but still it is there if I need it
Exactly - so saving the premiums might (a) cover your costs anyway and (b) leave you with a lump sum if nothing happens. Insurance should really only be taken out for eventualities that would give rise to costs that you would be very hard pressed to cover yourself (e.g. the house burning down) not for lesser expenses. I would imagine that the chances of having vet bills of €500+ every year for pets would be unlikely so to insure at such a premium seems crazy to me.