Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

UKTigerlily

& in a year when you get a huge Vet bill, then what? My Aunt's dog cost £4,000 in Vet bills, it'd take quite a few years to save that up! In fact, if doing as suggested above, you'd still not have enough by the time the dog died. Please keep the insurance! Did the dog have any pre existing conditions?

LittleTinker

Are you aware of what percentage of cats and dogs require medical care to that extent?

People spend hundreds of pounds insuring their animals while their children have needs such as decent shoes.

I am not saying it is for everyone.....of course you have to feel comfortable in what you do and it wouldnt be worth it if you were worried all the time.

But chances are almost nil that an animal will need £4000 of treatment....and to save your own cash and have £300 to put towards a £450 bill is still better than lining the pockets of the Insurance companies.

Plus, you dont get the situation of the vet wanting to do work on your animals (blood tests etc) just becuase youre insured.

robster1964

Are you Kidding? Have you ever seen one of your babies having a fit, losing their bowels, sweating, and then some how coming round and being normal........

Have you gone through this so many times, taken them to the vets, looked for solutions, done everything you possibly can, taken them to the vets again, and still, watch them die in your arms.........

I work in this industry, & believe me babe £4000 is nothing, if your pet has a long lasting condition....

Paparika

My pup is part of the family, vets are not like nhs for treatment, unfortunately we have to pay for his needs, so i would rather have it covered with insurance, i don't have £4k spare just in case.

what if this month i cancelled his insurance and put £60 away and the very next day something bad happens?

I don't begrudge paying as long as they pay up if it is ever needed. Perry will have cover for how ever long it's needed.

I know i could pay my vet a bit each month if i didn't have insurance, but I'm just treading water as it is.


And yes i do make sure my DS has shoes too

mrcol1000

Have you tried More Than as they aren't too badly priced? I pay £10 a month.
I love my dog but at the end of the day if you have to spend £4k on treatment for something then you have to decide what kind of life the dog is going to have after treatment and only if it gets better.
Sure a broken leg is worth the treatment but a serious illness where the dog is going to be ill rest of its life surely its better to put the dog down and save its misery?

Hintza

We certainly don't pay insurance for the animals. Insurance is fine if you have one or two and you live in an area where the vets bills are huge, but once you have a larger number of animals then the cost is prohibative.

You also have to weigh up what your tollerance to risk is, some folk can't abide the thought of any risk, whilst I have a certain view that insurance is for pessimists.

suki1964

Personally I no longer insure.

A few reasons,mainly because my dog is fit and healthy and we live miles out from anywhere where he runs the fields and cars are a rarity. Also the premiums were just going up and up yet our vet bills for the incidentals are only half of what we were paying when in the south of England.

We are also in a position to cover a large vet bill and any ongoing treatment if needed as we do have savings and are lucky not to be living hand to mouth.

If you do have savings then its easier to give up the security of insurance, if we didnt have a nest egg I would keep the insurance on

UKTigerlily

If I could get a loan or had it in savings I wouldn't insure, but due to illness I can't get a loan or credit & so i'd be in no way able to come up with £1k+. I couldn't have a pet put down cause I didn't bother to insure them tho, but finding a Vet that claims direct from the insurers wasn't easy. It's the only thing that annoys me with some Vets, there's no point in insurance if they can't claim direct, cause if I had the money in the first place I wouldn't need insurance! I have the insurance to cover big bills, which is pointless if the Vet wouldn't claim from them!
I did find Vets4Pets will claim from the insurer if over £400-£500 though so that's where i've had to register, which is a shame as i'd been going to my choice in Vet for 20+yrs.

HelzBelz

Like Little Tinker I put money away for vet bills instead of having insurance and even though one of the cats is an accident magnet we've still paid less than we would have done in insurance premiums over the years.

MrsTinks

Having an accident prone dog and a stupid cat I personally would NEVER not insure them! The cat cost £1500 in one whack after arguing with a car... and the dog has slowly added up something similar in the 2/3 years we've had her. For the cat at the rate I pay for both my cats it would take me 8 years to save the same amount at the rate the insurance payments are. And longer for the dog as I go through the RSPCA insurance giving me a discount and also through Quidco for cashback
I'd never want to be in the position of having to make a choice of what treatment to give them because one was cheaper than the other... And with a dog that potentially needs surgery on her backlegs further down the line totalling over £3000 (prob nearer £4k) then I'll carry on insuring
I'd never take on a pet if I couldn't afford to insure it