Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

Dollardog

Can anyone tell me, if you take on a rescue dog without knowing it has any problems and without having its previous vets records, insure it, then later have to take it to a vet and find it has some inherited thing, such as a heart murmer or something, would the insurance company cover it, or would they be likely to say it had had that condition long term and treat it as a pre existing condition and therefore not cover it?

Bromley86

Have a read of the whole thread linked to, but this is the bit that really concerns you. Note that experiences may vary, etc.

Eventually she said, i will put you through to a specialist in our claims dept,

So again we went around the same arguments, both of us swinging from yes it is to no it isn't. She then said hold on a minute let me speak to someone. She came back to me and said "is the dog still at the breeders?" which i replied yes she then asked "do you use the same vets?" to which i replied no.

She then said, well if something was to happen we only ask for vets that YOU have registered the dog at, not previous owners. They get so many rescue dogs, or dogs like this that have changed hands that it would be nigh on impossible to track previous owners and their vets, that's even if the dog has the same name as it always has done.

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/137995.html

Do note though that this is a transfer between two private individuals. In the case of rescues, the insurance company may well ask the rescue for their records (which may include the records of the previous owner).

Dollardog

Bromley86 wrote: »

Have a read of the whole thread linked to, but this is the bit that really concerns you. Note that experiences may vary, etc.
http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/137995.html

Do note though that this is a transfer between two private individuals. In the case of rescues, the insurance company may well ask the rescue for their records (which may include the records of the previous owner).

Thanks Bromley.
On reflection, I probably should have been able to answer my own question, head's not with it at the moment!!
None of my recent dogs have been pups when I had them. Only two of them have been insured.
One was a breed rescue, he did have claims made for him, only when he had to have his eye out as he had a tumour on his eyeball and then a year later when we had to go back to the specialist again as he was showing similar symtoms, although nothing to be seen, and had developed a brain tumour. I was never asked where he came from and I doubt very much if any records would have been available, he had had five homes before me and he was only two when I got him.
My last dog came from his breeder, he had a heart murmer which for years didn't need treatment but had been mentioned on his records at the vet's I use. When it did eventually start needing tablets, I remember my vet saying that they had asked for the full records to be sent and had challenged why it was only now being claimed for, the vet wrote back that it had not required treatment before and he could have gone all his life without needing treatment. They accepted this and paid up. Thinking back, I was never asked where he was from, or asked who his previous vets were.
Perhaps that might have been different though, the first dog had a condition that would have only just shown anyway, and the second one that didn't need treatment for a long time and might never have.

I just wondered if any people who had taken on rescues had had any problems with things that might have been there when they took them on and they didn't know about, ie, if they had a rescue that just for example, did need treatment soon after they had it, for say a heart murmer that they hadn't known about.

By the way, just in case you are wondering, this is only a hyperthetical question, I'm not in that situation!!

rising_from_the_ashes

Dollardog wrote: »

I just wondered if any people who had taken on rescues had had any problems with things that might have been there when they took them on and they didn't know about, ie, if they had a rescue that just for example, did need treatment soon after they had it, for say a heart murmer that they hadn't known about.

I think they're starting to get a bit more picky about this unfortunately

Can't remember the exact wording (and don't have it handy just now but will try to dig them out) but I'm pretty sure my old policy said along the lines of "could reasonably have known about" a condition that came to light in a rehomed dog.

I queried this with my new insurance company and was told that (again not word for word quote) "any condition that comes to light that would have been in existence before the insurance was taken out" (ie before you rehomed them) would be excluded

Luckily not had to put it to the test but .... a bit worrying if that's the route they are going to go down

Would also be interested to hear others experiences

Beachview_2

Something I hate about pet insurance is all the 'extras' that come as standard, to push the price up. I would like to build my own policy from scratch that suited my needs. I would remove the public liability for starters, as I know my own dogs well enough to know they're not going to bite anyone, and they're never running loose to cause an accident.

I'd remove a few other things too, but I can't remember them off the top of my head, as my dog's been uninsured for a few years due to massive price rises. They were looking for over £300 per year, with bladder conditions excluded. The most likely claim for me would be bladder stones, and my dog has had them twice since I stopped insuring him.

I've got another puppy now and I was offered 6 weeks free insurance from the Irish Kennel Club with Allianz. Unfortunately I am not eligible for this offer as I live in Northern Ireland. I looked on the Allianz website and that's their policy. Allianz used to be linked to Petplan when I had my dog with them. So out of curiosity I priced Petplan for the puppy (Japanese Spitz) and they quoted £18.78 a month.

Beachview_2

Just had a quick look at the Petplan site. Here's the extras I'd remove:
Boarding fees (for if I go to hospital)
Advertising & reward (would cover this myself if necessary, and have heard of people advertise missing dogs on local radio etc with success)
Holiday cancellation (don't go abroad)
Quarantine expenses and loss of documents (they'll never be in quarantine and I can look after my own docs)
Emergency repatriation
Legal helpline

So a lifetime policy with all that rubbish removed would suit me. Teeth would need to be covered too, though many don't, except for Petplan (last time I had insurance). As far as I can see, they're all just included as 'standard' as a way of making sure to get extra money.

Bromley86

The public liability element, I suspect, is fairly minimal (the Dog's Trust gives it away and most home insurances cover it). And there's always the time that they do get away (the number of people I've bumped into recently walking !!!!!es in heat horrifies me).

Likewise the other stuff probably doesn't account for much of your premium. It's people claiming for human-grade healthcare that accounts for your premium. (Not having a go at people that do claim; I say this as someone who's claimed for 2 dog hips ).

Dollardog

Bromley86 wrote: »

They all do, but that looks excessive. In our case (AXA, no claims):

£184 3m
£203 15m
£223 27m

Bromley - is that per month? How old is the dog and what breed?
I thought mine was excessive at £130 a month.

cathodetube

Bromley86 wrote: »

The public liability element, I suspect, is fairly minimal (the Dog's Trust gives it away and most home insurances cover it). And there's always the time that they do get away (the number of people I've bumped into recently walking !!!!!es in heat horrifies me).

Likewise the other stuff probably doesn't account for much of your premium. It's people claiming for human-grade healthcare that accounts for your premium. (Not having a go at people that do claim; I say this as someone who's claimed for 2 dog hips ).

Why are you horrified by people walking !!!!!es in heat?

Bromley86

cathodetube wrote: »

Why are you horrified by people walking !!!!!es in heat?

I don't own chaps, and my girls are spayed, but I thought girls in season give off a scent that the guys really like. I've always imagined that the scent hangs around a bit.

So, if I was walking an intact male and the place stank of girls in season, might that not lead to my dog disobeying me (running off, not leaving the poor girl alone, etc.)? Possibly even not thinking terribly hard and running over a road? I'll have to read up on it tonight, but feel free to shoot me down if it's an old wives' tale .

EDIT: Confirmed. The right and responsible thing to do is to go very much out of your way to not meet other dogs when your girls are in season. This includes, at the extreme, not going out, although that obviously won't work for everyone. In that case it's odd hours, unusual places or places where you know for certain dogs will be on leads (i.e. road walking). Here, here, here.

Bromley - is that per month? How old is the dog and what breed?
I thought mine was excessive at £130 a month.

Per annum, thankfully. The ages we're in my original post , but the £223 was when she was 2. Labrador, spayed.

The other one is about the same despite having had her hips done (not that that should affect it, especially as she had them done with another insurer, so it's a pre-existing for this one).