Pet Insurance Cost Cutting System/MoneySavingExpert.com Discussion

pboae

Typically most insurance won't cover:
Worming
Flea Treatment
Vaccinations
Neutering (unless for medical reasons, e.g. pyometra or cryptorchidism)
Anything connected with breeding
or any complication related to any of the above (or in the case of not being vaccinated, treatment for a condition that can be vaccinated for).

In addition to the above, some also exclude routine dental checks.

Insurance is there to cover unexpected and unpredictable events like illness or accident. As to whether it is worth it, it's hard to say. Insurance is essentially gambling, the underwriters calculate how much you are likely to claim and charge you a percentage more than that. If you make only an average number of claims you'll be slightly out of pocket, if you make less than an average number of claims you'll be a lot of out pocket, and if you make a large number of claims, you'll be making a profit (of sorts).

I buy insurance for peace of mind, we were once in a position of having a pet that needed treatment that we couldn't afford. As it turned out he couldn't have the treatment anyway for medical reasons. But I never want to feel like that again. This way I can budget for my pet's medical needs, and although I may end up paying out more than I would have had to otherwise, it's more important to me to be able to afford my regular monthly outgoings. (As it is with this dog I've had to make such huge claims already that insurance will always be good value for him).

So think of it this way, if your cat develops a life long illness, like arthritis, kidney stones, etc. Would you be able to afford the regular medication and vet bills without insurance for the rest of her life? If your cat got out and was run over and the bill was going to be over £1000 to have her legs repaired (as happened to a freind of mine), would you be able to afford it?

If you could find the money if you had to, and are reasonably confident that your cat won't have an accident (much easier to judge that with an indoor cat), then maybe you don't need insurance. You could set up a regular savings account instead, and that way you will have at least some, if not all, of the money to hand should she need additional treatment, and if it isn't needed, you still have the money.

If you know that you would struggle to find a large sum if it was required, then IMHO you should have insurance. You have a duty of care to her now, and part of that includes ensuring you can provide her with medical care.

With dogs, the situation is less ambiguous, they are more likely to suffer life long illnesses, and there is also 3rd party liability to consider. The situation is less clear cut with cats.

Joannef_2

I didn't have insurance for my cat and in the space of about 6 months this year I had over £1,200.00 worth of vet bills and sadly he was put to sleep in November.

However he was 10 or 11 and apart from this year, he had only had one expensive trip to the vet when he got an
abscess under his eye which I think cost around £250.00 and was about 6 years ago. So if the insurance is £100.00 (at a guess) then really I didn't pay out much extra in bills than what the insurance would have cost me.

Having said that, I now have a kitten and am getting a second in 2 weeks and I am going to keep both of them insured. I would rather be paying £15.00 or so a month and not missing the money coming out of my bank account than having all the vets bills like I've had this year.

In_Search_Of_Me

I made the mistake of cancelling my pet insurance & then one of my cats got ill...600 later she had to be out down because I just coulent afford to pay more & it potentially would have taken months for her to recover, if at all. Never again will I be without it...

Emz

This is perhaps a silly question, but is pet insurance like car insurance where every year you can change or move the policy to a new insurance company?

darich

My cat insurance also doesn't cover dental treatment.
Thankfully she's only had a scale and a polish with one extraction and was around £100 so i could handle it.
I checked the policy and dental treatment is considered "maintenance" and not covered.

pboae

Emz wrote: »

This is perhaps a silly question, but is pet insurance like car insurance where every year you can change or move the policy to a new insurance company?

Yes and No, yes you can change every year, but any condition which has been treated previously will be excluded in the new policy, whether you claimed for it or not. Some insurers take a very broad view of what they will exclude (e.g. a hurt leg may lead to any future claims for anything to do with legs being excluded), others will make the exclusion very specific. So in practice you are pretty much tied to one insurer the first time your pet needs vet treatment.

Matilda

Marks and Spencer's certainly WAS a great policy. However they've just changed their insurer, the cover has been vastly reduced, an excess has been added, and they propose putting my cover cost up from £9.67 per month to £13.99! Back to the drawing board..

pboae

If the current M&S policy had been on offer when I signed up with them, I'd never have taken it out. It costs more, covers less, and has some outrageous conditions attached (like having to phone M&S first before getting emergency treatment out of hours). I'm stuck with them now, but I wouldn't recommend the current policy at all :-\

judderman

Hi All,
In the same boat, was with M&S last year,up for renewal on the 25th of Jan.
However on my searching i sniffed this out.. ..
petplan also 12 months for price of 10, however i've not looked at the cover, sorry!!

barnaby-bear

Matilda wrote: »

Marks and Spencer's certainly WAS a great policy. However they've just changed their insurer, the cover has been vastly reduced, an excess has been added, and they propose putting my cover cost up from £9.67 per month to £13.99! Back to the drawing board..

Yep we got this for our two. However we looked at the old underwriter (AXA) went direct and got the same deal direct as previously - what really tee-d us off from M&S was the comment about reviewing policies introducing an excess and reviewing premium in light of this - yep reviewing it up 45%.... AXA's renewal was to the penny the same as previously - worth a look...?