Pet Plan rip off

viktory

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

When I was looking for cat insurance, most of the top cover was about £20 a month. If you save that over the lifespan of the cat, after 15 years you'll have £3600, plus interest. Bearing in mind that lots of cats go through their life with no need for any expensive treatment, over a whole lifetime of keeping cats it is probably cheaper to save instead of insure.

That is an excellent idea in theory but is obviously a flawed plan. You are not allowing for the animal falling ill/being injured when you have only saved for 6 months or a year. If this happens, then obviously you won't have £3600 available, will you?

richardginger

Most insurers will not insure a cat older than 10 years. You have to decide either to take the risk and not have your pet insured or accept the premium, although it does seem high. I think for £240 a year, I would take on the risk myself, but that is up to you. Hope you find a solution. Good luck . . .

thesim

SiuLoong wrote: »

Petplan do seem expensive, but you get what you pay for.. reminds me of the old monty python sketch about the insurance policy with the no payout clause - it was cheaper, I can see why you went for it but I'm afraid we don't pay out on that policy.

Petplan tend to be one of the more reliable & reasonable pet insurance companies to claim from and I think that is worth the extra money... my cat is only just two and very healthy but I would have had to claim three times in the last year for accidents/injuries he has had, fortunately for Petplan I am a vet so I dealt with them myself but if he needed specialist treatment I'd have to pay the same as anyone else, which can get into the 000's and I couldn't afford it, but at the same time I'd want him to have the best possible treatment.

There is plenty of competition in the pet insurance market, there are a number of companies that do much cheaper insurance but often they have much lower limits or single year cover, or exclude anything they possibly can. Maybe try a search for E&L ?!

Finally, instead of being upset you've paid all this money to petplan and had nothing go wrong.. be happy that your cat has lead a healthy and happy life so far and long may it continue!! Insurance may pay for the treatment but it doesn't cover the stress of having a sick pet...

Most vets seem to not recommend E&L for obvious reasons. Cheap yeah, but they are rubbish at paying out.

dacouch

Everyone reccomends you DON'T go with E & L, particuarly anyone in the Insurance Industry or any of their customers who have been unfortunate enough to make a claim on their policy

mummyvn

My dog costs me in excess of 30 ponds a month with petplan - I have 2 dogs and a horse ( and no I do not make more than an average salary) the lack of income is part of the reson that all 3 are insured with Petplan costing me in the region of 100 pounds a month. Yet by the time my oldest dog was 6 she had had 18,000 in vets bills from them never did they querie a claim or say she couldn't have treatment at various specialist centres. The second dog I have had a complicated fracture at 9 months old and claimed 2,000 to fix that. The horse is the most expensive to insure yet (touch wood I hope I never do have to claim) I have not needed anywhere near the financial support I have needed with my dogs. They are good old Dalmations not a breed renowned for problems they have just been unlucky.
I am also a vet nurse so as I have worked around the country invarious specialist centres I know what can be done and what it costs to keep animals healthy I have seen bills into 10,000+ luckily the most I claimed in one calender year is 5,500. Also as Petpolan do "cover for life" my old dog is still fully insured and they still pay out on all her treatments yes I have to pay a larger proportion towards it now but they will never get their money back on my animals and I know lots of clients in the same boat.
You get what you pay for is never more true than with pet insurance. I've still got a marvellous (yet unlucky) dog.

Thanks Petplan :T

The_Broker_2

Can I just back up what most folk have already said

1) A cat isn't comparable with a house in any way shape or form, certainly not for insurance purposes
2) The risk of a claim is greater so the premium is going up in line with the risk

Nobody is forcing you to take the insurance and if you don't want to pay the premium, thats fine. its your choice.

Insurance is jut the transfer of "risk". (the risk that something will happen to your cat and you will have to pay out money) You can carry the risk yourself if you don't want to pay the premium.

Diaemus

Hi

I can understand why it seems like a lot of money but If your cat is 12yrs old, it may still have another 10years to live if you are lucky. It's at this age that things will start to go wrong, a bit like us getting older. My dogs insurance is currently £55/mth & £100 excess & 20% of the costs, I am unfortunately fortunate in that I can see the point of the insurance for two reasons.......

1. She's cost the insurance co. over £10k so far and she's only 11.

2. I work in a specialist vets and I know what treatment costs. The £1000 you quote you would have had in your account would not go far in todays modern veterinary practice using up to date technology.

Modern practice is, at clients request, keeping up with human medicine quite well. Animals go for MRI's (blip, £1k gone), teeth get capped, complicated pelvic fractures rebuild (forget the £1k the most complicated cat pelvic fracture I've seen came in a good few k above that).

It's often the minute you cancel your pet insurance that your beloved pet decides to play chicken with the local bus too......

I hope your pet enjoys many more disease free years.:beer: