Pet insurance?

mymo

Hi everyone,

Have a new pup and want to get insurance, Just want to know if anyone has any experience with this or advice about who to use. Heard people complaining about slow payouts and long waits. Never had it for our cats and one ended up costing us a bit over last couple of years, so I realize to value of it.
Thanks in advance.

Alun

We have it for our cats, after paying out a fortune when our old cat was ill, and when they've had to pay out they've been pretty quick with it within a week or two IIRC.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Your Vet is the best place to look.

andreac

Im with Allianz, i think they are very good. I never have to claim as the vet does it directly so i only ever pay the excess to the vet which is around 60euro so i dont have the hassle of sending off claim forms.

LisaO

Also with Allianz - think they may be only company providing pet cover in Ireland?

As far as I remember I set mine up on-line & they collect prmium by monthly direct debit. Very straightforward & have had same experience as other posters - my vet just takes the 60 euro excess from me & then they make the claim directly to Allianz.

Gorgeous puppy BTW - what is he/she?

mymo

We live in a very small town and only one vet, He's wonderful and loves all animals but is off on holiday until Tuesday. Guy in his place only interested in farm animals, was shocked I get up at night to let out pup and suggested a dog house so he could sleep outside.:eek:
I'll call back and ask Thursday, He seems well up on most things.
Allianz quoted €216.50, found one other crowd but excess was €150, but I'll have proper look tonight.

@LisaO. Ollie(Oliver) is a 12 week old Tibetan Terrier, very cute and VERY smart.

Jules

Be very careful of new insurance companies opening up in ireland. The only other one i kow of, besides pet plan, only covers long term illness for a short time, and not for life. Make sure to read all the small print and not just the price.

lostinnappies

Things to check with insurance,
1. Make sure that when they say they are covered for a certain amount that it is per year.... some insurances will say £7000 per year, that might be in total no matter what happens, (road traffic accident bills can be very high)

2. some times its stated that it is £7000 per condition, this means that through out their lives they will only have £7000 per condition. Diabetic cats can go through that in a few years. This also includes RTA if you pet breaks a bone and later breaks it again in the same area ... they wont pay.

3. Once you have taken on an insurance policy and if a condition develops, you find your insurance wont cover it and want to change to another one. It is then classed as a pre-existing condition and wont be covered on the new insurance policy.

My recommendation is petplan. They cover pretty much anything and i dont believe there is any limit.

hoppy

i am with allianz for my 3 staffies i have found it invaluable especially when one off my dogs got seriously ill and hda to have life saving emrgency surgery and intensive after care, everything but the first 60 euro was covered,i have also had a couple of smaller claims and had a cheque out in about 10 days!

newtocats

I am the proud owner of a tiny new kitten and have gone online with Alli*nz on the advise of a friend and she too said she only had to pay the first 60e to her vets - but I have just been quoted an excess of 75e!!!

orchidsrpretty

I think they have changed the excess on new cover to €75, it use to be €60. Some vets will not put through the claim for you anymore. My vet used to but stopped back in April. Its a bit of a pain, hes a great vet so I don't want to change. I have made two claims in the last two years and both have been quite slow to come through. Months after the last claim, I got a cheque in the post from them. No idea what it was for, I didn't ring just in case they wanted it back:p

newtocats

Thanks orchidrpretty for the reply, seems theres not much choice out there in the way of pet insurance so I may as well go with the quote I got its only 8.50 pm anyway

rorobobo

Hey everyone,

Has anyone managed to find any better options for insurance?
I got a quote from Aliance and it's over €200 - just seems like a lot to pay.

Cheers,
rorobobo

newtocats

rorobobo (hope I got that right )
I insured a kitten and paid 105 for the year, excess 75

hth

Newtocats - from allianz on line by the way

rorobobo

Hi newtocats...
You got it right :-)
Thanks for the reply.
Did you get you're kitten insured with Aliance?
I have a wee bichon frise puppy.
It's working out at about €18 per month which I suppose isn't too bad.
I've done a few searches and the only place I can find that does pet insurance is Aliance and thought there might be some more out there.
I really want to get insurance as she already hurt her paw and it has cost me a pretty penny so far!

Cheers,
rorobobo

newtocats

Hi, yes it was allianz on line I went with (sorry not familiar with your puppy breed ) but my insurance is only 8.75 a month so yours seems a good bit dearer doesnt it? Maybe go on line it might be cheaper (if you havent done that already?)
If its anything like motorbike insurance there doesnt seem to be much choice out there unfortunately.

good luck

Arcadian

It's different because you have a cat and he has a dog

rorobobo

Hi newtocats/Arcadian,

Yes dogs seem to be more expensive than cats for some reason. Doesn't make sense to me. Looks like I will go with Aliance anyways as it's the only one I can really find. Here's hoping that I won't need to claim from them very often.

Cheers,
rorobobo

newtocats

Arcadian - did you ever hear the old saying if you have nothing good to say?

Beth

There's also another company doing insurance for pets

http://www.petinsure.ie/

I havent heard of anyone using them, or how long it takes for them to pay out, if/when they pay out etc so I dont know if they're any good or not. But it is the only other option I've found out there.

i've stuck with Allianz though, since they're a known company and others have at least heard of them and had experience with them.

I guess its down to personal choice and whether people are willing to try the new companies that will be popping up.

Arcadian

newtocats wrote: »

Arcadian - did you ever hear the old saying if you have nothing good to say?

You had a query re differing quotes, I answered it........... Different species have different premiums.

The Sweeper

In my experience, the excesses are generally higher than the cost of a routine visit to the vet - sometimes even including small-scale medications (common antibiotic or topical cream). This isn't surprising if you think about it really - insurance isn't designed to pay out on routine expenses.

Where it REALLY helps is when you're in front of the vet with an unexpectedly sick animal and they say "Yes yes, Fido or Fifi is going to be fine, we'll just put them on a drip for 24 hours to get some fluid into them, then tomorrow we'll set that leg / wire that knee / excise those lumps / pull that tooth. Then they'll be sore for a few days, so you'll pick them up the day after tomorrow, and we'll give you some antibiotics to ward off infection and some painkillers." And that's a vet consult, drip, two overnights, anaesthetic, surgery cost, antibiotics and painkillers.

Petplan are pretty good - they've gone international and also insure down here in Australia. I found them very reasonable compared to the first insurance quote I looked at. The first quote, I would have been better off saving the insurance premium in a high-yield interest account for the life of the cat. (Current economic conditions notwithstanding.)