Opinions on Pet Insurance

scudzilla

Just had our renewal through for next year, it's now 520Euro for the 2 of our dogs (Both boxers, 7months and 4yrs old)

I've been seriously thinking about cancelling it and taking a gamble.

We've had insurance for Brodi since Day 1 and never claimed a penny, we've payed around 800quid now in premiums for nothing, just piece of mind.

If anything were to happen to the dogs we'd pay it out of our savings, of which there is enough to cover most eventualities.

Was thinking of cancelling and throwing 50 a month into the CU, if anythin happened we'd just pay out of our CU, if it didn't we'd be 600quid up

Opinions??

stevekavo

scudzilla wrote: »

Just had our renewal through for next year, it's now 520Euro for the 2 of our dogs (Both boxers, 7months and 4yrs old)

I've been seriously thinking about cancelling it and taking a gamble.

We've had insurance for Brodi since Day 1 and never claimed a penny, we've payed around 800quid now in premiums for nothing, just piece of mind.

If anything were to happen to the dogs we'd pay it out of our savings, of which there is enough to cover most eventualities.

Was thinking of cancelling and throwing 50 a month into the CU, if anythin happened we'd just pay out of our CU, if it didn't we'd be 600quid up

Opinions??

I have a 7 year old boxer and with all the scrapes he has gotten into I wouldn't be without the pet insurance.

Take last Christmas night I ended up in ucd vet clinic as he somehow cut his ear. It ended up costing a couple of hundred which I got half back.

mymo

I don't have it, they won't insure 2 of my cats as they are too old, they quoted me nearly €300 for first dog, outside of neutering and vaccs I don't think I've spent that in the 5 yrs I have him, and my vet is very nice, cheap and offers a payment plan to regular customers.
I save in credit union and if something happens I can cover it, if I had a high risk breed (prone to health issues that were expensive) I might think again.
But it's down to personal choice, I've heard people say it's been a life saver for them when dogs get sick, other complain it won't cover stuff for various reasons.

SillyMangoX

scudzilla wrote: »

Just had our renewal through for next year, it's now 520Euro for the 2 of our dogs (Both boxers, 7months and 4yrs old)

I've been seriously thinking about cancelling it and taking a gamble.

We've had insurance for Brodi since Day 1 and never claimed a penny, we've payed around 800quid now in premiums for nothing, just piece of mind.

If anything were to happen to the dogs we'd pay it out of our savings, of which there is enough to cover most eventualities.

Was thinking of cancelling and throwing 50 a month into the CU, if anythin happened we'd just pay out of our CU, if it didn't we'd be 600quid up

Opinions??

I haven't any insurance on my cats as they've had so many things wrong over the years I don't think there would be much left for me to claim on bar if they broke a limb! I put by some money every week to save up just in case something should happen, so at least it's there, and we use it for paying for their yearly vaccinations!

anniehoo

scudzilla wrote: »

If anything were to happen to the dogs we'd pay it out of our savings, of which there is enough to cover most eventualities.

This is the most important part of your post. If you can safely say that you can have at a min €1000 per dog set aside and can put a bit by extra weekly/monthly, then I wouldn't get insurance. I am a terrible saver and don't even have health insurance for myself so for me I always get insurance from the off for my pets as surgical bills can be horrendously painful.

Insurance is all about the "what if" scenario. It can be seen as a waste if never used or a total godsend if lots of things go wrong. No word of a lie I have literally seen grown men in tears when they have been shown an estimate of their veterinary bill. I wouldn't wish that decision (pets life vs financial burden) on anyone.

Insurance as I can see it is good for the bad savers (me), pets that are young and don't have any of the exclusions that aren't covered in most policies or for those breeds (i.e. Boxers) that inevitably something will happen to them either medically or surgically that can't be paid for outright by normal savings.

Cherry Blossom

I don't have pet insurance, I pay money into a savings account every month instead. It's a high interest account and I need to give 10 days notice to withdraw money from it. In the case of an emergency I can use my credit card and pay it off again after the 10 days. By this stage I should have more than enough to cover most things should they arise.

I insure puppies for the first year and any horses that are young or have a tendency to get themselves into trouble (none at present). I save well over €1500 a year by not paying for insurance and have had no major payouts so far but the money is sitting there if I need it. You just have to be sure that you won't be tempted to dip into it for other things!

ferretone

anniehoo wrote: »

This is the most important part of your post. If you can safely say that you can have at a min €1000 per dog set aside and can put a bit by extra weekly/monthly, then I wouldn't get insurance. I am a terrible saver and don't even have health insurance for myself so for me I always get insurance from the off for my pets as surgical bills can be horrendously painful.

Insurance is all about the "what if" scenario. It can be seen as a waste if never used or a total godsend if lots of things go wrong. No word of a lie I have literally seen grown men in tears when they have been shown an estimate of their veterinary bill. I wouldn't wish that decision (pets life vs financial burden) on anyone.

Insurance as I can see it is good for the bad savers (me), pets that are young and don't have any of the exclusions that aren't covered in most policies or for those breeds (i.e. Boxers) that inevitably something will happen to them either medically or surgically that can't be paid for outright by normal savings.

Nail on the head, as usual

I find it far more useful to just keep a bit by, and I know they are never going to be left without the necessary care. I've spent a fair bit on vets over the years, but it has never been in a way that I would have gotten a payout from the insurance. Between excesses and pre-existing conditions coming into the next year and all the rest of it, the premiums just would have been another few hundred down the tubes.

It really does depend on the situation. To say it is stupid not to insure them just doesn't fit every case, but you really just have to ask yourself what situation you'd be in if a big emergency did happen, to know whether you need it or not.

aonb

I had pet insurance for many years on various animals. The premium being X, and the excess being Y, when you X+Y its a fair whack to pay out per year if you are lucky enough to not need a vet for that year. When I consider how much I paid out premium-wise vs. actual vet fees (not including annual vaccs/maintenance visits etc) I decided to discontinue pet insurance & fingers crossed wont every had a major problem... as several have said on here, its a personal thing when it comes to your dog(breed)/pet and financial situation.

Just out of curiosity, if a patient with an animal went to the vet and found a huge financial cost was involved, and pet owner had a problem financially, would vets typically work something out with the owner to spread those cost out, or some such agreement? I cant imagine as Anniehoo said, having a decision like that to make

anniehoo

aonb wrote: »

would vets typically work something out with the owner to spread those cost out, or some such agreement?

Most should and probably would, especially if you're a regular client. Vets like any business accumulate a fair few bad debts, so they're in a constant struggle between being professional and ethical and still needing to make money.

People often forget this and blame the vet when landed with a massive bill. While I agree that some vets can charge extortionate amounts for certain procedures, many will compromise on a payment plan if it means the animals welfare is foremost and they eventually get paid for the work involved.

TooManyDogs

I cancelled my pet insurance when the started excluding things because of my dog's age and at the same time increased the premium. In addition to that my vets want be paid upfront and me claim the money back off insurance companies because of all the hassle they've had trying to money out of the insurance companies. Also most of my dogs compete in agility and some companies wouldn't cover any injuries they could put down to agility.

So now I save the money I used to pay in premiums each month and for the last 5 years have been able to pay what I needed for 6 dogs.

Only recently I had a situation of one of my dogs possibly needing an MRI and there was a wobbly moment, but not having the insurance meant that I had to work through all possibilities and not just automatically go for the first route.

Lemlin

I've always used savings. My own vet is very dismissive of pet insurance and the exclusions that they place on people.

Her opinion is that unless it's a clear cut accident, like your dog getting knocked down by a car, that you can never rely on pet insurance to provide cover.

boomerang

Note for anyone paying their premium by direct debit installments: in the event of a claim, Allianz now require that you pay the remaining balance due on your annual premium. Same always went for another big player on the Irish pet insurance market.

tk123

I have it and wouldn't be without it. I claimed nearly 6k in 2 years and wouldn't have had that in savings at the time. I've claimed more back this year that the renwal price after my dog needed loads of blood tests done so sticking with it for the time being.

Lemlin

boomerang wrote: »

Note for anyone paying their premium by direct debit installments: in the event of a claim, Allianz now require that you pay the remaining balance due on your annual premium. Same always went for another big player on the Irish pet insurance market.

That's expected on any type of insurance though. No insurer is going to make payments on a policy unless they have the full premium for the year paid.

After all, what is to stop someone making a large claim and then cancelling the policy.

mistress_gi

Well I am with Allianz and pay by direct debit. I made a claim last year and they didn´t ask me to pay the rest in full, direct debit was continued as normal. I have to make a new claim this year and I am assuming the same will happen!

gimmick

Im with Allianz as well. My dog ripped his leg wide open off some glass or something a few months ago. All we paid was our excess of €150 (going to reduce that), the rest was covered, no questions asked. The entire bill came to over €750.

We pay €13 a month by DD. So its worth it most certainly for us.

boomerang

My policy just came for renewal, and this new condition was highlighted on the policy document.