Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:58 am Post subject: Insure or not insure?
Hey everyone.
Notice there is a policy attached to the forum, but hope I can get some impartial advice.
I've asked a few fellow handlers about insurance for Lionel now. I've had two responses.
1) Get insurance - you'll need it. Vets bills can run into the thousands.
2) Don't bother - you'll never pay thousands, and will never recoup the money back. Once they get to 8 - they don't want to know.
HA HA!
So... to insure or not to insure. I've looked at Kennel Club, and it's like £50 a month and has bells and whistles. My thoughts are, unless he needs heart surgery or something - am I really going to recoup £50 per month in vets fees? That's nearly as much as I pay on my car!
Yes get insurance, I am with direct line and I pay £20.00 in total per month for both Jana and Macy, both under a year old, Cori will be added too after the free 6 weeks has ran out.
Twix is 13 and I pay £28.00 per month so it is nonsense to say that they will not touch a dog over 8 She just had an op to remove a tumour on her spleen, bill came to £800.00, it only cost me £80.00
If you look at what could go wrong I dont see the problem paying £15-£20.00 per month knowing that if anything happens you will only pay £80.00.
I would definitely get insurance, IMHO you would be mad not to
peace of mind says you should definately insure. try one of the price comarison web sites for quotes just be careful of terminology some treat a condition for life some weasel out of it. ive never made a claim in 6 years but its not to say i wouldnt have to
I've already arranged the insurance for my pup to start when i get her, with pet-insurance.co.uk £12.73 per month. This is lifetime cover, and covers £4,000 per condition per month all the time you pay each month. Although the excess is £80 payable each year (if treating an ongoing condition like diabetes or something!)
I figure, it's easier to find £80 at once, than £300 or more!
I would always recommend insurance - and vet bills DO run into thousands, I have read of people on here facing £4k upwards in vet bills.
I doubt very much that I will ever get back from insurance what I've paid out - and I hope I don't as that will mean my dogs haven't been through anything requiring a hefty bill. But I don't have limitless funds and I want to know that the majority of things would be covered if needed.
The other side to pet insurance is the third party liability cover, which means if your dog causes an accident, hurts someone etc. you should be covered for that too. If you have thousands tucked away for vet bills, it's still worth taking out third party cover or checking you are covered under house insurance, because that sort of cost could run into an awful lot of money. I seem to recall one dog caused an accident involving someone on a motorbike (details are a bit faint, I read a link a while back) and I seem to recall that involved around £40k.
The thing with insurance is that most people pay out without needing to claim back anywhere near what they've put in, but I just wouldn't want to take the risk.
£50 a month sounds a huge amount though - that's for a puppy? I don't know if that's where you live but it sounds very expensive.
Martin this really is a no brainer. Deffinitely get insurance - this ranges from £15 a month upwards to whatever the insurance company can get away with.
Tesco insurance is a no frills policy but covers the important bits very well and I pay £15 a month for BOTH of my labs.
My previous dog had cancer and the vet bills did indeed run into thousands.
It's the same principle as car insurance: you dont pay it becuase your going to have an accident, you pay it just in case
Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 12:21 pm Post subject: Re: Insure or not insure?
MGW wrote:
My thoughts are, unless he needs heart surgery or something - am I really going to recoup £50 per month in vets fees? That's nearly as much as I pay on my car!
Hopefully your dog will go through life without any major health problems, but sadly plenty don't. By the time "one" realises their dog requires surgery, it would be too late to take out the insurance, unless you already have a policy in place of course. Bear in mind also that insurance for accidents kicks in straight away usually but for other health problems cover isn't valid generally until around 14 days after the policy starts - to prevent people from not taking up insurance until it's needed I guess.
Most policies will cover a dog until the dog dies - though most also charge the customer a % of vet bills along with the excess once a dog gets to a certain age. Some companies will even start insuring dogs from an old age, one insured the dog I adopted when she was ten.
None of my individual policies have cost as much as the car insurance, but my pets mean far to me than my car.
I have heard of times when pets have been handed into rescue or face pts because the dog required vet treatment that the owner couldn't afford. If only the owners had taken out insurance.
It really depends on your own financial situation. It's all about mitigating risk.
Think about a worst case scenario, and would you be able to afford to pay a big vet bill - I don't mean the £800 quoted above by Linda, I mean £5000 or so...
Personally, I have not got insurance for Ozzie, because he is 2, he does not have hip or elbow dysplacia, he has no known hereditary conditions, and I would be able to afford a large vet bill.
For Vegas, as he is a puppy, I have insurance for him, and I will keep this insurance until he is 18 months old or so, once I have his hip and elbow score and he's an adult and has not developed any major problems, I will stop his insurance as well, because again, if he developed anything major I know I would be able to cover it.
The risk you need to analyse and mitigate is the cost vs benefit - the cost of insurance versus the relative likelihood of claiming. A puppy might be more likely to eat something bad, or show the first signs of a serious lifelong illness, or show symptoms of HD etc... but a 4 year old probably wouldn't.
Nobody can tell you if insurance is worthwhile in YOUR situation, because we don't know your situation.
Personally, I don't see the point in lining the pockets of wealthy insurance company executives, I would prefer to keep that cash in my own high-interest savings account.
Well I would always insure, so if something did go wrong I wouldn't have to worry about finding the money. I would shop around for quotes though. I think you should weigh up if something does happen could you afford a major operation fee or long term medication?
I finally got round to reviewing our insurance cover recently. We have been paying just over £50 a month for our two for the KC's insurance scheme (cover I'd extended from the 6 week free period and never got round to comparing with other providers). I've claimed against the policies several times for relatively minor things, and have to say they were excellent.
However I do think £50 a month is too much and we've gone with a cheaper policy (less than £15 a month for both dogs) that offers public liability and third party cover (although some household insurance policies can cover you for this anyway) and a much more modest single treatment and maximum annual limit. These are still likely to cover emergencies, but I'm not sure I would ever want to put my dogs through some of the more invasive/drawn out medical procedures that vets now seem to offer - fueled I'm sure by the insurance industry.
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She just had an op to remove a tumour on her spleen, bill came to £800.00, it only cost me £80.00 
