Pet insurance ... who are you with and how much?!

[Disenchanted3]

So expensive!!

4 x our life insurance permonth!

We were told to get a lifeplan rather than renew as renewal can be a problem if a lifetime illness comes about.

But I was quoted £28 PM with petplan.

Is that a normal price??

I am with the Halifax and I am £8.50 per month. I have recently got a quote for my mil and it was about the same. That gives you £1000 of vet bills in a year so its not bad and they are very good at sending out claim forms and giving you the money back. They dont pay the vet direct tho.

Oh I didn't realise they did 'compare' ones for dogs, I'll have a peep, cheers.

What sort of pet is it? Pet insurance is widely held to be a bit of a rip-off preying on lonely old dears with naught but a moggie for company!

Does it cover routine stuff like vaccinations or just illness? £336 seems a lot for a year - would you expect to spend that amount at the vets?

She is a pug dog.

I just had to spend £35 as DS dropped her on her head

Also we are entitled to PDSA treatment but in instances like today, where she needed to be seen and we could not get to the PDSA (far away - we don't drive) I'm happy to pay for private vets.

So do I need insurance if I can go to the PDSA? If she needed treatment could the PDSA claim through insurance to get their money just like any other vets?

What I mean is would the insurance be void if we went to the PDSA, can they claim through it for treatment.

Or would we just go to the private vets?

Have just claimed over £100 for xrays for a 4 month old Border Terrier, so feel my Pet Plan £22 a month is worth it. I cancelled my gym subscription as I'm walking now so justified it that way. Make sure the one you choose is lifetime cover. I like the fact that Petplan pay the vets direct so I do not have to fork out. £90 excess though.

i don't thinkit is expensive, I pay £25 per month for my dog and £12 for cat. Yes it might seem alot £300 per year for dog and £144 for cat but in the last year my dogs vet bills came to £3800, so would take me over 10 years to save, and the cats have been £374 so 3 years of saving.

These obviously weren't rountine things but accidents happen esoecially with animals and it costa alot to put right, they don't have an NHS! i think it is invaluable and will always find the money to insure my pets with lifelong cover.

I am with Healthy Pets, pay about £3.80 per month for my cat.

apparently petplan are the only one who will insure you for the duration of the pet's life even at an advanced age, without a change in premium.
have had very positive experiences with them- we had to have two operations done in the space of three months.
but they are SO expensive.

Petplan - £30 per pedigree dog, for their most extensive cover.

All insurance policies have an excess so you would still need to pay at least the first £65 or so of any claim. Many also only pay a % of the remainder.
Hope pup is okay, and that your cat's recovering well.

£17.50 for three cats with Tesco

We're with Tesco's too (on the premier plan) and highly recommend it. We pay £34 a month for two pedigree labs and two moggies. The premier plan doesn't have a time limit on claims (i.e will pay out over three years if needed, rather than only paying out for the first year). It covers you for £4,000 per condition (again - you're not limited to a set amount each year - you could claim for three different conditions at £4k each if need be). The only downside with this is if the vet fees come to more than £4k, although I'm not sure how likely this is. One of our dogs cut her leg to the bone last year on a broken glass bottle thrown in some bushes (grrr) and she needed blood transfusions, x-rays, an operation and months of ongoing care, and our final bill was still only around £1,500. Our younger dog (just turned 8 months old) was diagnosed with elbow displaysia in November and so far has had two sets of x-rays, pain killers, joint pills etc, plus numerous visits to the vet and a specialist consultation, and we're still only at around £400. So it'd have to be something exceptional to cost more than £4k I think (unless you have a really expensive vet!).

A couple of tips to keep the cost down:

1. Your excess - you can either choose £60 or £120. We went with £120, as we knew we'd never be bothered claiming for anything unless it was a big bill anyway (your premiums will keep going up if you make lots of claims). Increasing the excess makes a big difference.

2. The value of your pet - if your pet dies, they will reimburse you the price you paid, which you specify when applying for the insurance. However, most of us do not have a receipt for our pets (which is required in order to claim), and would be more concerned with our grief if a pet dies, rather than claiming back what we paid for them. So just set your pet's value to zero (or a nominal amount if a value is required) and you won't pay extra for cover you don't need.

Tesco are very good when it comes to claim, are prompt payers and will pay the vet direct. They also don't hike up the prices each year, and if you call them once you get your renewal price they will usually give you a discount!