Dog insurance

[AnnieMay55]

Just wondered how other insurance companies work. We have just made a claim. The total treatment came to £1,830. Our policy says we only have cover up to £1000 per condition. We also have an excess of £99 and then they take another 35%. I was expecting them to take the excess and the 35% off the total and then we would receive up to £1000. However they just deduct anything over £1000 first and then deduct the excess and 35% so we received £580 which would have ended up the same whatever we had claimed e.g claim £4000 they straight away deduct £3000. I knew it wasn't much cover but expected to get £1000 . I wondered if other companies act in the same way . It is for a 9 year old dog and our first claim. We also had to pay up front and wait almost a month to get payment.

I am with petplan up to £4000 per year (no single condition limit).

When I claim they take off my excess then I get the rest. Fortunately never had to go over the £4K per year.

Typically get paid within a week.

At my usual vets I pay upfront and claim back. When we were referred to a specialist vet hospital they pre authorised with petplan so we only paid the excess.

I find pet insurance ridiculously over priced, I put £30 a month into an account to cover unexpected vet bills.

Our dog is 5 now and his insurance has gone up to £49 monthly, that's for up to £7k a year with no excess to pay.
Debating whether to cancel and just save up the money instead.

I'm with Bought by Many on a lifetime policy and it covers up to £15k per year.

Claim done online with BBM and money paid out quickly. £1k sounds like a tiny amount per condition plus the other costs on top. Which insurance company is it?

I pay £37 per month for £15k of cover per year - lifetime policy so no limit per condition, thankfully.

All we do is pay our excess (£120 per condition, per year) and the insurers cover the rest.

I've never claimed on this policy but my cats are on the same policy with the same company (Tesco) and we've never once had an issue. It's been really easy to claim and they pay out within the week.

@narcdad I head a bill for 7k once for a 16 week old puppy. I was so glad I had it otherwise I would have only had about £30 in my vet bills account for her

I’m now tempted to save though as my limits are reduced to £3000 and I’m paying £110/month!!!

Op i would presume I would get £1000 minus excess so £900 approx. It’s rubbish they have deducted the %from your claim!
I had similar with animal friends, I could claim £3k per condition, condition came to £1k but apparently they would only pay £600 for that specific thing so I ended up paying £400 myself despite thinking I had £3k, never again!

I cancelled the insurance for our older dog as I'd never made a claim and it was getting ridiculous money.

Our younger dog's policy is with bought by many, and to be fair, the claims I've made (think it's 3 for an ongoing ear condition) were paid out within 2 weeks and I pay a bit more so you don't have any excess to pay. It also didn't massively hike up the policy for the following year.... touch wood. I've been really impressed with it so far over the 2 years we've had it.

I've also got an interest free credit card with a £15k limit that I never use..... so I know I can always use that if I have to, rather than saving monthly.

It's too much of a gamble to put money aside as vets bills can be ginormous.

Animal Friends, by any chance? That's an incredibly low level of cover & they're the only one I've encountered (former veterinary receptionist) that offered such low cover. I'm sorry you've been sold such a dud policy.

We've claimed over £6,000 for our dog over the last 7 months and Bought By Many have paid every penny except the initial excess, if anyone is looking for a decent insurer I've found them v good.

My policy only covers up to £4,500 but it's £1000 per condition. I would imagine when claiming it is usually for one condition so the £4500 is a bit meaningless. I think it is lower due to age but you can't really change when they are over 8. I thought it was ok when I took it out and did comparisons but it's not until they are older that you need it more. I do only pay £44 a month and I know some are very much more. It's difficult sometimes weighing up whether it's worth it

If they're reducing your level of cover due to age too, it sounds like an annual rather than whole of life policy - I'm guessing that £1000 (or, realistically, £580) doesn't renew each year for this condition?

I'd recommend having a look at alternative companies as your per-condition cover is so low. Look for whole of life cover (so any new long term conditions aren't excluded after a year), and be aware of any preexisting conditions that are unlikely to be covered.

My older cat was insured with More Than previously until they hiked her premium up to £100 a month (policy purchased before I worked in a vets & understood a bit more about what I was buying!). I cancelled it as I simply couldn't afford the premium at the time, and started putting some money aside, but was concerned about larger bills.

She's 11 and Bought By Many covered her for £29 a month (£15k per year, £99 excess+20%). It doesn't cover her preexisting heart condition, but if she develops hyperthyroidism/ kidney disease (both v common in older cats) or diabetes etc she'll be covered & although I'll have to pay 20% it'll significantly reduce my part of the bill.

@Leonberger wow that was a big bill, I guess I have been lucky as my now 13yo dog only ever had cruciate (not sure if it's the right spelling) surgery on his knee when he was 10. Vets initially said £3.5k but when I told them I'd no pet insurance it went down to £1100

I've got just over £4.5k in his emergency fund I can't access the money unless I give notice so not been tempted to dip in.

Whatever you do op, shop around and some insurance companies are not as good as others

@narcdad none of my other dogs have ever needed anything really, it was just a freak accident.
I think if I had 3k in savings account specific for the dogs which is the amount my cover is for I would cancel it in a heartbeat!

We have £15k of cover per year. Yearly excess is £69.

We've had much lower coverage in the past but a visit to the animal hospital for previous dog showed how little that stretched to.

I'm in Australia, so UK mightn't have this product. My dogs are covered under my house and contents insurance. It costs $75 per year and covers up to $750 for any one incident with $75 excess. It's mostly covered issues with my dogs. My last dog claimed around $7000 over his life from $700 of premiums, so that was pretty good (it was $50 / yr and up to $500 for him). Shortfalls weren't huge - $200 or so. I figured it was a good compromise between expensive cover and no cover.