Do you always claim on your insurance for vet fees?

[solvendie]

Hi - just looking to see what other people do when faced with vet bills. My pet insurance excess is £50 and can claim for anything above that. Do people always claim if the bill is above the excess or just if the bill is much higher?

For example, recent vet bill is £120 - would you claim to receive the fee minus £50 excess?

No I only claim if it is a chunky bill. My premiums have stayed very low.

As above, I only claim on the big bills. The more you claim, the more they will raise your premiums.

No, I only claim on very large amounts.

Thank you - that’s what I do as I thought it would increase premiums.

Speaking to my parents and they claim everything and they haven’t seen a massive increase in premiums so I just thought I would ask for other people’s experiences

Always claim. Check your small print as they (insurance) can refuse to pay out if they weren't aware of previous illnesses/treatment so even if it's a small amount you need to ensure the insurance are aware of the treatment. Last thing you want is for them to find a reason not to pay out on a large claim.

Nope, we only claim for big bills and they've always paid out with no issue.

I've just claimed on a £500+ bill (the cost of the dog eating a mince pie on xmas eve 😫) and was really debating whether to do it or not. I hope I haven't made a mistake as the renewal will come in soon. But it just seemed too expensive to not claim.

I personally would not have claimed for a £120 bill.

With Petplan I put everything though as they don't increase premiums based on individuals claims. They allow a year to submit claims so some are much shorter periods.
Past insurer did increase premiums & also excess after claiming so it was only worth using for big vet bills or likely to be an ongoing condition that will add up to big bill over time. I don't recall anything we didn't claim for causing a problem but some insurers will find any excuse to wriggle out of paying.

Yes, everything so all illnesses are fully "documented" on their system, and also because that's what I pay the premiums for.

I find it interesting that people say you have to claim every time in order to still be covered - that's never been the case with us.

That's £70 - I would claim. That's a lot of money to me! If it was a fiver maybe not.

We're with Petplan so I always claim. I currently pay £90 per month for my older dog and claim about £160 per month, so they are losing £70 per month. But the premium doesn't go up because I claim, only for inflation/age related increase - I pay about £5-7 more per month each year.

Under a tenner, probably not unless it was for an ongoing condition.

I claim every time but wait until
a treatment is finished. So for example my dog broke a nail badly when he was young and it grows back wonky each time then gets infected and needs to be removed. And repeat. Each incident = maybe 3 vet visits so i’d wait till it's all sorted then put the claim in. While I'm there the vet might do a few other checks/vaccines. My insurance is void if ANY of his vaccines are out of date . I have claimed more than ive paid in i think and my premium has only gone up by £4 a month