Insurance!!

[Mary G]

Hi everyone. My dog has just been diagnosed with pancreatitis and diabetes. Of course my insurance company is only paying half the cost to date so I owe about £300 plus I've already paid the excess - £150 and I am also paying the monthly cost of £32 for each of my 4 dogs now that they are 8 years old. Can anyone recommend a good pet insurer??

[Dottie]

I insure my two dogs with Tesco. The prices keep going up every year, especially as the eldest is now 9. I had the prices for £60 excess and £120 excess. I opted for the higher figure as it was cheaper then paid the difference between the two to the vet on standing order.  The reason was that I get a discount at the surgery and accrue money for small things such as vaccinations. They have lifetime cover up to £7,000. I chose this in case of something like diabetes which needs more than 12 months treatment. Over the years I have claimed a very few times and they paid up without too many problems. 

I was told by my friend that Tesco won’t pay for drugs that can be bought over the counter, even if they are prescribed. This caused a lot of expense for her as at one time she had two large dogs on Denamarin. Things like treatment such as Protexin for diarrhoea would not be paid for. I don’t know whether this is widespread among insurance companies but it is something to look out for in the small print.

[Rebecca Forrest]

My dog is not insured,
before we got a dog I asked a good number of people if their dog had insurance or not ,and why did they choose that option,  some did and some did not. and the reason most did not have insurance was because when there was a problem some insurances would not pay out again if the problem came again.
 I decided before we got a dog ,we put £100 away in a savings account and have saved the same now we have him, so that if he needs treatment
hopefully we will have the funds to provide.

[Petmum]

My dog is insured with Pet Plan though I know they are regarded as expensive. I have made two small claims and had no issues.
I have heard good things about Bought By Many but have no personal experience of them.
One thing to bear in mind when changing to a new insurer is that existing conditions will be excluded.

[Mary G]

Thanks for the replies. I think that I should have just put money aside each month as insurers can't be trusted. My policy says hospital fees up to £1,250 and vet fees up to £5,000 yet they won't pay £780!! Now I've discovered i can't cancel for my other 3 dogs until the end of the contract - December! This is so stressful on top of managing a sick dog.

[Dottie]

I’ve often thought that saving an amount each month is better than insurance. The only problem is if the dog needs really expensive specialist treatment such as an MRI scan and surgery. 

[Tinyplanets]

I always pay monthly into a bank account as I had a bad experience with home care insurance after paying over £400 a year for cover. However now my dog is 9 I decided to get some insurance as well and went for M and S. It was reasonable and clear about the terms of cover. We have just paid the equivalent to insurance premiums into the bank and I don't think it would cover any major treatments.

[Seaweed]

For anyone who's dog isn't insured, I did notice the Dog's Trust membership provides third party public liability insurance.
Dogs Trust Membership FAQ, https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/get-involved/membership/faqs/
Regarding Pet Insurance it's worth checking just how much Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) one has to pay over the year, which of course bumps the price up.

[Mary G]

My problem is that we have 4 dogs. In December my premium doubled for the 2 eight year old dogs to £32 per month. This will happen to the 7 year old this December I presume. The other dog is 4. I got an email at 6 am this morning to say my premium for Bentley, the diabetic dog was now £38!!! Can they do this?? I made my first claim ever last week!

[Dottie]

I sympathise with you. Once you have made a claim it is an excuse to hike up the renewal. It was one of the reasons why I increased the excess. One of my dogs had treatment in 2017 that came to a little above the excess but I didn’t claim for this reason.

I don’t know if they can do this but I know of someone who had a similar issue with her dog who has a long term eye condition. Do you think it might helpful to speak to someone in authority to see if you can negotiate a better price? Otherwise, I can only think of contacting the insurance ombudsman. There is some information here.

[Seaweed]

Watchdog probes rip-off pet insurance... no wonder after couple were charged £7,140 for two dogs.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/bills/article-6298883/Watchdog-probes-rip-pet-cover-no-wonder-couple-charged-7-140-two-dogs.html
Online technical note on pet insurance. https://financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/pet-insurance.htm

[Dottie]

Unfortunately you have left it too late. Insurance companies will not pay out for preexisting conditions. You might get cover for other conditions but they might stipulate that they will not pay out if the illness is due to side effects of diabetes eg cataracts.