TRL Helpdesk - Pet insurance.

[hindle xiii]

Anyone any hints and tips for searching for pet insurance?

In my case for the dog. I have our current documentation to read through and I will be doing the usual research on MSE, etc. but I also ask TRL.

Thanks in advance.

[Griff]

Agria's pretty good.  Pay out is generally quick, no quibbling.

[Derwent]

Depends if the dog has any pre-existing conditions. Many insurers won’t cover those. Petplan are the best but also the most expensive. Our 2 are currently insured with Napo who are pretty good and provide things like dental cover which a lot of other insurers don’t.

[Maximus Decimus]

My tip: do it and do it quickly.

We have a young cat and just hadn't got round to it after a couple or months. I was literally talking about price the same day that she decided to eat some lillies.

A couple of grand later she was fine...

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

My dog - a Catalan sheepdog (arguably, as befits a fan of Les Dracs!) - is currently insured with Tesco's Bank.  I have just begun my second year with them.  I have not had to make a claim so far, so, in that sense, have no idea how good they are.  I can say, however, that - and this relates to Derwent's point - existing or previously known conditions are not covered.

At the time of renewal, an interesting phenomenon occurred.  I got the paperwork from Tesco's Bank and thought that, after a claim-free year, the increase, though not outrageous, was a bit steep.  So I went on some comparison websites.  One of the prices for one of them was from Tesco's Bank and was lower than my renewal quote.  I scrutinised the two prices more closely and realised that the comparison site had a lower price for exactly the same deal.

So I have have not renewed my Tesco Bank insurance and gone with Tesco Bank!  This resulted, the other week, in my receiving two letters from Tesco's Bank on the same day: one said they were grateful for my custom, but sorry to see me go; the other said "Welcome..."!

You will deduce from this that the Tesco Bank price was, at least, competitive and worth considering.

I recall a similar experience with car insurance a few years ago with LV.  When I rang and asked for an explanation, I was told that they had to give rock-bottom deals to the comparison websites to get accepted by them.

Oh, and in case you were wondering what a Catalan sheepdog looks like...

Catalan Sheepdog | Breeds A to Z | The Kennel Club

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

On 08/10/2023 at 21:49, Maximus Decimus said:

My tip: do it and do it quickly.

We have a young cat and just hadn't got round to it after a couple or months. I was literally talking about price the same day that she decided to eat some lillies.

A couple of grand later she was fine...

£2k for a cat? 

Not a criticism of you or anyone else but I'll just never understand people and their pets!!

Out of interest how much is dog or cat to insure per month on average?

Edited October 12, 2023 by Bedfordshire Bronco

[Irish Saint]

We have two cats both rescue one now 13 he was 3 years old when we got him the other 4 a year old when i got him. There are also 5 strays around most days that get a meal., and a couple of others i sponsor

How does one put a price on the joy they give? I have both insured with Pet Plan . The eldest is £330 a year the youngest £231.

Money well spent even if a cat has to spend one night in a pet hospital just purely for observation you would be looking at a vet bill of over £350.

Also the older i get the more i prefer the company of animals speaking only for myself they don't have the problems that humans with their religion, nationality etc.. seem to incur.

[Maximus Decimus]

12 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

£2k for a cat? 

Not a criticism of you or anyone else but I'll just never understand people and their pets!!

Out of interest how much is dog or cat to insure per month on average?

Don't even...

We got it for the kids and they would've been devastated already. It was a really strange situation, there was no indication how long it was going to last and we didnt realise how much the total was until the end.

We originally took it into an out of hours vets and they said we had to transfer it to a day vet. They just kept saying 'we're not 100% happy' and were waiting for certain levels to come down. We had to move her a few times this way over a couple of days.

Eventually, the levels went below the accepted amount but they still wanted to keep her in a third day. At that point, I just had to say no more.

[hindle xiii]

I've not got round to it yet. The dog's policy runs out at the end of the month and the renewal was given with no negotiation to lower the increased price apparently. So I was tasked with doing a comparison and sorting it out.

[Derwent]

58 minutes ago, hindle xiii said:

I've not got round to it yet. The dog's policy runs out at the end of the month and the renewal was given with no negotiation to lower the increased price apparently. So I was tasked with doing a comparison and sorting it out.

Don’t put it off just do it. A couple of years ago one of our dogs suffered a stroke. She was in the animal hospital for a week, had MRI scans and various other procedures. The total bill was £14,300 - thankfully she was fully insured.