My OH and I are retired farmers and we have a practical, unsentimental attitude to our dogs. We would never contemplate starting on treatment that was going to cost over �1000 however much we loved our dogs.
Hence no insurance. And as it happens all our dogs, over many years have lived long, healthy lives and insurance would have been a total waste of money. As it would have been for our cats.
Katieowl
Joined: 01 Jun 2006 Posts: 4317 Location: West Wales
Posted: Tue Oct 08, 13 5:09 pm Post subject:
More Than are generally considered to be good value for money amongst dog owners that I know on line. I've just switched to them for a pair of older dogs, from Tesco who came in with an extortionate renewal quote. More Than nearly halved it.
Insurance enables you to make choices, I wouldn't put my dog down because of lens lux at age 2. It enabled us to have the micro surgery she needed to retain some vision in each eye.
I suspect insurance is not worth the cost but what about pet health plans? I use a pet health plan for my cats which provides a monthly cost but then covers annual health checks, worming, flea treatments, innoculations, boosters etc and sends me reminders when I need to do the worming and frontline stuff. I know there will be a premium they charge for that but I get the impression it's not excessive as, unlike insurance, the costs are predictable. On the other hand I have honestly no idea if I am overpaying.
Nick
Joined: 02 Nov 2004 Posts: 34535 Location: Hereford
Posted: Wed Oct 09, 13 11:14 am Post subject:
If you have peace of mind, and your finances can stand it, you are not over paying. That's not to say it couldn't be cheaper elsewhere, but that might not be the point.
The problem with insurance is that is you get vet treatment for your pet sensibly - you will be subsidising
1) the people and vets who overtreat
2) the management of the policy
3) the shareholders / underwriters
If your lifestyle is hand to mouth you don't really have any choice. You need insurance to cover risk!
But if you decide not to have pet insurance , handset insurance, appliance insurance etc etc
and you pay the equivalent in to a savings account which you don't touch very quickly you can acquire enough of a pool to meet eventualities. There is often a risk when you first start doing this - but you can mitigate that if you think ahead and start paying in before you get your pet. IN effect you become your own insurer.
You make some money on interest and the money that would go to the overtreaters, the managers and the underwriters is yours .
And the "policy" still covers you pet when they get old if the insurance company goes out of business, closes down your scheme or al the other risks that attach to insurance these days.
You can even pool with friends if you can't build up a big enough fund to cover yourself but you need to know they share your outlook on when to claim and treat!
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