Red Fox Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Any suggestions for decent pet insurance? PIA has put my three year old Ridgebacks costs up from around $30 three years ago to $43 this year. They have also changed from 100% cover (minus the excess) to 80%. Looks like it will just keep going up and up. I'm happy to spend up to $35 per dog per month. Looking for full comprehensive accident and illness cover with a $100 excess and a minimum of 80% cover. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minxy Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) I just did a rough quote with Medibank for you since I'm really happy with them, but it looks to be about $41.95ish. Have you looked at Pet Plan? That seems to be another popular one on here Edit: Pet Plan are more expensive. Edited November 1, 2011 by Minxy (Kyojin) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huskies4life88 Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 woolworths seems to be ok. not sure if that cheap but it seems pretty inclusive im pretty sure you dont have to pay any extra and you can even get vaccinations and stuff done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatsofatsoman Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I just did a rough quote with Medibank for you since I'm really happy with them, but it looks to be about $41.95ish. Have you looked at Pet Plan? That seems to be another popular one on here Edit: Pet Plan are more expensive. Pet Plan are 100% cover though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I just got my PIA renewal and I am pissed off with it too. Co-Payment of 20% ie that's the amount they have dropped my cover while increasing the premium 7%. Thieving leeches. And last year they bumped the premium by 60% but I didn't have time then to look for another company. I do now. Pet Plan - I read are underwritten by Allianz - and I've had a bad experience trying to make a claim with them - so not interested in going there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridgiemum Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I have pet insurance with Pet Plan, it is now $45 a month, I am thinking of cancelling next year & just putting that money away or changing too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Fox Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 I just got my PIA renewal and I am pissed off with it too. Co-Payment of 20% ie that's the amount they have dropped my cover while increasing the premium 7%. Thieving leeches. And last year they bumped the premium by 60% but I didn't have time then to look for another company. I do now. Yep. Mine too Woolworths Pet Insurance does work out cheaper: $35.84 for my 3 year old Ridgeback and $31.55 fro my Malinois pup. Not sure how good they are with claims and cover though?? and haven't had time to read the PDS yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 On further reading of the PDS They actually skip out on cover for the first day - ie it starts at 23:59 on the "start date" of the policy ie the first date of the policy is not covered. And they changed "swallowing of foreign objects" to illness ie if your dog eats a bone and it gets stuck and needs surgery - you better have illness cover not just accident. And they have also limited the payout on anything the dog has two of, ie you get to claim 80% of one ACL but a second ACL - ie the other side - comes off the benefit limit for the first ACL. Same goes for any bit of dog it has two of. Effectively halving the cover. And there's no life time cover of anything anymore. Ie if a dog has a condition that needs treatment for longer than 3 months - it's considered "chronic" and they won't pay more than the annual limit in the year that treatment started. I guess that's fair given the limit is either 8K or 15K depending which level of policy you get but it's a substantial reduction in benefit from previous years. And there is no "no claim bonus" for those of us that don't claim or rort the system. I figure if I can come up with the maximum benefit on my own and I don't have any of the stupid criteria that reduce that limit anyway - there's no point making a $300 bet that the company will pay when I need it. For a $1000 claim, after premium, excess and co payment - I'd be out $700 anyway. I'd only save 30% off the vet bill. And if I add in previous years premiums... the insurance company is really sticking it to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mags Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) With the number of animals we have I put the money in a seperate account and its there when we need it. Though if we only had one or 2 we would have insurance. Have heard some good things about Pet Plan from people that have had to claim. They might cost a little more but you seem to get better coverage. Edited November 1, 2011 by Mags Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Pet plan are more but they are 100% cover - less your excess (there are a couple of choices) and they pay out on a condition - chronic or not - to you maximum each year. They are more expensive but cover much more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyesblue Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I had Petplan insurance on our pet greyhound last year. We made 2 claims - 1 for surgery on a skin tear and another for a UTI. The cost of insurance this year has gone up 20% because we claimed. Also with Petplan after paying the $100 you need to way up whether its worth claiming the remaining money. ie if its $150 and you get $50 back only after excess your premuims may go up that much next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 All Pet Plans premiums have gone up, it isn't becasue you claimed. I have one I have claimed on and one I haven't and they both went up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megan_ Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I had Petplan insurance on our pet greyhound last year. We made 2 claims - 1 for surgery on a skin tear and another for a UTI. The cost of insurance this year has gone up 20% because we claimed. Also with Petplan after paying the $100 you need to way up whether its worth claiming the remaining money. ie if its $150 and you get $50 back only after excess your premuims may go up that much next year. It has gone up regardless of whether you have claimed or not - mine has and I haven't claimed this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oscar (AmBull) Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 My Pet Plan Policy was just renewed and my premium had gone from $41 to $46. So I have decided to go down to the budget plan which I rang them and spoke to them about, the difference in policy is not that much, still covers everything, just $10,000 not $15,000 which is fine by us as we have not had a claim yet. That is with a $100 excess, but if you choose $250 excess the plan is $36. Hope that helps, it can be so expensive. Also congrats on your gorgeous new girl, I bet having two after having one for so long is a shock to the system (and hip pocket). I know it will be for us when we eventually delve into getting a second dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Miss Emma Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I can't remember if I signed up to a particular name of insurance but I know it's through "1300 Insurance" and I think it's about $32 per month but I've chosen $250 (I think!) as the excess. Went up about $1 at the start of this year. Haven't had to claim so can't comment on anything like that. I figure that seeing as though Em wasn't insured (too old when I got her) and I forked out about $10000 in the 6 months before she died, Kenzie will never need her insurance seeing as though I'm paying for it!!! Better safe than sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) http://www.1300insurance.com.au/pet-insurance/compare-pet-insurance/ They expect you to pay 25% of any claim ie a high customer co-payment compared to the others. But they don't have an excess. The PDS says it's backed by Hollards and 1300 insurance says they're not responsible for claims at all - I suppose all of them have a clause like this? Pet Protect is not issued or guaranteed by 1300 Insurance and 1300Insurance is not involved, nor liable, in any manner in respect of the assessment and payment of benefits under Pet Protect. They've also got the weird start date clause Commencement Date means 23h59 on the date when Cover firststarts as shown on your Certificate of Insurance. Which conflicts with the statement about when cover applies and the PDS is a bit confused about the co-payment ie it's not tailored for the 1300insurance version of the product. Your policy will continue for a period of twelve (12) months from thepolicy Commencement Date - ie this is stated before the definition but it does explain why the policy year looks like an overlap eg 1/11/2011 to 1/11/2011. But - no the first date is excluded.Its aslo got the same exclusions for "bilateral" and "chronic" sigh. So that must be a Hollards thing too. Edited November 1, 2011 by Mrs Rusty Bucket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laeral Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I just put in a claim a month ago with PIA and they still paid the 100%. I will be mighty peeved if they have now changed my cover. I will be going elsewhere which is a shame as they have been brilliant to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverStar-Aura Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 I suppose like all insurance you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. Odds are if you've got insurance you'll probably never need it and if you don't have it, you'll probably wish you did. :rolleyes: I've been thinking about pet insurance ever since I got Zeus about 2 years ago and have yet to make a decision -- and I now have a new puppy too. I doubt I will ever get it, mostly because I'm lazy, but I think I'd prefer to keep the money aside in a separate bank account. Plus I know if I ever truly get stuck, my parents will loan me the money, that I can then pay back. And if it was really costly, I'd even hit up the banks for a loan to cover the costs. Anything to keep my bubbas safe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Fox Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 I just put in a claim a month ago with PIA and they still paid the 100%. I will be mighty peeved if they have now changed my cover. I will be going elsewhere which is a shame as they have been brilliant to deal with. I spoke to them today. All plans with 100% cover will 'migrate' to the new 80% cover when your policy runs out. And premiums have still gone up. Premiums are now breed based too, the bigger (and I presume older) the dog the higher the cost. Looking at different policies though it seems that most that are underwritten by Hollard hsve the same terms and conditions. Woolworths PDS reads almost identical to PIA. I'll stay with them for now but will certainly be looking for something better before my policy expires in November. I've added the new pup as there's a two week cooling off period anyway... Better safe than sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Rusty Bucket Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 (edited) I figure if the PDS is the same for all of them, might as well find the cheapest offering or self insure. Edited November 1, 2011 by Mrs Rusty Bucket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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