Steep Jump In My Pet Insurance.

[teekay]

That one claim you made has more than been worth your while!

And all the claims made add up to the premiums charged. With some added for administration , profits, and paying telemarketers like the guy who called me yesterday from that company!

It's all in the figures. Whether or not it is worth it to an individual depends on circumstances and choice.

Personally, I don't see any value in pet insurance.

I'm intrigued by this statement. Do you insure your car?

Insurance is there for an emergency, it's value is in the peace of mind it gives you that no matter how expensive a treatment option may be, you can make a decision purely on the interests of the dog, not your finances. That's why I have it anyway. Yes if you never make a claim you could consider it wasted money but that is the nature of insurance, no one has a crystal ball.

Personally, for us, there is no value in pet insurance. The money we have "saved" by not paying pet insurance over the last 30+ years is actually quite substantial. We do have resources available which would cover any emergency. We only have one dog, not multiples of them either.

That is our situation. I'm not inferring that it is, or should be, the same for everyone.

The car is far more "valuable" than the $ we could conceivably spend on our dog. Not to mention the damage we are covered for in case of accident - to us, our car, other people, their car and any other property damage. Once a car gets past a certain age/value, we revert to Third Party Property, Fire and Theft and drop the comprehensive.

House and contents are covered too. That does not mean ALL insurance is a good thing.

The H&C goes up by a substantial amount every year and every year we re-assess and decrease cover or increase excesses etc.

Insurance companies are out to make profits. They pay actuaries huge fees (out of our premiums :laugh: ) to make sure they win. We have to do our own risk assessments. Individually.

Sorry, I misunderstood your statement. Sounded like you were saying pet insurance is a waste of time.

I guess a lot of insurance is a personal decision. I just wondered because Australia is one of the most underinsured countries in the developed world. ( So many people were not insured when the floods hit here in Queensland, not just no flood insurance but no insurance at all. The nation has a history of the Government helping out those affected so many people just don't bother )

Yes we can look back and see how much we could have saved if we didn't have it (same could be said for any insurance) but, as I said, no crystal ball. I am not in a position to front up for a $15000 bill, like the OP had, but I can afford to pay the yearly premiums so I chose to do that. It's a bit of a double edged sword because on the one hand, you don't want to have to use it but on the other, if you don't use it you could consider it a waste of money :) I look at it like this, what I am really buying, is peace of mind

Oh and of course Insurance companies are out to make profits. Aren't all companies?

[smooch]

teekay- I didn't have the $15000 up front, but even with insurance most vets won't treat your animal unless you pay a certain amount up front. For me it was $2000 which I did have but took me a couple of days to access. On the spot I could only come up with $500, I had to leave Smooch in Sydney with only basic treatment until I came up with the $2000. I can understand the vets doing this as they get caught with people not paying. I rang my vet the next morning, he got in touch with the specialist and guaranteed the payment would be paid in a couple of days. So basically you have to pay the bill and than claim it back from the insurance company.

I am not against insurance Just the very large rise in premium just because Smooch will be 12 half way through the 12 monthly insurance.