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To insure or not insure

C

cheriseru

Alpha Buck
Hiya all,

I'm pretty sure this will have been asked by many but the search and I don't seem to like each other at the moment.

I've had Zeus for over a year and Athie just about a year now. Obviously wanting best for them when I got them I took out Premium insurance with Agria, £30 a month each.

I've taken them for their yearly vac and checkup which is £48 each, can't claim it back because it's below the excess. Also both their neutering was below excess so couldn't claim for it. They've only had very minor stasis once each(1st because of neuter, 2nd I didn't brush) which I was able to resolve with remedy myself.

Other than that they've been very healthy(touch wood!!) And considering I've spent £720 on insurance for the year and not used, I'm considering not renewing the insurance and instead just putting the monthly money in a pot to use incase they need ontop of the money I put aside for a checkup twice a year for each. Am I being naive and should I just keep them insured?

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You won't be able to claim for vaccs or neutering as those are routine and insurance only covers illness/injury. I have mine insured now, purely because if they had a big expense (for example CT at over £1,000) like Bigwig needed I would struggle to pay a big amount. Jasmine's eye removal/hospitalisation trying to save her came up just under £2,000, she wasn't insured and luckily we could pay it but at the same time one of our piggies also had an op at £600 so things would have been easier had she been insured! For peace of mind I always opt to insure now but it is frustrating seeing the premiums go up etc!
 
I don't insure mine, I have a stable income and savings instead. The only things I could've claimed back are Aboleth's final few days of care (£600-odd) and Lopsy's x-rays, bloodwork etc. (£300), perhaps a few other bits and bobs for Lopsy. Lopsy is by far my most expensive rabbit, he's cost me (not including neutering and annual vaccs) about £2k so far. Assuming £15 per month for Lopsy, I'd've spent £1,290 on inurance for him so far, and maybe been able to claim some of the £2k back (excess seems to be around the £50 mark). For Aboleth, I'd've spent £780, claimed back let's say £600 after the excess so still have been more out of pocket than not.

It's a toss-up, and very personal. If you can't afford a single payout of £3k, then I'd say insurance is probably worth it. If you can, then maybe it's not?
 
Liz47 said:
You won't be able to claim for vaccs or neutering as those are routine and insurance only covers illness/injury. I have mine insured now, purely because if they had a big expense (for example CT at over £1,000) like Bigwig needed I would struggle to pay a big amount. Jasmine's eye removal/hospitalisation trying to save her came up just under £2,000, she wasn't insured and luckily we could pay it but at the same time one of our piggies also had an op at £600 so things would have been easier had she been insured! For peace of mind I always opt to insure now but it is frustrating seeing the premiums go up etc!
Click to expand...
keletkezes said:
I don't insure mine, I have a stable income and savings instead. The only things I could've claimed back are Aboleth's final few days of care (£600-odd) and Lopsy's x-rays, bloodwork etc. (£300), perhaps a few other bits and bobs for Lopsy. Lopsy is by far my most expensive rabbit, he's cost me (not including neutering and annual vaccs) about £2k so far. Assuming £15 per month for Lopsy, I'd've spent £1,290 on inurance for him so far, and maybe been able to claim some of the £2k back (excess seems to be around the £50 mark). For Aboleth, I'd've spent £780, claimed back let's say £600 after the excess so still have been more out of pocket than not.

It's a toss-up, and very personal. If you can't afford a single payout of £3k, then I'd say insurance is probably worth it. If you can, then maybe it's not?
Click to expand...
Thank you both for the feedback :) it is a really difficult decision and helps to hear the costs of what others have had to pay for things. Really appreciate the feedback :)

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I haven't insured any of my furries (multiple cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs) - the monthly cost would be astronomical, and certainly more than my vet bills come to, overall. I have had the odd furry that challenges my credit card, but over a year, that has never come to more than the combined insurance / policy excess / % I would still have had to pay anyway. I think over the last 30 years, there may have been one time where insurance might have been useful to pay for extra scans (and it wouldn't have changed the outome), but other than that, I pay on credit card and then sort things out. It also means that I have more meaningful in depth discussions with my trusted vets. Sometimes, extras are done because the insurance is paying and its a 'nice to have', rather than because it is going to change the treatment plan or the outcome - so I get a list of options to go through with the pros and cons of each, then decide.
 
Shimmer said:
I haven't insured any of my furries (multiple cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs) - the monthly cost would be astronomical, and certainly more than my vet bills come to, overall. I have had the odd furry that challenges my credit card, but over a year, that has never come to more than the combined insurance / policy excess / % I would still have had to pay anyway. I think over the last 30 years, there may have been one time where insurance might have been useful to pay for extra scans (and it wouldn't have changed the outome), but other than that, I pay on credit card and then sort things out. It also means that I have more meaningful in depth discussions with my trusted vets. Sometimes, extras are done because the insurance is paying and its a 'nice to have', rather than because it is going to change the treatment plan or the outcome - so I get a list of options to go through with the pros and cons of each, then decide.
Click to expand...
Thanks :)
Yea I've never insured any of my previous pets, the bunnies are the first. But I'm leaning more to just saving the money instead of insuring.
My vets are quite good as well that they offer payment plans if need be, so if the worst happens and I can't do a pay in full I could fall back on that.

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I've never insured - I'd be grumpy for life if I paid such high premiums & they refused to pay out. I guess its not common they won't though.
These are my bunnies I've had since 1993

Ralph & Angel - lived til 6 / 7 years. Angel might have been worth insuring as needed specialist intervention from v young (how I found FHB) but Ralph only needed a lot of vet input from 5-7 (& no ops) so over the course of his life it cost less tan insuring

Noodle & Myrtle: Myrtle lived til 6. She had one op (a labial skin fold removal no less:lol:) but outside of that didn't need vets outside routine apps until the blockage that took her. Noodle was in the emergency vets for 2 nights with a rti the very night I brought her home from rescue (the emergency vet was furious). She had so many different operations, interventions & illnesses-ongoing through her 8 years. I would definitely have been better off if I'd insured her - but would it have been possible with having one eye & RTI on arrival?

Rudey died at 5.5. He cost quite a lot as had kidney disease most of the time I had him. It was low on vet intervention outside regular check ups - the cost was recovery feeds, ongoing meds etc. Much of it wouldn;t have been covered.

Joey is 11 next year. He has had 2 straight forward dentals at 4 & 8 years old & a stasis episode at 6 & 10. He's been pretty cheap. Boo was a dental bun for about 2 years - started with dentals every month, increased in time - not sure she even is a "dental bun" anymore though she has missing teeth. Her EC hasn't been expensive to trat & manage. Boo is 8.5+
Mousey is 10+ & the main cost has been supplement, vet reviews, metacam etc to manage her in her decrepid elderly state. i'm going to save for some physio for her i decided earlier

So for Joey & Mouse I wouldn't have got much value, Boo would have benefitted for 2 years but outside of that not

Sorry if too much info
 
joey&boo said:
I've never insured - I'd be grumpy for life if I paid such high premiums & they refused to pay out. I guess its not common they won't though.
These are my bunnies I've had since 1993

Ralph & Angel - lived til 6 / 7 years. Angel might have been worth insuring as needed specialist intervention from v young (how I found FHB) but Ralph only needed a lot of vet input from 5-7 (& no ops) so over the course of his life it cost less tan insuring

Noodle & Myrtle: Myrtle lived til 6. She had one op (a labial skin fold removal no less[emoji38]) but outside of that didn't need vets outside routine apps until the blockage that took her. Noodle was in the emergency vets for 2 nights with a rti the very night I brought her home from rescue (the emergency vet was furious). She had so many different operations, interventions & illnesses-ongoing through her 8 years. I would definitely have been better off if I'd insured her - but would it have been possible with having one eye & RTI on arrival?

Rudey died at 5.5. He cost quite a lot as had kidney disease most of the time I had him. It was low on vet intervention outside regular check ups - the cost was recovery feeds, ongoing meds etc. Much of it wouldn;t have been covered.

Joey is 11 next year. He has had 2 straight forward dentals at 4 & 8 years old & a stasis episode at 6 & 10. He's been pretty cheap. Boo was a dental bun for about 2 years - started with dentals every month, increased in time - not sure she even is a "dental bun" anymore though she has missing teeth. Her EC hasn't been expensive to trat & manage. Boo is 8.5+
Mousey is 10+ & the main cost has been supplement, vet reviews, metacam etc to manage her in her decrepid elderly state. i'm going to save for some physio for her i decided earlier

So for Joey & Mouse I wouldn't have got much value, Boo would have benefitted for 2 years but outside of that not

Sorry if too much info
Click to expand...
thank you j&b, really appreciate the info and wow you've been through alot!
When it comes to dogs, guineapigs, hamsters and gerbils I kinda know what to expect but clueless with bunnies.
By the sounds of it I'm probably better off just putting the money in a pot instead

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I think it very much depends on your financial situation. As others have said, sometimes you can get a surprise vet bill well over £1000. If you have the savings to be able to pay something like that upfront, insurance probably isn't as essential. I've never had it, and those big vet bills are a huge blow to my savings but I know I would have spent more money paying for three 'older' rabbits to be insured than on vet bills. If you can afford to pay monthly but a huge bill would be incredibly difficult to pay then insurance may be best for you. Alternatively, some people pay a set amount into a savings account specifically designated for vet bills instead of paying for insurance, that's another option if you feel like you wouldn't be tempted to spend it on other things
 
Having seen a recent case of a Vet Bill of almost £3k for a Rabbit I would always insure unless I had the financial means to meet that sort of unexpected expense.
 
I have had insurance for about a decade, since moving from 4 rabbits to 8.. then quite a few more!

Amazingly, when I had about 15 rabbits I was ahead financially having insurance. (Elijah cost about £7,000 in the 8 years he was here). Most of that was with Pets at Home insurance (no longer available on same terms) and it was really cheap and they always paid).

From experience, I would recommend Agria currently but I am finding with all insurers that by the age of (?5-7 depending on insurer) the premiums will be £200 plus and if you also have steep excesses like with PetPlan of £100+ plus 20% then insurance becomes less of an investment and more of a gamble.

I have decided this year, as my financial situation is more stable than ever before to ditch insurance apart from the "regular offenders and high risk" rabbits. I am not cancelling just not renewing as I see that as better value (if I claim in the second half of the year I only need to pay premiums for the remaining months to get my claim in rather than 12 months). I currently have 2/3 of my rabbits not insured

I also know I can work with my vets to get the best treatment without spending on unnecessary diagnostics, eg in 18 years I have never funded such as CT scan.

I have however got a decent amount of funds set aside and can put aside the £4k:shock: or so insurance would have cost me each year if I had continued with insurance.
 
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I do know of a vets in the area that will add extras if they see a direct claim insurance sadly, but mine aren't like that and I like to hope most aren't. They don't even ask if insured and you have to pay first then claim back and they always try save money where possible, I often ask them for more and say I don't mind the costs! My problem with putting money aside instead of paying insurance monthly, is that it can take time to build up and be used in a one off injury/illness then you have little to nothing left to cover ongoing/more illnesses. We came close to the line after Jasmine's (not insured) big bill and also Ellie (not insured g pig) needed a £600 op. Luckily we got £2,000 back from PetPlan when they paid Bigwigs lung mass bills but we had a while to hope no other uninsured pets became ill! We've just taken out insurance for Jake even though he's very rarely been ill in his almost 7 years, since had recent bad experiences with big bills! But I'm sure I'll grumble about the premiums next year, you can't really win!
 
Me and my big mouth saying that Pets at Home insurance were low cost, and thinking they were good at staying low. .. I insured Little Skunk with them 7 years ago and last year paid £170, this year it's a whopping £222 for the year! Big rise for just one year. I have however made two claims for him this year so I guess we are stuck with that one.
 
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