Thread: Pet Insurance - who are good to deal with?

Hey team,

hopefully adopting a pup around Easter - who is the go to for Pet Insurance? Good to deal with, good cover and pricing.
I'm told Southern Cross can be pretty hard to deal with...

Pet-n-sur have been good for us. 2 of my dogs were marginal as to if worth it but one of my dogs we claimed way more than paid and make up for the other

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It's a real bloody minefield. As you can see from Zimmers' post there is a whole heap of exclusions and ifs buts and maybes.
I think if you put aside about $100/month ( close to the premium you would pay for a dog) then use that money if you dog needs anything done. It is more likely any problem will crop up later in it's life by which time you should have a bit saved.
I have spent 10s of thousands on vet bills in the last 10 years but with all the exclusions I will just save a fund for my next dog in case something is needed.

Like @rugerman said, we found having a specific account and putting money aside regularly was a better bet.
Also, at the end of the day its still your money to spend and not lost in insurance premiums only for them to say your dogs injury/illness doesn't qualify for some reason as obove.

The main reason why visiting the vet has tripled and tripled again is the rise of the insurance scam.
Find an independent vet and form a good relationship with them.

I've had southern cross for both my last 2 cats. Both cats have had broken legs, sternum, abscesses. All required surgery which ends up being 8-10k. Have to say I was thankful for having it and had no issues getting money from them into my account.

I thought Pet-N-Sur were terrible.

I (stupidly) took up an offer of 4 months free insurance from them and after hearing the horror stories from people of why their claims were not paid out decided not to carry on.

The CONSTANT phone calls and hounding I get from these people to this day drive me crazy!

"did you realise that yesterday one of our clients dogs ate a sock and the surgery cost $4000"

The bullshit that they manage to come up with is incredible.

got a hand full of sheep or some stock... your dog help move them.... fmg $200 per year.

I havnt used them yet, the dog has to be 6 months. but seems pretty good, I forget the amount the pay towards each claim. but it seemed good when I spoke to them. alot better than $80/month.

Originally Posted by bully

got a hand full of sheep or some stock... your dog help move them.... fmg $200 per year.

I havn't used them yet, the dog has to be 6 months. but seems pretty good, I forget the amount the pay towards each claim. but it seemed good when I spoke to them. alot better than $80/month.

Just looked up FMG's dog cover - pretty much replacement cover for farm dogs - will pay vet bills upto $1000 to extend working life / prevent death. Replacement value for accidental death or theft. I do live rurally on the Inlaws farm so could do that but if they'll only cover $1k i'd be better off saving the $ towards bills as mentioned.

Have been asking round, have southern cross medical insurance so sounds like I can get a package deal there - looking into it. I know that it may be money for nothing in the event that you don't claim but i suppose it's piece of mind and as mentioned you hear of some pretty steep vet bills

Originally Posted by Shadowsol

Just looked up FMG's dog cover - pretty much replacement cover for farm dogs - will pay vet bills upto $1000 to extend working life / prevent death. Replacement value for accidental death or theft. I do live rurally on the Inlaws farm so could do that but if they'll only cover $1k i'd be better off saving the $ towards bills as mentioned.

Have been asking round, have southern cross medical insurance so sounds like I can get a package deal there - looking into it. I know that it may be money for nothing in the event that you don't claim but i suppose it's piece of mind and as mentioned you hear of some pretty steep vet bills

Package deal is 2.5% discount if I remember right. Not significant we have a few policies with them and its still a huge cost.

I think some of these insurance policy's stop when your dog gets to around 8 years old (I may be dreaming that one up, cant think where I got that from ????) If the dog needs a vet bill paying would it not be cheaper to get a loan than insurance, then at least you only pay if needed.

yeah could be. Or maybe like the human health insurance, premiums go up a crapload when you get older so you give it up and they keep all the money you paid in premiums without having to pay out. Quite a little scam

we are going through the should we /shouldn't we get insurance at the moment . Were going to put some aside as mentioned then you here the stories about how much surgeries cost if required such as your 10's of 1000's of dollars of vet bills @rugerman and wonder if maybe it is good idea getting insurance .

speaking of the vets we were there last night for Remmy's first puppy class . He was removed and taken to a separate room for disrupting the class ..... ha-ha , funny as f#ck .
we got a live wire on our hands....

lol what a naughty boy, and sounds like ya dog isn't much better FTX Rather that than a scaredy puss though
Yeah it's a bit of a gamble, some vets allow you to pay off a big bill but better to speak to them first.