Dog insurance 2010 : HOW much???

[bunn]

 Just got Mollydog's medical insurance renewal reminder.  Last year it was £312 : this year she was 11 years old in September - and it's £622.10!   That's more than my car insurance!  

Comments

[chainmailmaiden]

I suppose it comes down to how likely is she to get injured or sick in the next year, and would you be in a position to pay for it if you didn't take out the insurance? Are cats are very unlikely to need their insurance, but we pay for it because we know we wouldn't be able to afford expensive treatment for them and I couldn't live with myself if I had to have them put down for the sake of a small monthly payment. Obviously your monthly payment for Molly would be rather more considerable, but is it worth it for the peace of mind?

[bunn]

I know - those questions are so hard to answer though! Presumably the insurance peeps have access to a mountain of data about the likelihood of 11 year old greyhounds getting broken, and have assessed the situation as 'quite likely'.

But of course Mollydog is an individual not an average, and her health is currently excellent, so it's entirely likely (I hope!) that she won't get any problem costing as much as £622.

The 'can you afford it' question is hard too: you know what it's like when you are working for yourself, it's so hard to predict what next month's income will be, let alone next year's!

I could probably borrow what I couldn't get out of savings, if I needed to, or sell stuff to cover it - but a ten grand bill like the one a friend had last year for her greyhound'd broken leg would certainly be a horrible strain. :-/

[wellinghall]

I don't know about pet insurance in particular, but all sorts of individual non-life insurance are making losses at the moment. Insurers are increasing premiums as fast as they think they can get away with, but they aren't making profits yet.

Presumably the insurance peeps have access to a mountain of data about the likelihood of 11 year old greyhounds getting broken, and have assessed the situation as 'quite likely'.

If not mountains, then at least hills.

[bunn]

My confidence in the predictive accuracy of the stats used to decide these things took a knock when I discovered that all these years they've had her down as unspayed, but that correcting this made no difference to the premium.

This doesn't jibe with any of the stats I've read about risk factors in older bitches, or my Oldies Club experience, so I'm now thinking perhaps the hills of data are less imposing than I'd imagined!