Random question three: bird insurance

[mattymeischke]

Does anyone have insurance on their birds? I realised recently that my birds are now worth almost as much as my car, and would be much harder to replace.

I had a trawl of the internet and found that it exists, but wondered what other people's experiences were.
Has anyone got any? Is it outrageously expensive? Do you have to 'prove' what birds you are keeping, and would you have to then update your insurance with every birth/death/acquisition?

I have found that with many types of insurance (eg: income protection insurance) that when I sit down and work it out, the cost of making payments seems disproportionate to the risk of needing to use it.

Thanks in advance for thoughts on the subject,
mm.

[natamambo]

I would imagine it would be necessary to insure each bird separately in which case it becomes a bit unrealistic and probably unmanageable, you'd have to prove the existence of each identical but unique individual bird. Once you pay the excess on each bird in the event of a major loss.....

You'd need to weigh up annual combined cost vs the replacement of X percent of your flock on an annual basis.

Loss due to unnatural causes (theft and so on...) might be the only viable option in which case you may be able to insure the "collection".

For me, I use the price of the bird (and the subsequent effect if a loss) to help me control my buying in the first place .

[Myzomela]

Remington's Insurance Brokers are the only company that offer bird insurance in Australia to my knowledge, for fire and theft only- not death or illness.
Their phone no: (03) 53 317341.

If you call them they can give you a quote and tell you whether it is worthwhilwe.

I know he insures quite a few parrots but am unsure about finches.

[jusdeb]

I have my poochies insured for everything , there's only one backer for pet insurance and they wont do a accident / illness cover on birds yet ?

The remington one is very expensive and covers nothing really , I mean how often does an aviary catch fire ?

The theft cover would be useful for big ticket birds ... and with the thefts of late probably worth while if you could insure an entire aviary and not each individual bird .

[Craig52]

Remington's Insurance Brokers are the only company that offer bird insurance in Australia to my knowledge, for fire and theft only- not death or illness.
Their phone no: (03) 53 317341.

If you call them they can give you a quote and tell you whether it is worthwhilwe.

I know he insures quite a few parrots but am unsure about finches.

Thats right Myzo,it's mainly for the larger parrots,Macaws,African Greys etc which are registed,micro chipped but in saying that i had $10,000 worth of blue gouldians stolen quite a few years ago which equates to the price of one of those parrots. Craig

[mattymeischke]

and with the thefts of late probably worth while.

Yairs, that's what got me thinking about it.

it would be necessary to insure each bird separately

Yairs, that seems to be the problem.

theft cover would be useful for big ticket birds

...and I've got lots and lots of lttle ticket birds and a few middle ticket birds....

So in short, it's probably a waste of time in my circumstances.

Thanks folks,
mm.

[jusdeb]

Money probably better spent on more security ...just a thought .

[Myzomela]

Hi Matty,

Why don't you actually speak to Warwick Remington about it. You may be right & it may not be suitable for you but he's a reasonable bloke who will tell you honestly if it is worthwhile or not.

Then you can make an informed decision, not a speculative one.

[TomDeGraaff]

I'd speakto Warwick. He will give you good advice. He's been breeding birds for decades and has also been in the insurance business for yonks following on from his dad. He's a very approachable man.