Vets call out fee's

That seems a lot to me. I use two vets, one next door but one for routine stuff who charges a local fee of £10 and another that I've known forever and trust implicitly in emergency situations and is about 35 miles away who charges a distance call out fee of £60.
 
Let's break that figure down:
Assume they are charging a full there and back from the "office" that's 40 miles, HMRC allow for 40p per mile so that's £16 although they could choose to charge a higher rate. That then leaves £56 to cover the vet's time and depending on where in the country you are that 20 miles I would expect to take 30 minutes so that's 1 hour of their time. I would expect to pay that kind of money for a qualified professional to treat my horse so I can see why they would charge it between their appointments too. That figure would only gross at £116k per year cost to the company, assume the vet might take home half of that so actually you're looking at a vet earning £58k pa based on these figures.
I understand it could have exponentially hit your bill if it had been a short straight forward visit like vaccs but from a business point of view it doesn't sound too unreasonable.
 
Mm, they also charged me the quoted £37 for boosters plus £6 itemised as Intra muscular injection so I guess that's the actual administering bit? Which should be added to and disclosed when someone asks how much is a booster?!
 
Abbijay good point. It doesn't cover time at the appointment that's charged seperately at £40 per hour then exam cost £48

I'm just a bit stunned at what I thought would be a next to nothing bill and having a rant!! Sorry
 
From memory ours is £25 for call out, and then £20 for examination ....

I don't think the examination is charged if he is just doing vaccs/teeth though.

My vet is only 4 miles/10 min away though..

Fiona
 
Our vet (b&w equine) who are based in failand and dursley have free call out days for different areas, you don't get to choose which vet or what time but they give you a rough time the day before. But even when I have callout on a non-free day the callout isn't as much as yours!
 
Local vet (based 4 miles away) is £30 plus VAT callout. Happy to do shared visits for routine stuff with any adjacent yards.

Specialist equine vets (16 miles away) are currently £68.00 call out, plus £35 consult fe - both plus VAT, before stepping out of car.
 
Based on the number of years it takes to qualify to become a vet and then all the post graduate experience they require, the fact one can call them out 24/7 and all the other back office and back up facilities they require to operate I think their charges are fair and reasonable.
 
Most practices will have free zone visits on certain days for routine things such as vaccines, or may have reduced call out fee/no fee if you they are doing more than 1 horse on the yard. Next time you need something routine would you be able to organise that instead and save yourself a call out?

The costs is generally worked out as previously stated. Also don't forget the cost of the car, insurance etc.

I have worked in small animal vets that charge a call out for home visits and was around £70 regardless of distance.
 
I'm with PetetNatt. I would have to take nearly 3 hours out of my day just to drive my horse down and back from my vet plus the cost of diesel so I don't begrudge the call out fee. My vets do a free call out day which I use for routine stuff.
 
Every professional be it vet, plumber, electrician, drain unblocker etc charges a call out fee. It covers the basics - the running cost of the vehicle, which doesn't just cost the fuel but the road user charges, insurance, wear and tear on the vehicle. It also includes the vets time because while he is on his way to you he can't be treating a sick animal elsewhere.
 
It's a reasonable cost, though I agree they should have told you "x" for the callout and "x" for the other charges of being vaccinated, when you asked. Some vets I've had didn't charge an examination fee when giving a vaccination but they also didn't do any more than ask me if the horse was healthy before giving it. Other vets have done a very basic examination and most haven't charged. All the vets I've used have a zone system for callout charges, on a map it looks like the rings through the centre of a tree, with the vet practice in the centre, the callout charge depending on which ring your yard falls into. For something routine like a vaccination it's worth phoning them a few weeks in advance and saying you'd like the vaccination done next time they're in the area. Sooner or later someone somewhere near you will need a vet and most practices are happy to split the callout charge between the 2 clients if they come to the yards one after the other. My current vets has a zone day too, where anyone in that zone who wants one gets a vet for £15 callout charge that day
 
My vet's standard daytime call out is £48.50 plus VAT. They're 2 miles away.
Had a 10pm emergency call out a few weeks ago and the call out (out-of-hours they come from another surgery about 8 miles away) was only £80 plus VAT.
No clue how they work that out.
 
Hmm, so you've had a bill for well over £100 for a booster jag? I have to say that would shock me a bit too :\ My last vet was about £30 call out fee then consult fee and any work on top of that which usually worked out pretty reasonable, especially if sharing. My new vet I've heard has a much higher call out rate, can't wait to get my bill for today..
 
my vets charge £50 but I have an equine care plan so get 50% discount on all call outs!

However, they do charge examination and advice on top of that, regardless of what they do, so the cheapest bill I've had is about £78 (£25 for the call out) and that was a 10 min check up on my horses lameness!
 
My pony's booster jab bill was just under £40. Less than 5 miles from the practice is a £12 call out fee. Recently had to call them out on a Sunday and the emergency fee was £40 with the £12 added.

The other equine practice in the area is about £40 for normal call out but they are a specialist practice.
 
Last time I had jabs done it was just less than £40. They came out on a free call out day, did the jabs and just charged me for them. I think the last time I had a mite injection they also came out on a free call out day, but they did charge me a small amount for doing the injection. Pretty sure that was less than £40 as well though
 
we have two vets the one I use doesnt charge call out for more than one horse or if he is passing. He is about 8 miles away
the other is about 500 yards away and charges £84 call out plus 30 consultation fee but they do have free zone days but I guess you can see why unless absolutely necessary I use te other one. He is a large animal vet, the expensive one does lots of animals and is a big fancy practice so I do understand how one has so many services costs a lot more than the one man band
 
PeterNatt said:
Based on the number of years it takes to qualify to become a vet and then all the post graduate experience they require, the fact one can call them out 24/7 and all the other back office and back up facilities they require to operate I think their charges are fair and reasonable.
Click to expand...

This.

P
 
Eat your heart out. Our local vets charge 30 euros, that includes the vet who is 30mins away. However, this vet will charge an extra 9 euros if the call-out cannot be fitted in his rota. Not a problem for our village vet who is 2 miles away. (30 euros approx £26)
 
My vet is £0 on zone day - on these days they don't hang around - ideal for jabs, repeat medications and routine teeth checks

Half price which is £25 ish on the day they are in the adjacent zone and they'll look at stuff other than routine stuff

It's about £50 otherwise plus a consult charge on top of about £30

My latest bill for jabs on a zone day was £40 ish which I think is reasonable. I would baulk at paying over £100 for a booster
 
Jabs for us, done on a zone day, are about £33-34 all in. I do not begrudge vets their fees, but I do baulk at £100+for a booster, because with planning for me it is avoidable.
 
Just take the horse to the vet to get the booster and save the call out? except the fuel and time would probably make it more worthwhile paying the call out.
 
Try being in Perth, Western Australia, if you take the horse to the Vet $85 consult fee plus any drugs etc. If they come to you they add travel. After hours call out fee is $275 plus travel, any after hours for me is over $300 before they even see the horse !!
 
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