Pet Insurance - any good recommendations , any to avoid ?

[CaptainUnderpants]

Will be looking for pet insurance for a labrador pup in next few months . Besides doing the compare websites would be interested in peoples personal recommendation ? Any companies to really avoid ?

We use Healthy Pets and they seem ok. Our dog had to have a major op and they paid up without a problem.

I use Tesco as its cheap and with a lab myself have averaged a claim a year, mostly for cut paws but one major bout of enteritis which nearly killed him. They paid up everytime without question.

The main problem is that it does not cover "lifetime conditions", so when his skin problems emerged we got a years worth of diagnosis and treatment and then no more cover for that. Not a problem as the treatment (low does steroids to control symptoms is cheap) but this would be a problem for a dog with say diabetes.

In spite of that I would not go for one of the more comprehensive policy on grounds of cost.

Nd if you dont mind me asking , how much are you paying per month ?

I have been phoning insurance companies today and comprehensive cover for a cocker spaniel puppy was as follows
Pet Plan
£36
Tesco £29
Sainsburys £27
Argos £23

I went with Argos

We are with petplan and 2 years ago when our then 5 month old puppy broke his paw, they were great. The vets dealt directly with them and they paid up - just as well really the total bil was over £3000

Thanks ladies. I won't touch Petplan as they knowingly insure puppy farmers. (Theres a thread on it way back on here, supported by a huge file of evidence held by a long-standing, respected dog rescuer and animal welfare campaigner).

In the end I went with Tesco as they tailored the policy to my requirements - eg, they knocked off the standard offer of price of replacement if my dogs died as a result of accident, as my 2 are rescue dogs and thus I don't have supporting receipts for the average cost of my GSD and my other dog is a rescue cross.

The cost is a little under £25 pm for a 3 yo GSD and a 10 yp Lab X, which considering that both GSDs and Labs have a tendency to suffer from genetic conditions and my Lab X is an old boy, isn't bad.

korma- who are E and L? Can't think...

I'm with Petplan.

My vets have a notice up saying that they don't deal with Tescos and Sainsburys and some others because of 'difficulties'.

I pay £9 a month for my 18 month old cat and that seems a reasonable amount.

Ooh-er! "Difficulties"? If you find out what they are, please will you come back and tell me? Forewarned and forearmed might help.

I did read online of a case where an owner had consulted a vet about a problem and been advised to do nothing at that stage but to watch and wait. Later the vet treated the pet for the same condition as he wasn't improving. However Tescos wouldn't pay out as they deemed the condition to be pre-existing and the owner's insurance only covered the dog for 12 months after the start of treatment... even though the dog had only been seen in a consultation for the illness and hadn't until his op actually received treatment.

Something we might all need to bear in mind, I think.

E&L - Entertainment and Leisure? Had student inusurance with them a million years ago.

Oh no !!! I'm with pet plan. I dont want to support puppy farms.

My vets prefer pet plan but don't deal direct with any.

What to do???

I went with animal friendly I think it's called

Who know if it's any good yet

Petplan will only pay for proven illness or injury. If you want tests done on your pet they won't pay for anything until a firm diagnosis. We spent hundreds of pounds trying to discover the cause of our dog's fits and they were no help whatsoever because the vets just didn't know what was wrong with him.

Alouiseg, this is the thread I was referring to: PetPlan

The authority on the subject of puppy farmers, AFAIAC, is a rescuer and campaigner from Wales called Moreen Davie (known as 'Mo'), who runs 'A Dogs Life', a campaigning organisation. An older lady, she's a sharp as a pin, knows her stuff and pulls no punches.

That is truly horrifying.

I'm going to do something, unsure what yet but any suggestions?

Thanks Valhalla

It's bloody hard to know what to suggest tbh Alouiseg. There is speculation that the kennel club too are less than constructive in this area - here

My own reaction was to email PetPlan, who denied all - yet I know all too well the evidence - and not to use them, whilst spreading the word as I am here.

Dawnybabe
Petplan paid for investigations for my cat which proved inconclusive but still totalled £220. Paid out directly to vet I just paid the excess.
Expensive but the best, Petplan, and they pay my vet direct so I don't have to stump up a big wad first
had all my animals insured through Petplan and for my dog they paid £550 cruciate ligament repair, £450 treatment for pancreatitis, £500 surgery to remove a gall stone, £600 secondary cruciate ligament repair.
The cat we had then they paid £220 for her investigations and blood tests and £300 for dental work.
Well worth it and they never ever quibbled a claim. Not once.
And because they pay the vet direct you dont have to worry about finding monies up front.

We were with Healthy Pets and were perfectly happy with them. They were much cheaper than the others with the same service, although vets didn't seem to have heard of them .

We cancelled the insurance after the one big expense we needed to incur wasn't covered (vet insisting on multiple tooth extractions in both cats to cure problems with sickness problem, and which actually made not a blind bit of difference). It was going to be more expensive with them both over 8 and we figured we'd put the money aside instead.

We use Axa as they have a decent amount of cover per year not for each condition. Our dog is a one year old crossbreed and costs about £16 a month.

We've claimed on it as she started coughing shortly after we got her. Has about £250 back so far and another £160 to come following an endoscopy and tests. There is an option to pay the vet directly but I bung it only card then get a cheque in time to pay the bill. I'll be interested to see how much my premium goes up at renewal.

That's a thought - if you do make a claim does your premiums go up the following year like car insurance ?

I think generally premiums will increase each year as the older the animal, the more likely to need some kind of vet treatment. I've heard M&S have a good premium the first year but hike it sharply the year after.

Not sure if companies stick up the premium if you claim but will find out in October!

Tesco's premiums don't increase as a result of claims made, the reason being that they don't wish to deter people from taking sick pets for treatment.

The bad boys:-
E and L also known as entertainment and leisure or equine and livestock.

The picky ones:-
Tesco, Asda, sainsburys, direct line and use being picky to deal paying out - usually takes around 3 months to get any money out of them.

The straight forward payers:-
Marks and Spencer, Pet plan, Pet protect, DBI(used to be a bad boy now owned by pet plan), Saga, NFU.

All the rest are neither good nor bad.
This is on a basis of nearly 600 claims submitted last year.

Pet insurance is really an area where you get what you pay for IMO.

The premiums with Petplan seemed to stay the same year on year irrespective of claims made. Then when the animal got to eight this triggered a jump in the premium as the animal is considered "senior" in years so more likely to incur fees.