Pet insurance. How much is reasonable?

[Ormirian]

Harley was insured for a month by the rescue. I rang to find out about renewing the insurance when this lapses but was given a quite for £14 a month. Is that normal? It seems a lot of money. It's with Pet Plan btw.

I am paying £17 pm for our 15 week old puppy, lifelong cover.

what cover do you get for this. What breed is he?

Petplan are one of the higher insurers, but alot of people swear by em.

I use directline, maybe worth having a shop around before you commit.

Thanks.

Have been looking. Have found some around £13 but most are much lower. I want tpl and cover for vets bills - but not bereavement counselling or replacement purchase price!

We pay about £14 a month for an elderly cat and about £17 a month for a 3(ish - we'll never really know with him being an ex-stray) Hein57 varieties of woof via Sainsburys on their higher level of cover (£7000 per condition rather than £4grand/year). Cat's is astronomical because of her age (although we don't tell her she's getting on a bit now).

In contrast we were doing quotes for a 7 year old greyhound yesterday and they were coming in at £30!

The cover you can get varies enormously. The insurance company may limit what they pay either 'per condition' or 'per year' or both. IMO limiting 'per condition' can be problematic, if the dog ends up with a chronic condition. Once the insurance company pays the initial £2000 (or whatever amount you have signed up for) they won't pay out any more for that condition, even if the dog lives for years with it, even if you have so-called lifetime cover. You really need to read the fine print.

Orm - you have harley i was away when he was due to come to you. very pleased for you and him. did you take him to wales? my lot loved it there and am wondering if i can go again before sept

petplan knowingly insures puppy farmers so i avoid them. my two are with sainsbury. highest cover. 6 yr old collie x (he looks similar to harley btw) is about £17 per month. 4yr old jrt is £12. i went through martin's money expert to compare quotes and this worked out cheaper. also got a discount for second dog. and double nectar points for a year. may have got a crate of wine as well, although cant remember if that was for switching utility or pet insurance

btw i changed home insurance (not with sains) and utility at the same time. the saving i made has made for the pet insurance. so i am thinking of it as free iyswim

paid

Thanks.

yes we have Harley chick and very happy with him.

Found a quote with Healthy Pets that looks OK. The Silver policy covers Up to 4000 vets bill and 1mill tpl, covers ongoing conditions, pays out on death from illness and accident etc. Looks OK to me. £8.44pm with an online discount.

i just looked at your profile hoping to see a pic of harley.

awww he's gorgeous

We're with Pet Plan (in Aus) and last week held a cheque in my relieved mits for $6600 to cover UnWiseDog's hip surgery with probably another $1500 to come for follow up treatment and x-rays. Pet insurance is not worth skimping on, I am constantly amazed at how much vet bills are.

Mine is £10.09 for two dogs with Tesco.

Just been checking out some quotes for our Dane. 2 companies have said no as she is too old at 6. yes they don't live as long as some but she is middleaged not geriatric!!!!

Bloody hell! We got quoted £70 pm for our dog!

Just under £40 for a Staffy and a Doodle with Homebase top level cover.
£7500 vet fees per year and 2 mill liability.

anyone else with Tesco, does that include liability

We've been quoted £25 pm for our Dane with animal friends, lifetime cover, something like 30 000 per condition over the lifetime of the dog - seems to be quite good but it has been quite difficult trying to find an insurer that suits our needs.

Pet Plan quoted us over £60 pm month for top level! Yikes!

does the animal friend quote include public liability

I pay about £600/year for 3 dogs, 2 of whom are on posh policy as they're getting a bit doddery.

Yes, there are several different levels but the one I want to go for is £28.68 pm, has a £69 excess, and has £1.75m public liability. If you go for the £99 excess, the cost per month is less.

Even the highest level cover they do is only £37.98, that one also covers accidental damage, personal accident and transport costs :)

The Tesco one doesn't appear to include third party liability as default coccyx (just got off the phone to them today) but you can add it on - for the grand total of 50p extra a month on the quote we got for the greyhound. They've got a list of extras you can add on like boarding costs, overseas travel cover and what-not and it's on there.

I pay £16.25 each per month with E & L for two Rottweillers. Zak is 9 this year & Zeus is 7.

I would go for a higher level of cover. My springer had a blockage where her stomach / intestine meet. She also had two bowel perforations and peritonitis, as well as having her stomach cut open. She was hours from dying and an in patient for 5 days, most of which was touch and go. The final bill was around £3.5k. Luckily I had taken insurance that gave a 6k limit. Some lesser plans would not have covered the bill.

And all because at some point while out she managed to find a rubber band and swallow it , but it got caught at the opening to her stomach and twisted her bowel,perforating it.

mine is £44 a month for 2 rabbits (one elderly) a cat and a dog.