Talk to me about pet insurance please!!

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I have 3 year old Lakeland Terrier, and we've recently got a Wire Fox Terrier. Our Kennel Club insurance that we got from the breeder runs out in the next couple of days, so we're looking for something for the two of them. We're with Petplan with my Lakey, but they've come back with a ridiculous quote. Does anyone know any good insurers?

M & S are brilliant. Our dog has been very unlucky health wise for the last couple of years and they have been great.

Mmm. Pet insurance can be very bad at paying out when you need it TBH. It may well be best to put the price of the premiums into a savings account each month.

Hetty, I really think that depends on who your insurance company is.

In the last two years we have had claims amounting to almost £2500 and have had the claim settled very quickly without any questions or hassle from M &S.

Both my vet and the animal hospital have claimed directly from my insurance I have only ever had to lay out the £70 excess. If we hadnt hd the cover Im not sure how we would have coped with the bills.

Our dog has now been diagnosed with Addisons and she will be on medication for life, as again this is covered.

I cant recommend pet insurance strongly enough :)

Avoid any underwritten by E&L - notoriously bad at paying out.

Sorry, forgot to say, look for one that offers Lifetime cover, the extra is well worth it.

E&L refused to pay out for my horse a few years ago - they said they would not pay under the total loss clause if I retired her but they would pay out if I had her destroyed. They changed their minds when I agreed to have her destroyed ..........but only after I'd paraded her in front of their offices with a DM photographer in tow. Don't touch them with a bargepole.

Yes just coming on to slate E&L, but I can see other wise people have already done it. We're waiting (with baited breath) for our death claim on our beloved dog. They're taking ages. No doubt trying to come up with a reason to not pay out.

I had the free months kennel club insurance when I got our puppy recently. I contacted them to get a quote for when it ran out, because it seemed very comprehensive but the quote they gave me was really expensive. So I went with Tesco which I already have for my cats. I was really annoyed when a few weeks later, the KC people cold-called, asking if I was thinking of taking out insurance. I explained that unfortunately theirs was too expensive for me so I'd gone elsewhere, and when they asked how much I paid they said they could have done it for only a couple of quid more (practically half their original quote!!).

Sorry this is longwinded, what I'm trying to say is get a couple of quotes and if you are happy with Pet Plan, call them and tell them what others have offered you, they might be willing to negotiate. I did the same with my cats when the renewal came back v.expensive, said it was too much and I'd go elsewhere thanks. Tesco were then v.willing to see what they could do to make it cheaper, by cutting out various bits of cover that I didn't want.

Pet Plan is supposed to be quite good because they don't limit by amount or is it condition?

We have Tesco insurance and they have been quite good, actually. Dog number 1 had an operation (cruciate repair) to his knee which was state of the art, done by a orthopedic vet, titanium replacement. The facilities were better than some NHS hospitals . He then had a course of hydo therapy and a physiotherapist. It was about £3500 which ironically enough, was our limit per condition .

We are with Argos, due to a recommendation on here, but haven't had to claim for anything to date.

There was a bit on Watchdog a couple of weeks ago about Pet Insurance. Lloyds TSB and Halifax have pulled out of the market leaving their previous customers in the lurch. This means that people with older dogs or ones with serious pre-existing conditions are having real problems finding new insurance/paying for vet bills.

It concerns me that in the current economic climate other companies may follow suit. I do wonder whether we would have been safer going with a more specialist company such as Pet Plan.

Greenbee (John Lewis) come recommended by Which magazine. I have lifetime cover for my pup at £31 a month - not cheap but it is reinstated every year i.e. is lifetime not per condition.

I have lifetime cover with someone off the internet (can't remember who but is underwritten by E&L), reinstated each year for around £11 pcm, and they paid up when my stupid puppy ate a shedload of plain chocolate. BUT, they wanted a very detailed account of exactly "HOW Monty was able to get hold of the chocolate" and the name and address of the person we deemed responsible so they could extract monies from them!
Is this standard practice? As it happened, it was technically our fault that he got hold of it, but suppose it had been at a friend's house? Were we meant to have dobbed them in?

Agree about life time cover .

Hettykett - yes all well and good putting money away in a savings account instead of insurance premiums but when your dog is just over a year old and you have to pay vet bills of 2K then I don't think the savings plan would work

We are with Petplan and I have to say they have been fab, they paid out over £300 on our dog when he was a 4 month old puppy who'd been insured for 1 week ! They have paid out over £3500 in total so far

I've had or have got policies with Pet Plan, M&S and John Lewis. All have been brilliant when I've needed them.

It's important to take really good insurance that you know will pay up with no fuss and will cover a condition for life. It is often expensive, but nowhere near as expensive as vet emergency treatment; value for money IMO.

It's worth getting insurance ASAP because if you go for someone other than the provider of the free insurance, there will be an exclusion period of 14 days for a claim.

And of course, if a condition shows itself during those 14 days, it will be excluded from further cover.

It's too late for the OP, but if anyone else wIth a new pup reads this, it is a good idea to take out your own policy 14 days before the expiry of the free insurance to avoid any hole in cover/potential cover exclusion.

I found Tesco was very good when we had our PBGV, he got through life without anything too serious going wrong but the various small claims of £200 or so we had over the years were met very promptly. When he was quite old the premiums went up so much that I spoke to the vet about it and he said that there would not be much he could do for a dog of 16 if he got very ill so to end the insurance, I did continue to put the same amount into savings just in case we needed them but eventually he died in his sleep of old age.

I think everyone needs life time cover without limits on individual conditions and up to £7000.

An accident could cost thousands, a pup could have a lifelong condition costing thousands per year. Pups could have all sorts ip with them that is yet to present and must be at an increased risk of harm whilst untrained and brainless:)

I think pet plan are excellent, pay out quickly but £. AXA good but more niggly and slower to pay. E and l scumsuckers of suckdom. There is no intrinsic problem with payouts other than with certain notorious companies. Actually it is generally really trouble free.

I have had bills of £6000 for one dog in a year, pet plan paid out £14000 to us in around twelve months....amazed they haven't blacklisted us!

Actually I think the only owners that don't 'need' it must be very wealthy, but then why wouldn't they? It's part of good ownership so your animal can be assured of best care.