Pet insurance - I don't know what to choose! Any advice?

[r2d2ismyidealman]

I'm a new pet owner and have gone on search engines but I'm confused by what's on offer and what I need. Does anyone know anything about how I can decide what I need? I'm taking the dogs to the vet later for an initial check over as they came my way quite quickly as adult rescue dogs and I have very little info about them.

Most insurance I've looked at costs about £15/month for fully comp for life for a mutt. This goes up massively after the age of 8, and when I realised I was being asked to pay over £75/month each, I decided to stop. That was roughly when the younger was 13, so... I had paid a good £11000 towards insuring 2 dogs. It really can be worth it if your dog is a breed likely to have health problems, or if it is involved in an accident. You need to weigh up, should things go wrong, how much you are prepared to put your dog through.
I insured through Tesco and they were fine. Another dog is also insured through LV who in my experience have been sloppy, but I also didn't chase them up. A lot of vets suggest PetPlan although they are quite expensive. You can self-insure, but it can be hard to find north of a few ££££ in a hurry!

pet insurance help

We are with pet plan and they are expensive. They have always, always paid out though, no quibbling.

Totally agree that choosing pet insurance can be very confusing!

I have a website ..www.pet-insurance-surveys.co.uk .. where you will find lots of info and fact sheets... start by checking you understand the different types of pet insurance cover available as this is where many people go wrong! (www.pet-insurance-surveys.co.uk/policy-types/)

As an absolute minimum you should make sure that you have third party liability cover as you are legally responsible for the actions of your dogs and could be sued for huge amounts of money if your dog causes an accident. (www.pet-insurance-surveys.co.uk/third-party-liability-cover/)

Finally read reviews written by pet owners about their claims experiences ... you will find 450+ here as we have just done a survey (btw many thanks to all Mumsnetters who completed it)...www.pet-insurance-surveys.co.uk/pet-insurance-companies/company-review-list/

Hope this gets you started in the right direction... also ask your vet.. they will probably suggest Petplan.. who do tend to start off quite expensive but they have a reputation for reasonable renewal increases.. as opposed to some others (particularly those underwritten by RSA) who have a reputation for starting cheap and then hiking the premiums!

We have one with PetPlan (very good, expensive but pay out with no hassle. Also the only ones my vet is really happy to do a direct claim from) one with M&S (very good but premiums have doubled over the past couple of years, despite no claims DDog1 is only 6 though) and one with The Kennel Club (very good in the past, have not made a claim recently)

Thanks for this, I'll look into these links!