Dog insurance recommendations!

[ShoeEatingMonster]

So puppy has been with us for a week now and we want to sort proper insurance (he came with the 5 week KC breeders insurance).
Which insurers do you have experience
of and recommend? I know some can be a total pita if you need to claim mentions no names
Also is it worth paying more for the lifetime cover?
Thanks from a sleepy pup

My mate is insured with Argos, not sure who underwrites for them.
His whippet broke a leg not 3 weeks after taking out the insurance. They paid out with no quibbles.

I'd be wary of using anyone underwritten by RSA. I know that includes More Than, Tesco, John Lewis, Homebase, Argos and M&S but not sure if that's all of them.

RSA companies have started introducing what they're calling a "preferred referral network" which is a list of specialist vets that have signed up to be part of the scheme. If your pet needs a referral to a specialist you have to either choose one from the list or potentially pay up to £200 extra to go to a vet that isn't on the list. Some areas of the country have very few vets who are part of the scheme (only one in Wales and five for the whole of Scotland) and the ones there are may not always be the absolute best option for the particular issue that needs treating.

At the moment I think only a couple of RSA companies have officially introduced it (More Than and Tesco) but it's fairly likely the rest will follow suit.

Ooh thanks for that. I will check to see if they are underwritten by RSA

What about pet plan? Our renewal quote for our retriever aged 7 from John Lewis is for over £1000 which is insane so we desperately need other options.

I always say I'd never go with anyone except pet plan. Their premiums never go up by much even if you don't make a claim. I know of dogs who needed seriously large claims and premium never really goes up. I also know of a dog whos monthly medication costs (which petplan pays for) exceed petplans premium and has done for a number of years now. This same dog also had thousands paid out on a couple of big operations as puppy.

On the other hand I know someone with more than, who's renewal went up to £200 per month on a 4yr old? Just because she'd made a couple of small claims.

Sorry that should have been: Their premiums never go up by much even if you do make a claim.

My vet said Pet Plan or John Lewis (off the record as she said they weren't supposed to recommend). We went with JL.

JL went up by £300 the first year, £250 the next year and nearly £300 this time. Last year we didn't claim but they said the increased premium was as a result of ALL claims with same breed so you're stuffed if you claim and stuffed if you don't it seems.

Speak to your vet and ask them which companies they have the fewest problems with in terms of payouts.
I ended up with Direct Line on this basis.

Always had good service from Asda pet insurance for our old dog.

Thanks. We're back to the vet on Monday for vaccinations so I'll ask.

Do people think it's worth having the lifetime cover? I'm leaning towards it but then I'm quite cautious on insurance fronts and tend to over insure things!

Monster, my Asda insurance is the Superior, lifetime cover, and it's worth it to me to have no worries about funding treatment for possible future problems.
I pay £65 a month: I haven't shopped around for a few years, as I'm happy with that. Also, that's for an eleven year old dog.

Forgot to say, lovely sleepy pup photo.

Interesting thread - my insurance with Morethan is due for renewal and is going up nearly 10% despite no claims and DDog is 3 so not elderly. I will look into pet plan (also recommended by my vet) and John Lewis

I wouldn't touch anything other than Petplan now as I had my fingers burnt with Axa and their "lifetime" cover. After we'd been with them for several years they decided to stop offering pet insurance. One of my dogs was 11 years old by then and we couldn't get another policy to cover her at that point, just when she was starting to develop various old age ailments (we hadn't claimed once for her in all the years we were with Axa). I do think with the more general insurance companies you run the risk that they might pull out of pet insurance because veterinary costs have escalated so much.

Petplan is the only company my vets will deal with directly as they can be trusted to cough up.

I would recommend pet plan.
They gave our cat free insurance for 28 days when it was microchipped.
On day 26 it broke its leg. Cost over £3000 in vets fees, they paid no problems.
Vet recommended we get lifetime insurance as he will probably have problems in the future so we did.
Broke leg again 6 months later in a different place, again they paid out no problems.
Both dog and cat insured with them.

Another one for petplan however I have always used the cheapest yearly insurance till our dog was 7 and then switched to Petplan life cover...

I would 100% recommend Pet Plan, I wouldn't ever go with anybody else! On the lifetime plan the premiums never increase due to claims or conditions, the coverage is great, and most importantly they are a very trusted company who pay out a lot so no vet I've ever been to has ever needed us to pay upfront and claim back. My dog needed an emergency operation once and the Pet A&E place had a policy of demanding payment upfront before treatment, but would make an exception for PetPlan. We didn't have £2,000 to hand and there wasn't time to go about trying to round it up - luckily my dog got her op right away when she needed it because we had the right insurance. Probably saved her life!

Oh, and I just noticed you asked about Lifetime cover - we got that for both dogs and it's worth the bit extra because one developed Epilepsy at about 6 months old and now needs medication every month and frequent tests and check-ups. It's all paid for with the plan (we pay one excess per year) and hasn't affected our premiums. Of course it's a gamble because it may cost more for no reason if your dog doesn't develop any conditions (I hope not!!) but it's so helpful if they do.

Thanks! Looks like Petplan is the way to go! They've quoted between 28 and 43 a month for the different levels of lifetime cover. The basic cover was even cheaper!