Insurance Confusion, Please help.

[Hearthurts]

We are getting a 10 week old puppy next month (Lab) he comes with a months free insurance.
I've been looking at insurance and it's a minefield! what is best? do I need life cover and if so how much?! Is it necessarily highest price is best? I don't really want to.pay more than £50 a month but if I need to pay more then so be it.
Can anyone advise me in simple terms what is best please

Having had insurance on my dogs for over 15 years the best has to be Petplan, most vets will let you just pay the excess and they will claim the rest. Stay away from any that are underwritten by E&L as they don't always pay out. Our collie puppy costs £24 a month for lifetime cover and max benefit. Insurance is a minefield but Petplan in my opinion is the best 🙂

The problem with getting life cover is you have to stick to the same insurer if your dog has had any illnesses or conditions that could be counted as "pre-existing" so you can't shop around if they increase their prices.
I was with Pet Plan till my lab was 2, never claimed anything. Got a second dog and decided not to bother with insurance and self insure both dogs as I could pay if needed.
I get 3rd party insurance from Dogs Trust.
I've been saving the amount Pet Plan would have cost me, getting quotes each year. They've haven't needed vet treatment for the past 8 years.
Total of £9200 now in dogs account.

BeerandBiscuits that's fine if you can find thousand of pounds from year 0 and continue to find it if needed up to the life time of your dog. So if you don't claim that's great as you are quids in but insurance works out when you need to claim. We claimed a few thousand when my puppy was still very young and if someone didn't have access to insurance they wouldn't have had time to build up any buffer. As it was we also had to claim a few thousand again the year after.

We claimed a few thousand when my puppy was still very young and if someone didn't have access to insurance they wouldn't have had time to build up any buffer.

Yes, of course. As I said in my post, my lab was insured with Pet Plan for the first 2 years of his life as I thought this was likely to be the most accident prone time. Also I'd get an idea of what his health was like.
2nd dog was a rescue mixed breed, no health problems and already well trained.

I've spoken to 2 friends with dogs this afternoon (had a work lunch) neither of them have insurance and never have😮
one has a 10 year old labradoodle who gas had no problems. The other has an 8 year old mongrel who had a skin condition that she treats with tea tree and manuka honey.
They both said if needed they would find the money.
I'm definately not going without insurance! going to look into petplan now.
The breeder has insurance with 'buddies legal and general"

*has not gas!

I think some people don't actually realise how expensive vet bills can be and rely on being lucky. Your friends might not have any idea how quickly bills can reach thousands so yes I am firmly in your camp of getting insurance and unfortunately have made use of it. However I would much rather waste premiums and have a healthy dog than have to make the decision to PTS or leave in pain a dog because I couldn't afford the recommended treatment.

As mention before a friend of mine had a 'healthy dog' but ended up with over £10000 bill and theirs is not old but not a puppy either so you never know at what age you could land a massive bill. Elbow conditions which are common can easily be £2000-£3000 and often you need both doing fairly close together. Hip ops are much dearer. And then people forget that you can have one injury/illness then another straight after so whilst they may cope with getting money for one thing another might be beyond their reach . Without insurance OR access to many thousands it's very easy to start making decisions based on cost rather than clinical need. Having insurance removes that stress and consideration.

We have a 5 year old lab. Insured with petplan for £4k/lifetime and it was £28/month in first year. Now he's 5 it is £48/month. We have claimed around £5k so we are quids in.

Petplan, like most pet insurance, increases as they age but not if you claim, so watch out for that with whatever insurance you go for.. I do expect it to be much higher as he gets older. Also be aware once you choose an jnsurer you are usually stuck with them as changing might mean existing conditions aren't covered.