Puppy is on his way.....Which insurance companies do you recommend...

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And which would you say to avoid like the plague?

He is due (hopefully a he anyway) early April and we will collect him 2nd week in June.

I am TOO excited! I'm even excited about insurance :)

Avoid E&L or whatever they are calling themselves today. Like the plague.

Petplan are decent. They do whole of life cover too, where they won't stop insuring or paying for conditions just because your dog got old.

Boughtbymany are good.

DP is having a look at Boughtbymany and Petplan right now :)

I have found Petplan brilliant. They pay the vet direct, and within days. We once had to claim £9k and they didn’t quibble at all, nor did they push up our premiums on renewal, as a lot of companies do.

I got BoughtByMany recently got my beagle - different circumstances, but they cover dogs with pre-existing conditions which haven't been treated in over 2 years. Someone on here recommended & their coverage looks good - she said she had good experiences when having to claim too.

Boughtbymany are very good.

NOT E&L or anything underwritten bu then like Animal Friends and Emporium etc. Check the underwriters. NOT animal friends.

100% Petplan. I think we've actually claimed back more than we've paid in premiums over the years. They're not the cheapest, in fact I think they're the most expensive but they reliably pay out, time and time again.

Pet insurance is NOT the one to shop around and go with the cheapest quote like we do with house and car. You're something like 10 times more likely to claim on your pet insurance than your house/car and when you're already beyond stressed and worried about your beloved dog (speaking from personal and recent experience here), worrying about how you're going to pay for it is an added stress you just don't need.

I'm edging towards petplan. Seems to be the best deal. £60 per month and it covers everything.

I didn't realise you can't insure until 4 weeks old but I'm assuming the breeders must insure them until they are collected.

Collecting him is going to be an adventure in itself, We are flying from the north of Scotland, Train to breeders, Collect pup, Train to London then Sleeper train home :)

Any advice to make journey easier/more comfortable for the pup?
I'm thinking of getting a puppy sling to make going between stations easier for him and we'll have a soft-sided crate for on the sleeper train.
Will be well stocked with puppy pads etc

As others have said avoid E&L and any policy that they underwrite -they are shit and always have been .

Ideally get one that covers for on going conditions and not per condition.
For example say your dog has skin condition that becomes life long problem
An insurance company that has say £2000-
Or £6000 per condition will pay till the amount of money is used and then that’s it so if it’s a life long condition once that amount of money is used up it’s down to you .

Ideally you want one that has a big amount in the pot and renews the same amount each year is better example £7000 Or £10000 per year if you use up £5000 in one year the next year you still have another £7000 or £10000 depending on the amount .

If they are KC registered then the breeder will give you the KC insurance cover that I think last 4 weeks

BoughtByMany have been excellent so far with my dog and his ear infection. Claims have been £3.5k and counting but my premium only went up by £2pm this time.

Petplan was much more expensive than boughtbymany. BBM seems to cover everything it does too

Pet plan lifetime cover

BBM do life cover too

I'm also happy with Petplan.

As others have said, pet insurance is one where I think going with the lowest premiums is often a false economy. I claim on pet insurance all the time.

I have had no issues with claiming through BBM and my premium increase was small. I suppose you could also say going with the most expensive doesnt mean it's the best either

I suppose you could also say going with the most expensive doesnt mean it's the best either

Sorry, I wasn't having a dig at BBM or anything! I've only ever used Pet Plan - I'm just sharing anecdotally that I've always been happy with them.

We've got Sainsbury's - they matched Pet Plan's conditions and we get double points on all our Sainsbury's purchases. And it was nearly £20 cheaper that Pet Plan.

Just wanted to say that following recommendations from this thread I've just taken out pet insurance from BBM. I'm coming to the end of the 4 weeks petplan that came with my animal and have been doing some research (continuing with petplan, other companies eg PDSA, Waggle etc.) and they seemed to have the best cover plus reasonable prices, plus the above recommendations from PP. THank you MN :-)

Another saying Pet Plan lifetime cover.

PetPlan Covered For Life.

Expensive but comprehensive and minimum fuss. Most vets seem to deal directly with them so it should minimise your admin should you need to use it. Both my cat and dog have PP CFL policies.

My claim with BBM was done easily online.

We started with Petplan but with a huge price increase after no claims we switched to Bought by many last year, half the price same cover for life, vets paid direct, easy to claim.

We're with Animal Friends, we've made several claims and they have never quibbled.
Elderly rescue dog, she is on full life cover, Petplan would only put her on a 12 month limit and were much more expensive than AF full life cover.

I know some people had not given great reviews but we've never had a problem

John Lewis and More Than are excellent.

Be aware Pet Plan will increase significantly with age (not with claims). Our 7 year old Labrador was originally £28/month as a pup and is now £54/month. They have been excellent and have paid thousands of pounds of claims directly to the vet with no quibbles.

When we got ddog Bought By Many were too new to consider so we went with PetPlan which is established and has an excellent reputation and we felt was most likely to be around for the full life time of our dog.