Dog insurance recommendations

[Figgygal]

Hi all
Looking at getting a new dog very soon and looking for recommendations for insurance.
I previously had many pets cover but having just done a meerkat comparison theres many other providers to consider.
What's important to look out for? How much cover per year? How do excesses work? If they do?
Thanks

I did tons of research and finally went with perfect pets. Lifetime cover. Check out Martin Lewis, they explain what each level is and how it works.

Healthy Pets. Quick answering of the phone, easy to deal with. Lifetime options and bronze, silver and gold.

Petplan have paid out for quickly multiple times for me.

Whichever you go with, make sure you have lifetime cover. Otherwise they might cover an issue at first but if it reoccurs in the next year (or later) they will say it’s a pre existing condition and now not covered.

Beware the auto-renewal money-spinner with Purely Pets Insurance. Many don't read the small print which says the policy will be automatically renewed unless cancelled, they just see the headline premium increase, often despite no claims, and decide to look elsewhere. It then gets forgotten in the myriad day-to-day pressures we all face. I switched my pet insurance at my renewal time because of the increase, and thought I had called Purely Pets to cancel. I then forgot about it until I realised I was still paying for it 7 months later. Purely Pets refused to accept my 'mistake' and have taken over £200 for providing zero service. My fault for being stupid, eh?

The situation has got so bad that the Government is proposing ‘clamping down’ on subscriptions and auto-renewals, but don’t get too excited. The Government is incorporating this in to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill which is a wide-ranging behemoth that’s still only at the committee stage. It’ll be ages before that bill lumbers over the finish line, but it will.

If #PurelyPets really do care about their customers, and are proud of the services they offer, then what’s the problem with asking their customers to opt in for another year?

Unless of course, they aren’t so confident that they offer value for money…

Regardless of whether they offer a competitive premium in the future, I will never return to #PurelyPets, and now make a point of telling everyone not to use them. Puerile, I know, but how else do we make our views known, unless we tell others.

I'm now with Waggel.

I've been with a multitude of pet insurance providers, and am now with Petplan. Yes they are expensive but my only claim so far was done online via the vets and they paid out within 48hrs. I have the cover for life, medium protection which is up to £12 thousand pounds. Please bear in mind how expensive vet costs are. My friend switched from Petplan to a cheaper insurer, her perogative, but took less cover to make her payments cheaper. 3 weeks after her switch her labrador broke his leg, he know has a bionic leg and is oncourse for a full recovery, the bill so far stands at £8000. ( £6500 was the operation alone). His limit was £7000.

I chose animal friends as our vet only pays them and petplan directly and they were cheaper.

More Pets. Two year old Lab. Premium c£500, excess £125 (I think), cover £15,000. They would cover him for training and working, which few other providers would, certainly at that price. Next one up was Petguard, a couple of hundred more and only £12,000 cover.

I would recommend Petplan this is my fourth dog insured with them and never had any extra worry with them when dog has been ill . Sure their premiums are more expensive than others but I feel their service is superior to others out there .