Pet Insurance

[BeetyAxe]

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for pet insurance please. I have recently rehomed a Yorkshire terrier, he’s 8 years old and generally in good health, the previous owner said he didn’t have any issues, and I am as trusting of her as I can be. Is there an insurance that will cover pretty much all costs (with an excess to be paid of course). Grateful for any advice. Thanks

Most people seem to prefer Petplan. Have you had the vet check DDog over and have they suggested a company and a limit?

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto thank you for replying. I’ll look into pet plan. The vet has looked him over and said he’s ok, but I never thought to ask their opinion on insurance. I notice that a lot of the insurance quotes say you pay the premium and then around 20% of the remaining claim. So is that them saying you pay 20% of whatever it costs and they pay the rest? Thanks

Im happy with Tesco .. the amount and extent of cover up to you. I did a small claim for around £350, less £60 excess. They paid immediately and more to the point the premium hadn't gone up at renewal.

get the insurance while you can honestly say you have no knowledge of pre existing conditions.

We are with Emporium Insurance and made a claim last year, all good and got money refunded within 2 weeks, but we did pay £90 excess plus an additional 10% vet excess was taken off, don’t know why this is, but could be a problem with a large claim. They also don’t pay direct to vets, you have to pay and get reimbursed. I know Pet Plan deal with vets direct.

At 8 years old, you're going to start getting into co-pay territory, where the insurance expects you to pay a percentage of the cost plus the excess.

We use Corinium Insurance because they get good customer service reviews plus the price was reasonable but our dog is young so no co-pay element yet.

But make sure you read any policy exclusions really carefully and confirm you understand them correctly before purchasing.

If you go for "lifetime" insurance, it means the dog will be covered for any lifelong conditions they're diagnosed with but that will mean you're stuck with the same provider forever and they can do whatever they like to your premiums.

Not all vets accept PetPlan either so check that too (PetPlan have low fee agreements with practices).

Also worth mentioning that going abroad for veterinary services is becoming more popular as vets are three times more expensive in the UK (for various reasons, majority of vets practices owned by small number of private firms plus we have a culture of insuring so prices can rise as insurance is covering it). So possibly worth not buying insurance but saving the cash instead and going to France for routine/non-emergency things...

We had our dog insured with John Lewis years ago and had to claim twice and they were fantastic and paid vets directly. Now with Pet Wise, touch wood have not had to claim, but definitely shop around as all premiums go up when dogs hit "senior" usually at 8 years old

thanks everyone. Can anyone suggest is it better to get an amount of cover per condition or an overall amount that they’ll cover per year. Was looking at cover for £6k for each condition, does that seem like too much?

Yes am noticing his age is increasing the price! Seems hard to think of him as old as he behaves like a young pup! He’s so cute!

This is him🥰

He's gorgeous @BeetyAxe! I'm with petplan and they've always been great, although I haven't had to claim much in fairness. My vet deals with them directly. We have lifetime cover.

Thanks @GoFaster83 I’m very emotional over this pup so trying to rein myself in and not buy too much cover because I’m so afraid of something happening to him!

A maximum benefit plan might be good for an older dog. I have this with Many Pets. DDog is insured for up to £8000 per condition for her lifetime which should (touch wood) be ok as she is nearly 10. It's cheaper than lifetime insurance at £36 per month.

He’s gorgeous.

Mine are insured through Napo, who have been great so far. They are a good price, the excess is only £75, and they offer a variety of levels of cover. They also give a multi pet discount. They offer online vet video appointments. If anyone wants a quote and signs up through my link, we both get a £30 Amazon voucher. Thank you if anyone does.

www.napo.pet/join/vJNffRQE

I've found Petwise great for older dogs. https://www.petwise-insurance.com/