Insurance - can I ask some questions?

[tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz]

Afternoon all, hoping to get some clarity before starting to look at insurance for a border terrier puppy we will be bringing home in a few weeks.

I understand that you can get policies which are "lifetime" and those which are a set period, I guess typically 12 months.

With lifetime does this mean with the same provider but prices are still likely to go up each year?

And how does the pre existing conditions thing work with different policy types?

I'm feeling a bit clueless when with any other insurance I'm fine!

Can someone walk me through it? An idiots guide, if you will?!!

Totally agree, my one time claim was £1,600 for a skin infection, my first claim for my 4 year old dog, but by that time I paid out about £900 in total.

The main issue with saving instead of insurance - is what happens if your dog gets sick at six months and you only have six months of premiums put aside?

Unless you have permanent access to savings or are able/willing to chuck everything on a credit card, insurance is pretty vital. You never want to be in a position where you can't treat your pet because of money.

Also, if you’ve used your savings at six months, what if at Easter they eat chocolate, hot cross buns and grapes (obviously a lab) and need another vets visit, and you haven’t accrued more savings by then.

Thanks everyone - this has been very helpful.

Have started looking again and in next few days shall get booked.

Think we're definitely gonna to start with Lifetime policy and looking at between £5-7500 vet feee cover and excess or between £100-250. Premiums are working out to about £10 a month cheaper for the £5k cover so we may opt for that as it gives us wiggle room over next few years for premiums inevitable going up and we could get our hands on cash difference at any time if needed.

Final question I promise - in return when we bring him home this weekend I promise to post a picture as a thank you! - when I've been getting quotes I'm asked for date of birth. He'll be 8 weeks on Friday however quotes errant allowing me to put through as he's not 8 weeks yet and even when fiddling with dates for purpose of a quote I had to put his birth date as a few weeks earlier.

Do I need to physically wait until the 8 week anniversary? Pretty sure breeder gives us a few weeks of kennel club cover although I intend to insure him from day 1.

Yes, exactly!

If you have decent savings or a good credit limit then I do think it can make sense to self-insure, but just make sure you're not putting yourself in a position where you'll regret not being able to pay for treatment.

You can ring up and update your quote - otherwise your pet will have the wrong dob and things like the jabs record will look wrong. Best done with a human on the phone, so you can explain and they might be able to change that without you having to do the whole form again.

DDog was covered by the breeders insurance for 2 weeks anyhow, but I did my insurance on the phone in the week before we picked her up at the weekend and started it immediately. And I think with a ‘puppy coming home’ cover can start immediately (but check)

We’ve had two claims, and one of them was for a dog vomiting bug that she got only a week or so after joining us (PS - with an older dog I’d have ridden out her level of symptoms, but with a very young puppy, vomiting needs to be checked as the risks of dehydration are very much greater)

Cheers wetotter and for your other replies up thread too.

Yes - think I'll get the quote I want ready in front of me then call them so hopefully price etc can be matched.

I'm going to be so paranoid about his wellbeing so will watch like a hawk. Really hoping I'm cut out for this