Pet Insurance

deerwarden

Well-Known Member
My new lab puppy has arrived and I'm looking at pet insurance, as I will be retiring soon and money could be an issue. My vet sells Petsure, I have a month free from the kennel club, any suggestions out there for a working dog insurance policy should poppy require treatment. deerwarden.
 
Petplan are the vets favourite because they don't argue over bills and settle quickly.
Ask Apache on here.
 
Pet plan are good and apparently you receive 10% discount at the moment and if a member of basc.
I ended up going with agria insurers via the kennel club which worked out £4 a month cheaper for the same policy and higher financial benefits. A few recommend John Lewis insurance to.
 
Pet Plan do a for life policy which gaurantees the price won't rise if you need to claim, Pet Plan also cover chronic conditions for life. In short they are not the cheapest but offer the best coverage, that's why vets like them.

Also they offer the flexibility for you to pay the vet and claim it back or for you to get Pet Plan to pay your vet direct.

Co-incidently two of my good friends own and run a vet practice down your neck of the woods Red-Dot, which is why I am able to offer the above advice.
 
Just to clarify, the vets don't sell insurance. We get no commission on any product.
You get what you pay for, cheap usually means lots of catches.
Ensure that anything that says "lifetime' is the lifetime of your dog, not the policy
Ensure the underwriter is not one that uses letters for its name, these may include the letters E or L but other letters are available
NFU, Pet Plan, John Lewis, all seem straightforward.
As many posters have said, it's a gamble - our cash vs theirs.
 
Life policies are all very well, but my dog was insured with the RSPCA Gold policy, paid for by monthly direct debit.

Earlier this year they announced that they were ceasing their insurance business, and had forwarded my details to MoreThan, who graciously offered to maintain the lifetime cover if I transferred to them.

The slight snag being that the MoreThan policy was more than double the price, for significantly worse benefits.

So "lifetime" policies cut both ways, yes you have reassurance that existing conditions will continue to be covered, but the insurer appears to have no obligation to continuing to provide cover, or maintain premiums at a reasonable price.
 
1. Look for an established company. Once anything has happened to your dog it would be excluded from a new policy so you need to pick a company and stick with them. A 'lifetime' policy means they will go on paying for a chronic condition, it does NOT mean the price won't rise. The price always goes up as the dog age as the risk of a claim rises.

2. Vets are not supposed to recommend particular companies. This isn't an endorsement, but conversation between stalkers on a forum. I know a number of vets who have their own pets insured and all of them use PetPlan. BASC dog insurance is via PetPlan, covers working dogs and is at a discounted rate. NFU are great to deal with. Take heed of Buchan's letter recommendation and if you haven't heard of the company ask who the underwriters are!

3. Cheapest is NEVER the best. Read ALL the small print. I don't think I have ever had insurance fail to pay when there was a justified claim, the problems stem from people not reading and understanding the small print. Some require claims to be submitted by certain dates, or even pre-approval for some non urgent procedures. I know a few people who have changed companies and had claims refused for arthritis because the puppy was a bit lame 10 years ago. Some policies require things like vaccines to be up to date, and they may even try to wiggle out of claims not related to infectious disease.

4. Comparison cost sites are a really, really, really, really bad way of choosing pet insurance.
 
1. Look for an established company. Once anything has happened to your dog it would be excluded from a new policy so you need to pick a company and stick with them. A 'lifetime' policy means they will go on paying for a chronic condition, it does NOT mean the price won't rise. The price always goes up as the dog age as the risk of a claim rises.

2. Vets are not supposed to recommend particular companies. This isn't an endorsement, but conversation between stalkers on a forum. I know a number of vets who have their own pets insured and all of them use PetPlan. BASC dog insurance is via PetPlan, covers working dogs and is at a discounted rate. NFU are great to deal with. Take heed of Buchan's letter recommendation and if you haven't heard of the company ask who the underwriters are!

3. Cheapest is NEVER the best. Read ALL the small print. I don't think I have ever had insurance fail to pay when there was a justified claim, the problems stem from people not reading and understanding the small print. Some require claims to be submitted by certain dates, or even pre-approval for some non urgent procedures. I know a few people who have changed companies and had claims refused for arthritis because the puppy was a bit lame 10 years ago. Some policies require things like vaccines to be up to date, and they may even try to wiggle out of claims not related to infectious disease.

4. Comparison cost sites are a really, really, really, really bad way of choosing pet insurance.

As ever honest advice.

4. You are correct there. I done a quick search via one shocking so many popped up and cheap wasn't the word.
i decided to go, well stay with agria insurers as I already have my other dacshund with them and they taken that into consideration. I did ask my vet about them and they spoke quite highly of them.
 
For the last 20 years or so I have always owned at least 2 dogs which until last year WERE always insured.
Never having made a claim in many years , I had 2 claims knocked back due to "technicalities".
The first was for the removal of one of the little dogs eyes after a year of treatment and recurring infections. One of the bigs dogs had bitten it in the eye, inflicting the initial damage.
It was decided to remove the eye and the subsequent claim for the surgery was rejected due to it being over a year since the initial incident. Prior to the surgery, I had not claimed as the excess was more than the bills for the visits to the vets.
The second time was one of the dogs was suspected of having an infection when in for her annual check up and booster. Booster was not given on vets advice and again after a course of treatment, a much more expensive treatment was given which resulted in the claim being rejected due to the dog not having up to date boosters.
On both occasions the vet was very good and had intervened and corresponded with the companies involved. On both occasions the final bills were vastly reduced and and I paid them myself.
The vet had indicated that had he and not the assistant completed the claim form, the outcome would have been different.
There is not doubt that many companies will look for a "get out" clause.
I now hope that my good luck with regards to my dogs health continues.

I no longer insure my dogs. I am fortunate that I have sufficient funds now to cover any unexpected bills but I have taken a gamble in doing so. I had around 20 years of multiple dogs with no claims at all and was disapointed to have the experience I had.
 
A 'lifetime' policy means they will go on paying for a chronic condition, it does NOT mean the price won't rise. The price always goes up as the dog age as the risk of a claim rises.

Agreed, full expected.

What was not expected was for RSPCA to terminate my "lifetime" policy then have the generosity to pass my details on to MoreThan, who had the cheek to quote over £30 per month for a policy which had previously cost £11. For a 5 year old healthy crossbreed collie cross, with only one claim for a badly cut foot (broken glass) requiring minor treatment. Cost recouped in less than a year's premiums.

I had expected better of RSPCA.

They not only lost their cut of the premiums, but my partner's support and a legacy.

Previous dog with Petplan lifetime cover I'm sorry to say we had poor experience too, when he developed epilepsy. We relied on the vet to do the paperwork but he was disinterested in it, messed things up and Petplan rejected the (rather minor) claim.

Which is why the next dog went with RSPCA.

I do think it is a minefield.
 
So far the midrange or classic/lifetime quotes from Petplan, John Lewis, PDSA, and the kennel club were all around the £3-400 mark a year, with Petplan being the dearest by a £100, and the PDSA the cheapest, all were the mid range of cover up to vet fees of £7500 a year, complimentary pet treatment included. I just insured my Jimny and Vitara fully comp for £390, for both vehicles, not each. Admitted I have 9 years FCD, the vehicles are worth 10 times more than my puppy cost me. deerwarden
 
I've been with John Lewis with my two that both passed away this year. They always paid up promptly. Option to pay vet direct. Life cover for £12,000 per year. Yes cover was expensive but you get what you pay for.
My bitch was diagnosed with heart failure and spent 6 months going to Liverpool vet hospital about every 4 weeks. Her policy renewal was over £900 per year but was costing between £800-£1,000 per month.
Then as both died before they were 9 years old they even paid out the initial cost of the dog.
My new pup (now 6 months old) is insured with John Lewis .
Wingy
 
I will advice you to search pet insurance companies on internet, visit their insurance policies and meet them personally before finalizing insurance plan to avoid any discomfort in future.
 
Back
Top