Our Dog insurance is up for renewal, and there seems to be more and more conditions and exclusions along with a fairly large price hike ! This is not due to claims. Anyone done the research and got any recomendations ?

Don’t buy pet insurance – just save the money and pay up if you have to, and keep the savings if you don’t…

We use M&S not the cheapest but will cover conditions for life up to 7000 each year.

Don’t buy pet insurance – just save the money and pay up if you have to, and keep the savings if you don’t…

You’ve obviously never had a pet that’s cost you thousands in vets fees!

We’re with MoreThan for our dog – cover and cost seemed good compared to the others.

@the-muffin-man: er, no!

It doesn’t matter which company exactly, but as a vet I always recommend and indeed use PetPlan. They very rarely refuse to pay FULL costs as they are run by vets and understand veterinary conditions, as opposed to just being a regular insurance company who may try to short change you on a few conditions. They also have no upper age limit and do not keep increasing premiums with advancing age.

At the end of the day, know what you are buying is the most important advice. There are three types of insurance out there:

1. Condition specific – they give you a certain pot of money, say £3000 for a single condition. As soon as you reach that £3000, your pet will not be covered for that condition ever again. As it is now classed as pre-existing you also can’t switch to another company which may have covered it. This tends to be more than, direct line etc

2. Time specific- they will cover a certain condition for 12 months, but after 12 months will not pay a penny more for life! This tends to be your cheap supermarket brands.

3. Lifetime cover – This is a premium insurance, but in my opinion by far the best and worth the investment. They give you a certain amount of money renewed EACH year for life. So in other words, if say your pet is diagnosed with diabetes at 6 months of age, the company will continue paying for treatments for the whole of the animals life. With the other policies you will have to pay for the condition yourself after the first 12 months, or once your upper limit is reached for this condition (usually within 3 years). So yes it is a premium insurance, but if you can afford it and are unlucky enough to need it, it is most certainly worth it.

And yes JulianA – I am a vet in practice and I STILL have my pets insured!!!! It is a responsible thing to do, you just never know when you might need it…

you just never know when you might need it…

A friend (yes, a real one) is at the moment, being sued (or should I say, biker’s ins co. is claiming from friend’s ins co.) by a motorcyclist who came off and wrote his bike off when friend’s lab ran out on to the road. He accepts it’s his dog, his problem…so insurance will cough up.

So even for third party stuff…you never know…

(that would be a lot of £30/month savings to pay for a motorbike) 😯

Pet plan here…. No issues at all with the claim we made.
We have the lifetime cover as Peaks says .

we have had our dog insured with Petplan since we got her, they have always paid claims without quibble – but as someone said the real issue is the public liability insurance – you are responsible or your dog’s action ( but not your cats.)

Petplan here too.