Pet insurance. Recommendations?

swingaloo

Ive recently bought a dog and Im now looking at pet insurance but its years since I last owned a dog and Im ashamed to say I never had that one insured.

Ive got a leaflet from Pets at Home offering a £25 voucher if I take out pet insurance with them but to be honest ve spent a lot of money (been too hasty!) in there in the last 2 weeks and have realised that everything in there is overpriced and some of the same products are available cheaper elsewhere.

Its made me a bit wary about using them for insurance. Ive been on comparison sites but I would appreciate some advice from owners as I want to be covered for 'what I need to be' rather than covered for all the extras such as cover abroad etc which I dont need.
They all offer different options such as 'Up to X amount per illness' or 'X amount per year' but as Im not conversant at all with vet fees I need a bit of advice on how much cover I really need.

I would appreciate other dog owners views and also opinions on any insurers I should avoid.
Thank you for reading.

GwylimT

Make sure it is a lifetime policy, otherwise if pooch is ill/illness it will only be covered in that year, upon renewal it would befome a pre-existing condition.

Ask your vet who they take direct payments from if you don't want to use a credit card and wait for a refund.

We have petplan covered for life £7k per year. We have used over £5k on year when our dog needed fairly extensive surgery. Our vet takes direct payment, all they needed from us was our policy number.

krlyr

There's an MSE article on pet insurance that may be worth a read - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cut-pet-insurance-costs

Also, this site 'scores' policies - though the score it based on features rather than opinion/experience (so it could 'rate' high yet be pants in terms of actual service provided!) - http://www.pet-insurance-surveys.co.uk/


You're wise to think about it carefully. Some careful points to consider:

12-month vs lifetime. Some of the cheaper policies will cover for 12 month periods. I.e. you take out the policy today, you're covered for any incidents (minus exclusions) for the next 12 months. However, anything that occurs within those 12 months is then potentially considered pre-existing.

So, under your 12-month policy for example, dog breaks his legs 6 months through the policy. Insurance pay out for his surgery, aftercare, physio, etc. and he's all healed. After the 12 month period is up, you pay for another 12-month policy with the same company. 4 months down the line, his leg starts giving him trouble, and the vet wants to investigate why. However, even though you're with the same company, they only covered him for that leg within the first 12 months, you're now in a new policy and the leg is considered pre-existing, you now have to fund all related treatment. They may also link similar conditions to this first one, even if it's not directly related...e.g arthritis in the back leg, 7 years down the line, could be deemed as caused by the original injury, and thus excluded as pre-existing.

However, with a lifetime policy, the original surgery would be covered, and as long as you renew that same policy with the same company each year, you're covered for that leg - within your policy limitations.

Some lifetime policies will cover 'per condition' and some 'per annum'. To continue our example, say Fido is covered 'per condition' - lets say £2000.

So Fido broke his leg and we paid out £300 for x-rays and £700 for his surgery. All covered (less our excess - this is the fixed amount you need to pay out, usually per condition and per policy period, i.e. annual). We get to the next policy year and need to do these investigations - so that's another £300 for x-rays, total £1300 - all covered (less another excess as we're in a different policy period). Vet doesn't like the look of the x-rays and wants to refer to a specialist, £200 consult fee - again, covered (and no excess this time as it's the same condition and same policy year), total £1500. Specialist says he needs another op, it's going to be £1000 since he's a specialist...uh oh. We've only got £2000 per condition, and we've spent £1500 already over the two years...we're going to claim £500 but we'll need to cover the other £500 ourselves.

Now, say that was the £2000 per annum policy. Year one, we claim the x-rays and op at £1000, less excess. Year two, we start back at £2000 in the pot again. £300 for x-rays, £200 for consult, £1000 for the fixative surgery..total £1500, and we're able to claim it all (less one excess) as it's below our £2000 limit.

Great, you say, but the thing to consider is that our dog might develop more than one condition per year. In the 'per condition' policies, we can claim for as many conditions as we can (though some insurers put a cap on the total amount of claims, e.g. £2000 per condition up to £10,000 per year, which would be up to 5 conditions). So should unlucky Fido also develop some gut issues after his leg surgery, and need further investigations and maybe some costly skin scrapes and blood tests, we have a whole pot of £2000 just for that condition (less another excess, because it's a new condition).

With the 'per annum' policy, everything we claim in that year needs to come out of the same £2000 pot - so the leg stuff, the gut stuff, the ripped toenail, the ate-something-I-shouldn't-and-vet-had-to-make-me-puke stuff. It's refreshed back up to £2000 at the start of each policy year, but it needs to cover everything that occurs within that year.


Also bear in mind that even with 'lifetime' policies, the conditions only carry over if you renew your policy with the same company. Should you move poor Fido to a new company in year 3 to save some pennies, his leg and gut issues become pre-existing conditions and are usually excluded (a couple of companies may exclude for a set time - e.g. 12 or 24 months - and then include if dog has been unsymptomatic in that period) from any claims. Again, you may have the issue of insurance companies finding vague links to pre-existing conditions to get out of paying new claims.

Now, I've used £2000 as a nice round figure - but I would say go higher if you can. Costs will depend on your area and on the dog, i.e. a Dane is going to cost a lot more in vet bills than a Chihuahua, and breeds like mine (GSD and Rottweiler) are much more likely to need an expensive op like a hip replacement than many others, so take that into consideration. I have £7000 and £5000 cover for mine - I'd have liked more than £5000 to be honest but I had to suddenly switch companies when AXA withdrew their pet insurance and I was limited because of his age (Petplan, for example, won't take 'select breeds' over 6 except on 12-month policies). I live in a more expensive part of the country though, so have to bear that in mind.


You might also want a word with your vet - or to find a vet first and then speak to them. Establishing whether they do 'direct claims' or not, and if so, which companies they deal with, may help make up your mind. My vets, as a rule, generally only do direct claims with one or two companies (Petplan is one I believe) - a direct claim is where the insurance pay the vet direct, so all you have to do is pay your vet the excess. Alternatively, you have to pay your vet the full bill, and claim your money back from the insurance - and bearing in mind they can take several weeks to pay out, you need to consider how you will fund it, e.g. savings pot, emergency credit card, payment plan with the vet, etc.


Word of mouth and searching around on the internet is worth a go too - some companies have gotten bad reputations, and that spreads fast. For example, I wouldn't touch E&L with a bargepole - also watch out for alternative names, I think they underwrite another policy with a different name, I imagine the service is just as poor though going by the ridiculously cheap pricing. You'll get to learn those with a name for not paying out (like E&L) and those that are good (like Petplan). Also, some will offer great introductory deals but you then read that premiums skyrocket each year - so while they may seem a good ideal, within a year or two they've outpriced the 'more expensive' companies like Petplan (who generally have a reputation for not being too bad with rises)

GrotBags_2

One of the best Pet Insurance companies is without a doubt PetPlan, it can be expensive depending on what plan you have but also work out to be great value if you need the services. My friend's Jack Russell had PetPlan from 8 weeks old. At 18 months he was diagnosed with a liver disorder which caused seizures and the vet did not think he would see another 12 months. They put him on a special liver diet food, paid for my the insurance, and he was treated with medication to control the seizures. All the meds, food, and follow up appointments were covered for his whole life with PetPlan and not once did they ever say they wouldn't pay. Vet bills on average were approx. £350 a month.


Archie died aged 12 - almost 10 years PetPlan paid out on his policy.

owlet

I was in the same position as you last year & I hadn't found this pet board either.
I went with tesco & was happy with them & thought I had a good policy. I had £7000 lifetime cover but I didn't realise that it was only £7000 - not per condion & it didn't refresh each year.

Last July my pup had to go to the emergency vet because she choked on something in the garden. They charged £140 just to walk in the door & with an ovednight stay that bill was almost £800. Like you, I had no idea & realised that over a lifetime, my £7000 wasn't going to last very long.

I've just had her renewal through & switched to pet plan after reading up on here over the last year. She is now covered for £7000 BUT that is per condition AND it renews each year. It was also £45 cheaper than my tesco renewal.

Last year my pup saw the vet for an eye infection in March & it recurred a few weeks later in early April. She had the choking incident & also saw the vet in January this year for gastroenteritis.
Pet plan have excluded eye problems for 12 months since last treatment - so she will be covered from early April this year. No exclusion for the choking incident because it was an accident & 12 months exclusion for gastrointestinal problems since last treatment - so she will be covered from January next year & no increase to my quote. Very fair I thought.

Just my findings over the last year but get a policy that covers well, if you can afford it. Personally, I breathed a sigh of relief after switching to Petplan & because my dog is so young I had no permanent exclusions. It could have worked out very costly otherwise over the dog's lifetime. Good luck x

Spirit_2

We have used NFU for over 20 years, the costs are reasonable and the service superb. Our dog died last week so I have had recent contact with them. The empathy and efficient helpful administration has been everything we could hope for, sometimes you just are not up to arguing the toss with a big business. It makes bad times worse.

We paid £34 a month for cover for our 11 year old dog.

We would use them again in the future although they told me they no longer do stand alone pet insurance but do it for clients who have home/lifestyle insurance. We will consider switching when our house renewal is due as they are excellent. In the past they have covered our horses and previous dogs, some having had expensive injuries, ongoing conditions or £000's for death of a pony.

sheramber

owlet wrote: »

I was in the same position as you last year & I hadn't found this pet board either.
I went with tesco & was happy with them & thought I had a good policy. I had £7000 lifetime cover but I didn't realise that it was only £7000 - not per condion & it didn't refresh each year.

Last July my pup had to go to the emergency vet because she choked on something in the garden. They charged £140 just to walk in the door & with an ovednight stay that bill was almost £800. Like you, I had no idea & realised that over a lifetime, my £7000 wasn't going to last very long.

I've just had her renewal through & switched to pet plan after reading up on here over the last year. She is now covered for £7000 BUT that is per condition AND it renews each year. It was also £45 cheaper than my tesco renewal.

Last year my pup saw the vet for an eye infection in March & it recurred a few weeks later in early April. She had the choking incident & also saw the vet in January this year for gastroenteritis.
Pet plan have excluded eye problems for 12 months since last treatment - so she will be covered from early April this year. No exclusion for the choking incident because it was an accident & 12 months exclusion for gastrointestinal problems since last treatment - so she will be covered from January next year & no increase to my quote. Very fair I thought.

Just my findings over the last year but get a policy that covers well, if you can afford it. Personally, I breathed a sigh of relief after switching to Petplan & because my dog is so young I had no permanent exclusions. It could have worked out very costly otherwise over the dog's lifetime. Good luck x

You area bit confused.

Tesco insurance is a fixed amount per condition until that amount is used up.

So for each event you had up to £7000 cover .

You claim £500 for the choking incident , you have £6500 left to cover any subsequent claims for this.

But you also have another £7000 for each other condition you claim for .

So for the eye condition you had another £7000 cover until you had claimed that amount for the eye condition only.. So if you claimed £500 one year and you need to claim again for the same condition the next year you had £6500 cover. If you claimed £200 then you had £6300 left to claim and so on. reducing each year until you had claimed the full £7000.

In the meantime you had further £7000 amounts for any other condition you needed to claim for.


With Petplan you have £7000 cover for vet fees each year.

So if you claim £500 for the choking incident you then have £6500 left until the end on the policy year.

If you then claim £500 for the eye condition you have £6000 left until the end of the policy year.

When you new policy year starts your £7000 is reinstated but again any claims made are deducted from the one £7000.

With Tesco If you claim for several different conditions in one year you have £7000 for each , unless you have previously claimed an amount for that condition.

With Petplan if you have several claims for different conditions in the same year all the claims are deducted from the one £7000.

owlet

sheramber wrote: »

You area bit confused.

Tesco insurance is a fixed amount per condition until that amount is used up.

So for each event you had up to £7000 cover .

You claim £500 for the choking incident , you have £6500 left to cover any subsequent claims for this.

But you also have another £7000 for each other condition you claim for .

So for the eye condition you had another £7000 cover until you had claimed that amount for the eye condition only.. So if you claimed £500 one year and you need to claim again for the same condition the next year you had £6500 cover. If you claimed £200 then you had £6300 left to claim and so on. reducing each year until you had claimed the full £7000.

In the meantime you had further £7000 amounts for any other condition you needed to claim for.


With Petplan you have £7000 cover for vet fees each year.

So if you claim £500 for the choking incident you then have £6500 left until the end on the policy year.

If you then claim £500 for the eye condition you have £6000 left until the end of the policy year.

When you new policy year starts your £7000 is reinstated but again any claims made are deducted from the one £7000.

With Tesco If you claim for several different conditions in one year you have £7000 for each , unless you have previously claimed an amount for that condition.

With Petplan if you have several claims for different conditions in the same year all the claims are deducted from the one £7000.

Urgh thank you - yes you are correct & I did get muddled. I thought I'd got it sussed this year lol.

I didn't realise that Tesco was per condition but I DID want a policy that renewed the 7000 each year. I've done it now, so hopefully it will be enough!