Insurance recommendations please?

[Ranger 6]

My wife is looking in to the costs of having a dog - she's asked for recommendations with regard to insurance.

The only suggestion so far is for Life-time cover, not annual.

Any other suggestions either for inclusions or providers would be gratefully received.

[anonymous-user]

Stick cash into a bank account instead.
Even with lifetime cover they'll keep increasing premiums and find as many reasons as possible to stop paying for on going conditions.

And if it turns out you don't need to dip into it you have a nice nest egg.

[Autopilot]

We use Pet Plan. The pro's are that they are very good, deal with vets directly so you don't need to settle the bill and claim back and have had no issues with them at all. The downside is the price of course, each renewal gets worse and worse and think it's about £110 per dog per month but does cover most things etc etc.

I know a few people who've had a dog fund where they just chuck some cash each month. If your dog ever needs any specialist care at all, the jar won't cover it!

[Ranger 6]

Thanks, I'm assuming with life cover they do amend the premiums each year, but then it's not as much as renewing each year?

[PugwasHDJ80]

keirik said:

Stick cash into a bank account instead.
Even with lifetime cover they'll keep increasing premiums and find as many reasons as possible to stop paying for on going conditions.

And if it turns out you don't need to dip into it you have a nice nest egg.

This

our dog is now 11, we've beein paying something like an average of £25/month for that period. if you compound that up it's about £3.5k

In that time he's had a vew health problems- nothing more than £400 in one go, Total cost ot insurance companies was about £900 and we've spent £300ish on paying the excess.

Looking back, its been far far too expensive.

[Autopilot]

PugwasHDJ80 said:

keirik said:

Stick cash into a bank account instead.
Even with lifetime cover they'll keep increasing premiums and find as many reasons as possible to stop paying for on going conditions.

And if it turns out you don't need to dip into it you have a nice nest egg.

This

our dog is now 11, we've beein paying something like an average of £25/month for that period. if you compound that up it's about £3.5k

In that time he's had a vew health problems- nothing more than £400 in one go, Total cost ot insurance companies was about £900 and we've spent £300ish on paying the excess.

Looking back, its been far far too expensive.

I'd love to do this but unfortunately I've sat at the other end of the scale. I had a dog run in to something sharp and opened his leg up really bad, it literally looked like a chicken fillet and could see the bone. That was a weekend out of hours vet appointment and remember it being about £900 including all follow up drugs etc so would take three years to pay for that one.

We also got landed with an initial 6k bill for a liver problem so she would have had to be around for 20 years to pay for that one. VERY pleased she was insured as all her treatment came to 12k.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Autopilot said:

PugwasHDJ80 said:

keirik said:

Stick cash into a bank account instead.
Even with lifetime cover they'll keep increasing premiums and find as many reasons as possible to stop paying for on going conditions.

And if it turns out you don't need to dip into it you have a nice nest egg.

This

our dog is now 11, we've beein paying something like an average of £25/month for that period. if you compound that up it's about £3.5k

In that time he's had a vew health problems- nothing more than £400 in one go, Total cost ot insurance companies was about £900 and we've spent £300ish on paying the excess.

Looking back, its been far far too expensive.

I'd love to do this but unfortunately I've sat at the other end of the scale. I had a dog run in to something sharp and opened his leg up really bad, it literally looked like a chicken fillet and could see the bone. That was a weekend out of hours vet appointment and remember it being about £900 including all follow up drugs etc so would take three years to pay for that one.

We also got landed with an initial 6k bill for a liver problem so she would have had to be around for 20 years to pay for that one. VERY pleased she was insured as all her treatment came to 12k.

Exactly. "Put the money in the bank" is all very well but what if something happens a short time into ownership?

[Nimby]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Exactly. "Put the money in the bank" is all very well but what if something happens a short time into ownership?

Our dog escaped from a supposedly-fenced park and was hit by a car two days after we got her. All but £100 of the £2000 vet bill for a broken leg was covered by Petplan, and they would have paid for any third-party claim by the driver too.

[Jasandjules]

We split the difference - cash in the bank but accident insurance........

Frankly if you don't vaccinate annually and feed raw your dog is likely to be healthy in the main and then it is pretty much only an incident that you will need treatment for all being well.

[Workaholic]

Hi

1st post but feel strongly on this one, if you think of the lifetime cover as being more of health care plan than insurance.... we have an arthritic 12 and a bit year old golden retriever who gets £140 in drugs paid for every month and I pay £95 a month...he’s been on a lot of meds for last 22 months and found direct line great (take their time to pay but they do at least pay) if that helps

[Ranger 6]

Thanks everyone, very useful.

It appears that Allianz underwrites many of the plans and at this point Sainsburys is lowest cost. The next exercise is to compare cover levels and excesses.

[ehasler]

Ranger 6 said:

Thanks everyone, very useful.

It appears that Allianz underwrites many of the plans and at this point Sainsburys is lowest cost. The next exercise is to compare cover levels and excesses.

I've put together a website that does this - hopefully this might of some use to you, although I don't have Sainsbury's listed yet.

pet insurance comparison