which is the best Doggie Insurance company?
Discussion
My second dog thread in as many weeks!
I am in the process of adopting a freinds doggie as she can have a much better life with me than her current arrangements allow for.
She is a 10yr old Labradoodle (i think)
Petplan are quoting £27 a month with various excesses, i just thought i would throw it out there to the more knowledgeable doggie owners before i sign on the dotted line?
Are they are any good or should i be looking elsewhere ?
Ta
I am in the process of adopting a freinds doggie as she can have a much better life with me than her current arrangements allow for.
She is a 10yr old Labradoodle (i think)
Petplan are quoting £27 a month with various excesses, i just thought i would throw it out there to the more knowledgeable doggie owners before i sign on the dotted line?
Are they are any good or should i be looking elsewhere ?
Ta
Nice doggie! We did a lot of research on this last year for our spoodle Boots and John Lewis (was Greenbee back then) came out as the best mix of value and 'good name' reliability. Was not impressed by the hardsell (and not good value) approach of Petplan and a couple of others whose names I can't remember.
condor said:
I'd suggest at 10 years old that you're just giving her/him a comfortable retirement. I wouldn't go for pet insurance at that age, simply because of the age and the exclusions/excesses. Just plan to give her/him the best remaining days that they have left.
That seems a bit pessimistic? I would have thought insurance would play a major part in giving an older dog a good life, otherwise you run the risk of making your own life a bit pants when you have to start shelling out for medical attention. Unless your plan is to put the dog to sleep as soon as they develop an illness or have a problem? Not criticising, just wondering. 
tonym911 said:
condor said:
I'd suggest at 10 years old that you're just giving her/him a comfortable retirement. I wouldn't go for pet insurance at that age, simply because of the age and the exclusions/excesses. Just plan to give her/him the best remaining days that they have left.
That seems a bit pessimistic? I would have thought insurance would play a major part in giving an older dog a good life, otherwise you run the risk of making your own life a bit pants when you have to start shelling out for medical attention. Unless your plan is to put the dog to sleep as soon as they develop an illness or have a problem? Not criticising, just wondering. Never fail to insure any risk you can't afford to carry.
I know not where other peoples capabilities to carry risks lie, so long as they've done the sums themselves, but we're all different and will have differing needs and risk aversions.
tonym911 said:
condor said:
I'd suggest at 10 years old that you're just giving her/him a comfortable retirement. I wouldn't go for pet insurance at that age, simply because of the age and the exclusions/excesses. Just plan to give her/him the best remaining days that they have left.
That seems a bit pessimistic? I would have thought insurance would play a major part in giving an older dog a good life, otherwise you run the risk of making your own life a bit pants when you have to start shelling out for medical attention. Unless your plan is to put the dog to sleep as soon as they develop an illness or have a problem? Not criticising, just wondering. Then you will have large excesses to cover any small thing that hasn't been excluded - in effect, for an old dog paying out insurance premiums is a waste of money as the premiums are very high anyway and little is covered.
What I meant to say, was give the dog the best days left of his lifetime - but at the equivalent of 70 of our years he's not going to go on for ever, so don't subject him/her to treatment that may prolong life and cause pain for a few months but doesn't give quality of life.
tonym911 said:
But in the context of unexpected dog operations which could easily sting you several grand I'm reckoning even fifty notes a year for a decent policy is a decent investment.
Yes, that would be good cover. The OP will be paying £27 a month or roughly £325 a year for an elderly dog.Our vet bills for the last 12 months were in excess of £6k of which only £4k was insured. Vet treatment can be stonkingly expensive if, as in our dogs case they develop something that is tricky to diagnose.
Our Springer Spaniel was just over a year old when she developed an Auto Immune condition which led to joint taps, scans, xrays, and in stays at the Uni vet hospital and other treatment. So in my view age isn't a deciding factor to insurance.
Only you can decide whether to insure or not but some things to understand are....the relevance of "whole of life" cover - this means that if your dog develops a condition - say epilepsy, diabetes or an auto immune condition the insurers will continue to cover that condition year on year. Without whole of life cover they will pay for it once and will then exclude it from the policy.
We had Pet Plan Whole life budget cover, PP have been fantastic and paid up to the limit with no quibble and we have covered the rest. They have renewed the policy this year without a huge increase in premium
I wish we'd taken a higher limit - I thought £4k's worth of treatment was a huge amount and I now know that it's not. We couldn't have signed an open ended cheque for the investigations and her treatment when she was so very ill and would have been left with only one option and given that our now pretty healthy two and a bit year old dog is currently snoring on my lap is a pretty awful thought.
If you know the dog's history you'll need to disclose it and any pre-existing conditions will be excluded - this might make a difference to your decision.
Personally I'd insure.
Our Springer Spaniel was just over a year old when she developed an Auto Immune condition which led to joint taps, scans, xrays, and in stays at the Uni vet hospital and other treatment. So in my view age isn't a deciding factor to insurance.
Only you can decide whether to insure or not but some things to understand are....the relevance of "whole of life" cover - this means that if your dog develops a condition - say epilepsy, diabetes or an auto immune condition the insurers will continue to cover that condition year on year. Without whole of life cover they will pay for it once and will then exclude it from the policy.
We had Pet Plan Whole life budget cover, PP have been fantastic and paid up to the limit with no quibble and we have covered the rest. They have renewed the policy this year without a huge increase in premium
I wish we'd taken a higher limit - I thought £4k's worth of treatment was a huge amount and I now know that it's not. We couldn't have signed an open ended cheque for the investigations and her treatment when she was so very ill and would have been left with only one option and given that our now pretty healthy two and a bit year old dog is currently snoring on my lap is a pretty awful thought.
If you know the dog's history you'll need to disclose it and any pre-existing conditions will be excluded - this might make a difference to your decision.
Personally I'd insure.
condor said:
tonym911 said:
But in the context of unexpected dog operations which could easily sting you several grand I'm reckoning even fifty notes a year for a decent policy is a decent investment.
Yes, that would be good cover. The OP will be paying £27 a month or roughly £325 a year for an elderly dog.
tonym911 said:
condor said:
tonym911 said:
But in the context of unexpected dog operations which could easily sting you several grand I'm reckoning even fifty notes a year for a decent policy is a decent investment.
Yes, that would be good cover. The OP will be paying £27 a month or roughly £325 a year for an elderly dog.I used work in customer services for several pet insurance companies up until 2 years ago. You have a few options when it comes to pet insurance.
I don't know how much you know, so i will cover as much as possible.
As stated pre-existing conditions are not covered. You may also find conditions that are related to pre-existing conitions are also not covered.
Some insurance provider offer different levels of cover, so be sure as to which level of cover they are quoting you for.
There are several different types of policy,:
1 year cover: These polices will cover conditions for a maximum of 12 months, up to a certain limit e.g £2000. So for example if you dog develops a skin condition they will cover the costs of that conditon for the first 12 months or up until the cover limit has been reached, whichever is comes first. After whcih cover for that condition will finish.
Continuous per condition cover: These polices will cover each new condition that arises and will cover each conidtion year after year until the limit for that condition is reached (eg £7500 per condition). The benefit of these policies is that they will conditions year after year providing the limit for that condition has not been reached. They also put no limit on the number of conditions that can be claimed for. Your dog could have 5 different conditons and each would be covered year after year, until the maximum for each condition. The limit doesn't reset each year, so if £1000 is paid out in year 1, there will be £6500 remaining for that condition if your renew. These polices do tend to be slightly more expensive due to the higher level of cover provided.
Continuous cover but with a maximum per year: These policy also provide continuous cover for conidtions, but limit the total that can be claimed in any one year for example £6000. These policies will payout year after year for ongoing conditions, providing they are not pre-existing, but limit the total that will be paid in any one year. The limitation of these policies is that if your dog develops several expensive conditions that it is easy to use up the limit for year. However, you know that you will always have some cover for condition providing you keep renewing.
There are some policies are unlimited in the amount that can be claimed year after year. These tend to be the most expensive.
Nearly all policies include public liability cover should your animal be the cause of a claim against you.
Some polices cover the cost of things like hydrotherapy to assist with injuries such as broken legs.
You may find that because your dog is older it now faces a higher excess. Some polices may ask for as much as 20% of the cost of the treatment. Make sure you are clear of the excesses. 20% of a £10000 vet bill is a lot of money!
The premium is based on your postcode (London vets charge more than vets in Aberdeenshire), the dog's breed (crossbreeds are usually cheapest) the dog's age, and the dog's sex (females are cheaper)
There is loads I've missed off, but as always have a read of the policy booklet, they are usually available online.
Also most if not all offer a discount for buying online online.
If it were me and my dog I'd go with a policy that gives you a set amount per year and covers year on year.
I don't know how much you know, so i will cover as much as possible.
As stated pre-existing conditions are not covered. You may also find conditions that are related to pre-existing conitions are also not covered.
Some insurance provider offer different levels of cover, so be sure as to which level of cover they are quoting you for.
There are several different types of policy,:
1 year cover: These polices will cover conditions for a maximum of 12 months, up to a certain limit e.g £2000. So for example if you dog develops a skin condition they will cover the costs of that conditon for the first 12 months or up until the cover limit has been reached, whichever is comes first. After whcih cover for that condition will finish.
Continuous per condition cover: These polices will cover each new condition that arises and will cover each conidtion year after year until the limit for that condition is reached (eg £7500 per condition). The benefit of these policies is that they will conditions year after year providing the limit for that condition has not been reached. They also put no limit on the number of conditions that can be claimed for. Your dog could have 5 different conditons and each would be covered year after year, until the maximum for each condition. The limit doesn't reset each year, so if £1000 is paid out in year 1, there will be £6500 remaining for that condition if your renew. These polices do tend to be slightly more expensive due to the higher level of cover provided.
Continuous cover but with a maximum per year: These policy also provide continuous cover for conidtions, but limit the total that can be claimed in any one year for example £6000. These policies will payout year after year for ongoing conditions, providing they are not pre-existing, but limit the total that will be paid in any one year. The limitation of these policies is that if your dog develops several expensive conditions that it is easy to use up the limit for year. However, you know that you will always have some cover for condition providing you keep renewing.
There are some policies are unlimited in the amount that can be claimed year after year. These tend to be the most expensive.
Nearly all policies include public liability cover should your animal be the cause of a claim against you.
Some polices cover the cost of things like hydrotherapy to assist with injuries such as broken legs.
You may find that because your dog is older it now faces a higher excess. Some polices may ask for as much as 20% of the cost of the treatment. Make sure you are clear of the excesses. 20% of a £10000 vet bill is a lot of money!
The premium is based on your postcode (London vets charge more than vets in Aberdeenshire), the dog's breed (crossbreeds are usually cheapest) the dog's age, and the dog's sex (females are cheaper)
There is loads I've missed off, but as always have a read of the policy booklet, they are usually available online.
Also most if not all offer a discount for buying online online.
If it were me and my dog I'd go with a policy that gives you a set amount per year and covers year on year.
Edited by Snails on Tuesday 28th December 17:03
Pet Plan, we were with them (well the dog was) for 18yrs and whilst we never claimed for the first 9 we used it constantly for the following 9 years, really was fantastic and never had an issue with a payout.
This time round we went to Argos, read a lot of reviews and they came out well and their top insurance (fully covered for life, not just the year) was £14.99, was more than double that for Pet Plans basic option!
This time round we went to Argos, read a lot of reviews and they came out well and their top insurance (fully covered for life, not just the year) was £14.99, was more than double that for Pet Plans basic option!
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