Pet Insurance - Your recommendations please

Minxy

Minxy

Minxy

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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5,281
My boyfriend and I are currently looking at insuring our 3 year old Patterdale Terrier X Springer Spaniel and we're finding ourselves a bit confused, finding car insurance now comes naturally but pet insurance is a whole new ballgame for us.

Do you have any recommendations on the kind of cover we should have (we would like more than the basic to ensure we are as covered as possible) but the terminology I find a little confusing with some of the sites and everywhere seems to differ. Also recommendations on reputable companies would be great. We've looked at everything from PetPlan to Tesco and our minds are a little blown. :D She has no health problems that we are aware of at present.

All advice gratefully received. We want to think we have done the best we can for our four legged friend.

Cheers
 
I got pet insurance for our two cats from Argos, they're actually really good, paid out for a claim with no bother whatsoever.

Vets will try and push PetPlan, you'll probably get a month's free insurance with them when you first go along to the vets, I personally don't think they're the best and they've disputed a claim my parents made in the past which was annoying, but they do have the advantage that most vets will deal with PetPlan directly for their payment meaning you don't have to pay upfront and have the money available to start with if anything goes wrong, then claim your money back later.

It's probably worth paying out the extra few quid to get lifetime illness cover, so that if for example, your dog develops, I don't know, diabetes, then it's covered for life. Most insurance companies if you go for the "lower tier" insurance will only cover for the first year or up to a certain amount, say £2k.

Argos had silver, gold and platinum cover and I went for gold, because one of our cats had a pre-existing condition so I couldn't have got lifetime cover for her problem anyway.

Costs me about £7 a month for her, and about £9 for him (apparently male cats are more likely to stray or get injured fighting, which makes sense).
 
I'm with Churchill. Pay about £9 per month for my 4 yr old bitch Staff, and got £35 back through quidco.
 
I have pet insurance with Tesco. It's through RSA and whilst I was a away my cat went missing, found, spent a while at the vets coming to almost a grand and tesco paid out with me filling in one simple form.
 
Whatever you do avoid any of the pet insurance companies based out of Thorpe Underwood Hall either directly or when they run a scheme on behalf of somebody else.

Off the top of my head these include

Equine & Livestock
CONGREGATIONAL & GENERAL INSURANCE (CGI)
Petcare Limted

They have been in the past some of the most difficult to get money out of when pets needed treatment.
 
One thing to be aware of, I think... is that you have to pay upfront for any treatment at a vet, then claim it back from insurance. So make sure you have funds available for that, up to a few thousand worst case, I'd guess... either on Credit Card or easily accessible...
 
Greebo said:
Whatever you do avoid any of the pet insurance companies based out of Thorpe Underwood Hall either directly or when they run a scheme on behalf of somebody else.

Off the top of my head these include

Equine & Livestock
CONGREGATIONAL & GENERAL INSURANCE (CGI)
Petcare Limted

They have been in the past some of the most difficult to get money out of when pets needed treatment.
Click to expand...

I wish someone had told me that BEFORE I'd gotten insurance. Still, I'm moving away from E&L come payday.
 
Jono said:
One thing to be aware of, I think... is that you have to pay upfront for any treatment at a vet, then claim it back from insurance. So make sure you have funds available for that, up to a few thousand worst case, I'd guess... either on Credit Card or easily accessible...
Click to expand...

Interesting point. I didn't realise that. Thanks for all the tips, as I say we're totally new to this so really don't know what we're looking for.
 
I would reccomend petplan, GF's dog has had some serious problems and they have paid up over 10k in fees no questions asked (Probably more than that now, but i didnt ask), even sent the cheque to her rather than the vets :P
 
Tesco has been brilliant for my cats. Several bills over £500, one of which was almost £1k when both our cats contracted a serious, unidentified digestive tract infection. One other time included taking my cat to the emergency vet after him eating a poisoned mouse (that was a bit over £500).

No problems with them at all.
 
We went with Pet Plan for our staffy and so far they have happily paid out over £3000 due to a torn cruciate ligament. It also helps that there is no period at the start where he wasn't insured like a few other companies do. Granted we are paying for the top package.
 
Jono said:
One thing to be aware of, I think... is that you have to pay upfront for any treatment at a vet, then claim it back from insurance. So make sure you have funds available for that, up to a few thousand worst case, I'd guess... either on Credit Card or easily accessible...
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, my veterinary centre will take the costs direct from the insurer if anything happens and also partly deal with the claim as well.

I suppose it depends on the vet though.
 
"slinky" said:
Not necessarily, my veterinary centre will take the costs direct from the insurer if anything happens and also partly deal with the claim as well.

I suppose it depends on the vet though.
Click to expand...

This, we had the insurance company pay the specialist direct otherwise we would have had to pay £2000 up front. Luckily our normal vets and the specialist we went to both deal with Pet Plan a lot so are happy to sort it out with them.
 
Most pet insurance is terrible.

The only ones I would look at are:

PetPlan (expensive though)
Argos (Or homebase) Platinum
Marks and Spencer
John Lewis



A lot badge themselves up as "lifetime", but in fact only pay up to a maximum assured amount, regardless of time frame. REAL lifetime policies, such as the above, pay up to the maximum sum, every year, for the life of the pet, which is obviosuly much better. And definately avoid "per condition per year" covers, which will only ever pay out up to 12 months regardless.

Ive been insured with M&S and they were fab when I had to claim. With Argos presently and the cover is excellent.

Oh and remember, as with all insurance, you get what you pay for and the cheapest is NEVER the best and could end up costing you more in the long run if your animal ends up not being covered (which happens often with these "cheap" policies)
 
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Used to be with Sainsburys, now with Direct line (Much better price and cover is better) on a 3/4 year old Ginger Tom. Luckily I have never had to make a claim so can't comment there but DL is cheaper/better so far

- GP
 
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