Which pet insurance company do you use? (1 Viewer)

Southdowners

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I’ve just got a renewal letter from John Lewis pet insurance and see that it’s more than doubled from 2 years ago. The new monthly premium is £88. We’ve never made a claim and our dog is only 7 years old. He’s a Border Collie.

We’re thinking of cancelling and just putting money aside in case our dog needs it. Before we decide one way or the other I thought I’d ask for advice/recommendations here.

Can anyone recommend a good insurer?
 
Nov 10, 2012
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I switch every year , tesco, Saintsbury's and currently with another company. £18 a month . My beautiful one is 5 years old. For £88 a month it would be in a jar for me.
Go on line and search your get it much cheaper than that.
Good luck
 

TheBig1

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We use Petplan and whilst they are expensive, the dogs are covered for life and with just Ceran's treatment each year we get all of it back. Around £1400 this year for the three dogs
We prefer to know that whatever happens our dogs will receive the best possible medical care
The £2million public liability and other care benefits are a great bonus too

Was it last year or the year before a broken down motorhome carrying show dogs was destroyed by a lorry on the motorway? Anyway, imagine that happened to you, and your injured dog ran off on the motorway causing further collisions. Could you pay out for your liabilities?

This reminds me, I have lost a card from my wallet that has the dogs insurance details on and a request that if I am incapacitated, please ensure my dogs get to the vets etc. must make another one up and laminate it

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Feb 22, 2008
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We use www.pet-insurance.co.uk ( Equine & Livestock ) for our two 8yo cocker spaniels , £23 and some pennies each per month.
Our Benji was unfortunately diagnosed in November with incurable anal gland carcinoma which has spread and is getting three weekly chemo injections and a six weekly CT scan at Dick White Referrals near Newmarket , already costing several thousand pounds.
I understood that the cover was for £5k which I thought was per annum or per treatment , so not sure contacted insurers and they said yes £5k but per policy period which is every 28 days , I questioned, do you mean £60k per annum...Yes.
Incredible cover imo .

BTW Benji doesn’t care he is still a barmy Cocker chasing around like a puppy , loves his food etc......... he doesn’t know ?
 

Kim H

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It would probably be worth you switching as you’ve never had a claim, but bear in mind that most companies start loading premiums when your dog reaches 8 years old. We’re with John Lewis and have been since our labrador was 6 months old. At 18 months, he was diagnosed with bi-lateral hip dysplasia, so that pretty much locked us into the policy. He’s now almost 7 years old, he’s had 2 hip replacements and all claims have been settled directly with the veterinary surgeons. It’s not worth us changing insurers now as any hip problems wouldn’t be covered. It’s not unheard of for the cement around the implants to loosen over time. When we get our renewal these days, I look at whether it’s prudent to reduce the cover (currently £7500) or increase the policy excess to reduce the premiums. We’ve definitely had more from our insurance than we’ve paid in, but in different circumstances, I would shop around. I’ve heard good reports of Bought by Many.

Alternatively, as you say, just put a monthly amount away in a savings account.
 
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TheBig1

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we have friends who are vets and they say it's really hard to get payment from the cheaper insurers, some take months to pay and query everything

petplan is the best by a long way
 
Feb 22, 2008
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we have friends who are vets and they say it's really hard to get payment from the cheaper insurers, some take months to pay and query everything

petplan is the best by a long way

Ours are invoiced/ paid direct and promptly, I am notified by email of each claim and payment.

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TheBig1

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Ours are invoiced/ paid direct and promptly, I am notified by email of each claim and payment.
that is great, but some folk buy the cheapest possible cover without realising the possible consequences
 
Feb 22, 2008
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that is great, but some folk buy the cheapest possible cover without realising the possible consequences

It’s then too late when making a claim with either insufficient cover or poor settlement.
 
Jun 29, 2015
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We have our dogs with John Lewis. After a bill of £5,500 for Tui's cruciate ligaments we insured them. I looked very carefully at cover and went for John Lewis. So glad we did, Tui's cancer treatment has cost about £10,000 so far, because it went over the year end, the lifetime policy has paid all the bills direct to the animal hospital. We had a policy for £7,500 and it has run out now
We will have to cover the bill until we renew the policy in November when we get another £7,500. Do not underestimate how big the bills can be. When we renew we will put the cover for Dolly up to £12,000.

John

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Jane And Rog

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Animal Friends just doubled Flynn’s to 80 odd quid because he ate a rubber ring last year which had to be surgically removed. Last I knew this isn’t a chronic condition, and all plastic toys have been removed from the house, so unlikely to happen again.

I tried argunimg with them but they just kept repeating a formulaic email and not addressing my points. In particular I asked them in what way was it insurance, rather than just paying for Flynn’s op in arrears. Seems to me totally wrong that a premium goes up the minute you claim.

I’m going to look around but worrry that any new insurer wouldn’t cover that famous condition Eatingrubberringitis.

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Shrimp

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As ours is a rehomed dog she was covered by Petplan for a month, couldn’t afford to keep it up so changed to Tesco.
Realised I was paying over £500. per year for her (money is tight on a reduced pension) I changed to PDSA and pay a lot less for very similar ins.
I did think about putting money aside for any medical problems but realistically would that really happen also it would never cover a big claim!
 
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We are with Churchill insurance, we have made 2 claims over 7 seven years and both times paid out very quickly .
 

Ivory55

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I am sure vets have a special button that they press on the till. They always ask if it’s insured and if yes am sure it goes up a price tier. They never seem to want to run as many tests etc If uninsured. The cost of insurance and vets is what would stop us getting another pet.
 

DBK

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I am sure vets have a special button that they press on the till. They always ask if it’s insured and if yes am sure it goes up a price tier. They never seem to want to run as many tests etc If uninsured. The cost of insurance and vets is what would stop us getting another pet.
There is good evidence that the treatments now available are driven by insurance. In the days before widespread pet insurance dogs and cats would be put to sleep if there was anything seriously wrong with them. Now there are MRI scans and complex surgery procedures available. Which from the pets' point of view must be a good thing. :)
 
Jun 29, 2015
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We are very regular visitors to the animal hospital (Anderson Moores at Hursley) it is amazing what they can do, but it all cost money. In the waiting room we were talking to one of their employees, who was there with his own dog, he works in the stores, he told us the stores are in another building nearby, because it takes up too much room to be onsite. If you think about all the things they need to keep the place running, and the cost of it all, the charges seem much more reasonable. The have on site MRI scan, CT scan, X-ray, ultrasound etc. they have a lab and do their own blood and urine tests. We were there on Monday for Tui's blood test, we had the results within 30 minuets (luckily both tests came back good) how long do you wait for a blood test result on the NHS?

Yes it is expensive but if not for the treatment we would have lost Tui months ago. Just wish we had taken out more insurance before this all started.

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Langtoftlad

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Now there are MRI scans and complex surgery procedures available. Which from the pets' point of view must be a good thing. :)
...is it though?
Prolonging life for the sake of prolonging life without the due & true consideration for the animal concerned.
Distress, pain, anxiety through prolonged treatment.
Just because we can, doesn't always mean we should.

I guess that's a morality debate - as with humans [we wouldn't let animals suffer, like we allow our fellow man]
 

Langtoftlad

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...but it all cost money.
I really do think that's one of the problems, in a more general sense, that because of the way our economy is structured - the majority have no real conception of how much things cost.
Either because it's free at the point of use eg NHS, Schools, Roads or paid for by month subscription eg Phones, Cars, Gym...

I'm pretty sure the crowded waiting room at A&E would thin out remarkably if patients were charged the full cost of treating their minor injury...
 

bigtwin

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We use Petplan and whilst they are expensive, the dogs are covered for life and with just Ceran's treatment each year we get all of it back. Around £1400 this year for the three dogs
We prefer to know that whatever happens our dogs will receive the best possible medical care
The £2million public liability and other care benefits are a great bonus too

As above - we are covered for existing conditions. Many policies cover the initial treatment of a condition but in subsequent years that condition is excluded. This is not the case with our Pet Plan policy (they also have a policy that doesn’t cover existing conditions so make sure you get the cover you require).

Ian

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Jun 29, 2015
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...is it though?
Prolonging life for the sake of prolonging life without the due & true consideration for the animal concerned.
Distress, pain, anxiety through prolonged treatment.
Just because we can, doesn't always mean we should.

I guess that's a morality debate - as with humans [we wouldn't let animals suffer, like we allow our fellow man]
Our dog Tui had both cruciate ligaments fail, she was in pain and found walking very hard. She had an operation on both of her back legs, and yes it was a difficult time for her, and us, but after 3 months she was running around like a puppy. Complete cure.

Now she has got cancer, after the diagnosis she had about 6 weeks to live unless treated. Tui has had a course of Chemo which lasted 6 months, this meant a visit to the hospital every 2 weeks, the visit lasted about an hour each time. Apart from a little sickness for a day or 2 after the treatment she is fine. Chemo does not affect dogs as badly as it does people. Unfortunately this has not produced a cure, it was always unlikely with stage 5 lymphoma, and Tui is now on a second course of Chemo. This time it's a visit every 3 weeks. We know we will lose her at some point, but as long as she has a good quality of life, and can be a dog we will keep going. She will be 9 tomorrow and that is too young to lose her. We don't know how long we will have her, and there will come a time when we will have to let go, we're dreading that decision. We had to make it for a cat some years ago and it was tough. We will have to do what is best for Tui, and at the moment that is the Chemo, and we are very grateful to have it as an option.

John
 

Hellski

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We insure our Dalmatian through Bought By Many. Not yet had to make a claim, touching wood as I type, but our second year with them and they reduced our premium which made a refreshing change (y)
 

Langtoftlad

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It's obviously an individual choice one has to make at the time & dependent on circumstances John The Ex-Gasman and I suppose we should appreciate that medical science has moved on so that we have that choice... the pet insurance market has enabled those extortionately costly options for many - which is possibly a good thing... but it also has the downside that overall it is a profit driven exercise.
As is being a Vet...

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Oct 15, 2011
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E & L for him.
4AEC07C2-0285-4A59-B09E-11F38BF0824C.jpeg
 
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