Insurance questions and recommendations.

[GoldenWillow]

MIL has asked us to sort out insurance for her dog, she's currently insured with the Kennel Club but the premiums are going up to £120 per month. I know absolutely nothing about dog insurance but this seems very expensive to me, dog is 12 yrs old and there have never been any claims. Can anyone recommend any good companies to get quotes from or anything else I need to know specific to dog insurance.

 

[AmyMay]

We had Jack insured with British Pet Insurance. I can’t recommend them highly enough.

However, at 12 the premiums are going to be pretty high with any insurance company, and it’s possible some will refuse a new policy request for a dog of that age. Unless your parents are particularly concerned about the dogs health, they may be better just stashing money away each month.

 

[GoldenWillow]

Thank you, I did wonder about other companies taking her on because of her age, like veteran horse insurance.

 

[misst]

I have had brilliant service from Animal Friends but both my dogs have been insured since puppyhood. I think the age of the dog will mean either no policy to cover it or high premiums. As Amymay says it is probably more cost effective to have a savings plan.

 

[GoldenWillow]

Thank you. I've had quotes today from British Pet Insurance (thank you Amymay) and Petplan who a friend recommended and was surprised how reasonable they were at around £30 pm. None will give life cover for illness but will cover for 12 months then exclude which seems normal to me because of horse insurance. I'm leaving it up to MIL now to decide what she wants to do.

 

[splashgirl45]

£30 seems very cheap for a 12 year old dog, have you checked all of the small print. My terrier started off at £25 and I had just continued with pet plan as that’s who the breeder had the puppies insured with. His is the Lifetime cover though.

 

[GoldenWillow]

I was surprised at the price tbh but I've had a good look at both quotes and the terms and conditions and nothing stands out. Anything pre existing is excluded and it isn't lifetime cover which seems to be the big thing. I was surprised at the max vets fees at 4k with BPI and 3k with Petplan as that does seem low as it is per year rather than per incident as it is with horse insurance. Is there anything else you can think of?

eta the excesses seem pretty standard.

 

[AmyMay]

That’s brilliant. I stopped insuring Daisy last year as her premiums doubled (despite no claims. Not BPI).

 

[SusieT]

If she's currently insured for life I would keep that tbh- at 12 the dog is likely to start developing issues . If only covered yearly though then that's different. Check the small print too and level of cover you have per year/per condition.

 

[GoldenWillow]

If she's currently insured for life I would keep that tbh- at 12 the dog is likely to start developing issues . If only covered yearly though then that's different. Check the small print too and level of cover you have per year/per condition.

She can keep the life cover if she stays with her current provider but the premiums are £120 per month, changing company she only get cover for issues for a year but the premium is £30 per month. With the higher premium MIL was going going to cancel insurance and self insure. Cheaper quotes have level of cover at 3-4k per year which does seem low to me, I'm much more used to horse insurance. It's MIL's decision as to what she wants to do.

 

[AmyMay]

Cheaper quotes have level of cover at 3-4k per year which does seem low to me, I'm much more used to horse insurance. It's MIL's decision as to what she wants to do.

I suppose they need to factor in what sort of treatment they would be prepared to allow to be undertaken in a dog of that age. £3-4K isn’t that much in the scheme of things. But unless there’s some sort of catastrophic event is probably enough cover.

 

[SOS]

Make sure you submit her clinical history (ask the vet to email it to you and send onto insurers) to the insurers and they confirm any exclusions before you switch. Even if she has not claimed it’s likely they will exclude any previous problems I.e she had a bad stomach once and went to the vets, they may exclude the whole GI tract! Which may render most of the insurance useless.

Secondly I would always strongly recommend cover for life, especially at that age. Many dogs 12 years+ are on medication, particularly pain relief. Even though this initially may appear fairly cheap dependent on the medication the reviews and blood tests associated with long term meds soon add up.

As you said it’s up to your MIL just thought I’d add some points.

 

[MurphysMinder]

Make sure you submit her clinical history (ask the vet to email it to you and send onto insurers) to the insurers and they confirm any exclusions before you switch. Even if she has not claimed it’s likely they will exclude any previous problems I.e she had a bad stomach once and went to the vets, they may exclude the whole GI tract! Which may render most of the insurance useless.

Secondly I would always strongly recommend cover for life, especially at that age. Many dogs 12 years+ are on medication, particularly pain relief. Even though this initially may appear fairly cheap dependent on the medication the reviews and blood tests associated with long term meds soon add up.

As you said it’s up to your MIL just thought I’d add some points.

Good points. You do not have to have made a claim for a condition to be excluded, insurance companies are very good at finding ways to get out of paying.
I suspect they won't offer lifetime cover on a 12 year old, and £3000 is probably their lowest level of cover, so it is worth considering what treatment your in laws would be prepared to consider with any older dog.

 

[GoldenWillow]

Make sure you submit her clinical history (ask the vet to email it to you and send onto insurers) to the insurers and they confirm any exclusions before you switch. Even if she has not claimed it’s likely they will exclude any previous problems I.e she had a bad stomach once and went to the vets, they may exclude the whole GI tract! Which may render most of the insurance useless.

Secondly I would always strongly recommend cover for life, especially at that age. Many dogs 12 years+ are on medication, particularly pain relief. Even though this initially may appear fairly cheap dependent on the medication the reviews and blood tests associated with long term meds soon add up.

As you said it’s up to your MIL just thought I’d add some points.

Thank you, I've already checked and all pre existing conditions are excluded which I expected as I'm used to that with horse insurance. Her current insurers who will give the lifetime cover are £120 pm/£1440 pa and it's becoming unaffordable, understandably new policies won't give lifetime cover because of her age. It's the usual insurance/self insurance gamble but it's up to MIL to decide what she wants to do.

 

[GoldenWillow]

I suppose they need to factor in what sort of treatment they would be prepared to allow to be undertaken in a dog of that age. £3-4K isn’t that much in the scheme of things. But unless there’s some sort of catastrophic event is probably enough cover.

Thank you that's really helpful. Coming from a horse insurance point of view I also would like her to keep her insured so that she has PL cover, I would think that is important but is that not so much the case for dogs? I'm thinking causing a traffic accident etc?

I know with older horses I've only had accident cover as I know what I would and wouldn't undertake treatment wise but I don't know my MIL's views on that, OH can have that conversation with her!

 

[AmyMay]

I think it’s always good to have PL insurance.

 

[GoldenWillow]

I think it’s always good to have PL insurance.

That is what I think as well and I've mentioned it to MIL.

 

[Clodagh]

Your house contents probably covers PL. worth checking.