Insurance

[Triskar]

Does anyone have any experience of insurance through Purely Pets, Paws and Claws, Legal & General and Animal Friends? They've all come up on my Confused quote, and apart from Legal and General I haven't heard of any of them - would appreciate your opinions - are they reputable, do they pay out when you would expect them to, or do I just go with PetPlan!

 

[blackcob]

Go with Petplan!

Their monthly premiums are a couple of £ more than other companies but they pay out reliably, their levels of cover are generous and they don't ramp up the premium after a claim.

Animal Friends have a very poor reputation (the lady who deals with our insurance claims at work has to steel herself before tackling a claim with them). One of mine is insured with them and will have to stay with them now due to multiple claims - although they've paid out for him without quibbling they've doubled the premium as a result. Often they query endlessly and refuse to pay up without a fight.

And please only choose a lifetime policy, I've had people sobbing down the phone to me because they can't afford to continue their dog's treatment after the 12 month limit.

 

[Umbongo]

My vets will not deal directly with any of those companies, but we never have any trouble with Petplan.

Agree get a lifetime policy and not a yearly one!

 

[ladyt25]

Depends what cover you're after. I was with Petplan when I got my dog from the Dogs Trust as you got a certain amount of cover for free. I stayed with them for another year but then decided that paying over £20/mth was rather excessive as I figured I had liability through my house insurance and, in reality, if my dog got a serious medical condition that required a lot of expensive medication for the rest of her life I would have to question her quality of life if it was going to have to be heavily medicated. Therefore, I decided I only really want accident and illness cover but wanted a fairly vets fees limit and a set, flat excess ie not one of the ones that has the co-insurance clause on (you pay £x or % of the claim whichever is the greater). Tesco came up the best for me when I compared prices, covers and excesses. They are underwritten by RSA (that's something you want to be looking at, who the actual insurer is). Most of these supermarket policies are underwritten by large, well known insurers so I am happy the cover is what I want and that they will pay should there be a claim.