Lifetime dog insurance - your experiences?

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Widgeon

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If all goes to plan (which it almost certainly won't, dogs being what they are) we will be acquiring a Cairn puppy this summer (hooray! photos for everyone!).

Not having had our own dog before I now have the joys of looking into pet insurance, and am thoroughly confused. Annual insurance seems like it's essentially "accident only" cover, so I had thought that lifetime insurance would be a good bet, but having dug about a bit more on the internet, it would seem that many insurers will hike their premiums to ridiculous levels (i.e. GBP 800+ pa) following a claim (even if the initial claim isn't for a long term or ongoing condition) or as soon as the dog turns 6. I had also thought that John Lewis would be a good place to start, but it seems like they might also be guilty of the above. Obviously I wouldn't mind coughing up for expensive insurance if we turned out to have a dog with a manageable but expensive long term condition, but I would hate to pay more for "premium" lifetime insurance if it turns out that it becomes unaffordable as soon as the dog swallows a pair of tights (obviously this will not happen, fingers crossed). I'm not cheap when it comes to furry members of the household, but I do hate to feel I've had a bad deal!

So, thoughts anyone? What experiences have you had, and what insurance tactics would you recommend?

I should probably also say that puppy will be coming from a well regarded and reputable show breeder, and Cairns are pretty tough anyway, and as such are one of the cheaper breeds to insure. I also have two rabbits but they are uninsured on the grounds that anything incurring more than a few hundred pounds of vet bills would be so traumatic for a bunny that PTS would probably be kinder.

Off to the yard now, will check for advice on return! Thanks all!
 
My 10 year old flatcoated retriever is with a company called "lifetime pet cover" the policy is £10000 per annum per condition renewing each year. The premiums are £30per month which is very very reasonable for the level of cover and her age. I have had to claim twice in the past year and both times I have been paid without question within 1 week of submitting the claim. I am seriously considering changing my younger dog to this company as their customer service has been so good.
 
I'm with More Than, and they are very good to deal with..

No experience of big claims for chronic conditions though thankfully.

Fiona
 
I deal with a lot of pet insurance claims through work and I would caution against looking solely at premiums because the sad fact is that they all put them up eventually, whether as a result of claims or the pet's age.

The things I would factor in are added costs - does the insurer you're looking at increase the excess at X age? Do they add in a co-payment? 20% co-payments are common but I've seen up to 45%.

The other thing I'd be looking at are the policy restrictions. A common one now is to specifically limit cruciate claims to a maximum of £500/£750, even if the policy offers four figure vet fee cover for anything else. Dental cover is another one, very few if any policies cover routine dental cleaning but I got stung by Animal Friends who don't cover *any* claim for mouth, teeth or gums, even for accidental injury like a fractured tooth.

One more consideration is whether your veterinary practice will deal with the insurer directly or expect you to pay up front and claim it back yourself. They may have a list of approved insurers for direct claims.

In short - go with Petplan. :D :p
 
blackcob said:
I deal with a lot of pet insurance claims through work and I would caution against looking solely at premiums because the sad fact is that they all put them up eventually, whether as a result of claims or the pet's age.

The things I would factor in are added costs - does the insurer you're looking at increase the excess at X age? Do they add in a co-payment? 20% co-payments are common but I've seen up to 45%.

The other thing I'd be looking at are the policy restrictions. A common one now is to specifically limit cruciate claims to a maximum of £500/£750, even if the policy offers four figure vet fee cover for anything else. Dental cover is another one, very few if any policies cover routine dental cleaning but I got stung by Animal Friends who don't cover *any* claim for mouth, teeth or gums, even for accidental injury like a fractured tooth.

One more consideration is whether your veterinary practice will deal with the insurer directly or expect you to pay up front and claim it back yourself. They may have a list of approved insurers for direct claims.

In short - go with Petplan. :D :p
Click to expand...

I am another person who works in the veterinary industry and I agree, go for petplan lifelong cover.
 
We're with direct line, £8,000 per condition, lasts as long as it lasts no time limit.
Pay with no problem, none of this excess plus first 25% of claim that you get with petplan and lots of others.
However I pay just under £60 a month for 9 next month lab. I think this is a lot but we have claimed thousands!
Petplan were double what we paid with direct line when our dog was a puppy, I wonder how much they would charge now?
 
The Direct Line policy isn't directly comparable with Petplan as it's a flat £8000 maximum benefit per condition - the Petplan policies will pay out the maximum benefit every policy year.

They also went through a really tedious stage where the average processing time for new claims was six weeks. :p That said, one of mine is insured with Direct Line from before I was in the industry and they've been fine to deal with with the exception of the waiting times.
 
I agree petplan is a much more generous policy, but I didn't like the big excess once the dog gets older. And direct line started at £18 but petplan was double! But in the long term they might be cheaper.

I would be interested to know what you pay for older dogs with petplan, might well go with them for our next dog.
 
Thank you everyone! This is all so useful...the one thing that worries me about PetPlan is that it's quoting £28 per month for a three month old puppy with no existing conditions, and from that starting point, I'd rather not think about what they would charge for the same dog, but older! Or perhaps puppies are high risk? (that would seem reasonable). Plus, I have no problem with a high excess, ad in fact would prefer a higher excess and lower premium, but PetPlan doesn't seem to offer that trade off - I'd better give them a call.
 
I disagree that pet plan are the only option.

Tesco lifetime insurance is very good and easy to deal with as is kennel club. I've not had problems with direct line and more than either.
We have 2 clients who have lifetime with the dreaded E & L, and whilst they have to chase each submission they do pay up on chronic conditions (not that i suggest them ay all!)
 
Will have a look at Tesco too - a friend's Italian greyhound is with Tesco specifically because they didn't exclude dental, which seems like a good sign.
 
I've had dogs with Petplan, KC and Tesco. Mine is currently with another who's name escapes me right now.

When my old dog got to 8yo, his premiums with the KC were £1200pa and they changed the terms of their policies during that too. I switched him to Tesco who excluded his skin allergies (but not other skin conditions) and stayed with them another two years after which I decided to not insure.Tesco's customer service has always been extremely good.
 
. I took out life time cover with Pet Plan when my puppies were 8 weeks old .One of my dogs was diagnosed with immune-mediated Polymyositis at 11 months old after a severe reation to a wormer .He was finally diagnosed after a day long visit to the local Veterinary hospital involving MRI scan and joint biopsy and an array of various other tests .The cost of the diagnosis was£2500 He was on treatment of injectons every few weeks for 18 months in total a cost of around £5,000 .All this was paid without question and there are no exclusions on his policy.He has been fit and well and off medication since he was 2 and a half and is now 6years old. There was always a chance there could be a recurrance I would have still been covered.He is a very reactive dog to all sorts of things (bee stings some drugs wormers and flea preparations) He has been covered for ANY visits to the vet for any of these a real weight off my mind .I can't recommend Petplan enough.
 
Big fan of Petplan here, my 3 are with them and costs us about £100 a month. I just like knowing that my vet is happy to deal with them and whatever happens, its covered.
 
Another petplan fan here. My lad is 13 now but I've had him from a year old, my lifetime policy premiums started at around £20 a month. They have increased by a few pounds every year, but not related to any claims. They're now £38.50. Since he turned ten my excess increased to £120 and I pay 20% of any claim, but they pay £92 every month on one condition and £40 a month on another without question, so I still feel I get my money's worth. And my vet deals with them direct, all I ever do is sign the form and pay what's left over at the end of each month.
 
I have petplan and couldn't fault it. Started at about £25 when he was 2.5yrs and risen to about £37ish now at 11yrs but even with the increased excess due to age and 20% of any claim I am still better off over the time. He has been on meds for arthritis/spondylosis since he was 4, not the most expensive of drugs by a long way but still have received more back than I've paid to them. Claims are always paid promptly and straight back into my account, and the helpline has been great at explaining if there has ever been a query on what was claimed.
The question with insurance is whether you know you could top up any fees above the maximum if there is a limit - if you are comfortable then you might be prepared to take that risk, £10000 or so is still a good amount for a smaller accident. But when mine reacted very badly to a catscratch leading to necrotising fasciitis, all we used was an x-ray, round of a/bs, a bit of painkiller, a pile of medihoney and a stack of bandage supplies but it still cost about £2000. It adds up quickly. That was without any surgery.
The other aspect is whether you are someone who would call a halt at the more expensive options because of a welfare aspect, but you wouldn't know that in advance.
 
I went with CoOp for my latest dog, they have the same underwriter (Allianz)as PetPlan but were a quarter of the cost for very similar cover. The reviews are fairly good too but I would be interested to hear any feed back if anyone has claimed with them?

The cat is with PetPlan and they paid out very happily and quickly for my old pony when I had a claim on a newish policy for him so I would have liked to insure with them but £88 a month was just too expensive.
 
My lab was with direct line. Started cheap enough (£15 ish a month) and has risen significantly each year, when he turned 10 they were asking premiums of £80 a month. At this point I had a vet examination and precautionary full blood profile done, all fine so cancelled the policy. I figure at his age now he wouldn't be put through major surgery and I would take a gamble.

I would say though I had a very big claim with direct line for a touch and go spinal injury - they were fantastic to deal with and paid out thousands quickly and with no quibble
 
I had bad experiences with Tesco. I had to chase up for payments after not being paid for 6 weeks they said we are just about to process it. Further 2 weeks and another phone call finally received payment. When Lily turned 8 the payments per month for a £4000 per condition policy went up to £125 per month. I contacted them and they couldn't offer anything cheaper. So lily now has a lifetime policy of £10000 per condition per year for just £30 per month. Customer service has been amazing and very prompt payment. My vet even commented they were faster than pet plan.
Just my experiences
By the way many companies won't start a new policy on and over 8 year old regardless of breed
 
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