Which Insurance

Spiritedly

Spiritedly

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Tux the terror hounds free insurance with Agria stops in a couple of weeks so it's time to start looking for cover for him and I'm after suggestions for who people have found affordable and will pay out in event of claims and who do lifetime cover.

I had Animal Friends lifetime cover for my GSD and previous spaniel and they always paid without hassle but getting a quote from them you now have to pay 20% on top of the excess once the dog reaches 8 whereas Agria are a couple of pound dearer but it's 10% on top right from the start.

So I'm after ideas before my inbox becomes filled with quotes!

Current oldie isn't insured as he was 15 when we inherited him so not much would be covered for him anyway.
 
I can recommend Napo
I have had to claim twice this year for my GSD
The process has been so simple- entirely online and effortless .one press to confirm your vets name and they take it from there. In both cases I had the payment in my bank within 14 days from the start
 
I always say, ask you vet who they are happy to do a direct claim with, and get quotes from those. There is no point in paying for insurance if you still have to find £££'s to pay a vet bill because the vet doesn't trust the insurers to pay out. I use Pet Plan, they are definitely not the cheapest, but they pay out and vets will happily deal with them.
 
If you decide to go with petplan I can give you my details to use to get two months free. message me if you want it. Petplan are very good in my experience not the cheapest but vets are happy to deal with them and I have not had any problems.
 
I have 2 with Many Pets and 1 with Petplan. Many Pets are usually very good (put a continuing claim in last week at 4 pm, money in my account by 7pm) but randomly will take for ever to pay out on same continuing claim asking ridiculous questions which they already have the answers to. But premium is reasonable, I pay £89 per month for 2 dogs.
14 year old is with Pet Plan, premium is £120 per month, with higher xs and 20% co payment, but have claimed a lot over past 2 years and they always settle quickly.
 
It will be worth contacting agria (kennel club) and discuss with them as they can usually offer you various options. Also ask you vet which companies they will deal with directly as they won’t do direct payments with all insurance companies
 
Both mine are with Napo, the claims are really quick a couple of days is average (I have to claim everyone month for old dog’s ongoing treatment) but you do pay 20% for older dogs.
 
Spiritedly said:
Thank you everyone, I have decided to stay with Agria as that's who his free 6 weeks was with via the vets pet club.
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Just to add, Agria have been great for my Working Cocker Spaniel, I stayed with them after the free puppy cover which I sadly had to claim on and they were great. He is now 8 and has had so many claims, I worked it out to be just over £13k I've claimed in those 8 years. H has had emergency surgeries, bad infections, MRI scans, x-rays. You name it. They've never quibbled a bill, paid out for all of his hydro and physio when he pulled his shoulder ligament a few years ago too.

He still has £15,000 annually with a 10% co-payment and £170 excess, it only increased a few pound a month until he was 7.. the last 2 years its gone up £200 a year. Its now £121 a month, I continue to pay it because I couldn't insure him with anyone else (his entire body would pretty much be excluded)

My partner has his dog insured with Co-op, he had one claim for a couple of thousand and the renewal went up almost double!

Might not be very helpful, but always hear bad things about pet insurance but have been so so glad I continued to insure him. He'll always be my special accident prone spaniel!
 
There are several really good policies out there and also a lot of not so great ones (sometimes by the same company) so would always advise to read the wording really carefully and to check the small print so that you’re fully aware of what is and isn’t covered and when any co payments (most insurers have them at some point) kick in.

Insurance that only covers for a few hundred pounds is generally really not worth it by time excess is paid and putting money away plus a credit card is probably a better investment.

Lifetime policies are great as if you take them out when animal young & healthy you don’t need to worry about exclusions but this does make the premiums more expensive so going with a cheaper non lifetime policy is a calculated risk (& requires a plan for if excluded conditions reoccur)

A pretty hefty percentage of pets end up needing some kind of dental treatment at some point in their life but not all insurance companies will cover it so again backup plan needed if you choose one that doesn’t.

Some policies have some rather odd stuff written into them. Some set limits on how much they’ll pay out on named procedures, some will dictate which vet practices you’re allowed to use (especially for referrals), some exclude advanced imaging.

A lot of referral centres won’t accept a direct claim without a pre auth. Not all companies will do them. If you go with someone who won’t then you’ll need the means to pay up front (tbf due to a tendency of dishonest people to abuse the system not all vets will accept direct claims anymore / may only accept them from known clients so again a means to bridge the gap is a wise idea if possible)
 
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