I haven't used dog insurance before, and its a bit of a minefield. I would appreciate any tips of who to go to.  I understand you probably can't name insurers on the forum, so please pm me of you could recommend or steer me away from.

Many thanks

If you do a search for insurance you'll see that people all have their favourites, from Petplan near the top of the price range to Healthy Pets near the bottom. The only insurer that we constantly hear negative comments about is E&L so as long as you steer clear of them then you should be fine. You need to consider how much you want covered in vet bills and if you think lifelong cover is necessary.

Personally I have my collies insured with healthy pets, bronze cover, about £5 a month each and they have paid up very quickly every time I've claimed. Border collies tend to be pretty tough, healthy dogs though and in a life time of owning them I've never had one serious illness with them. My silken is another healthy, long lived breed so she is likewise with HP.

My borzoi was insured with petplan and then direct line for their higher vets fees etc, but as he is now a very old boy the insurance fees now outweigh the benefits at £80-120 a month!

I think breed does play a part in deciding which insurer. I've owned 15 borzois over the years and they were all in the vets regularly when young, usually for leg injuries then in later years every one of them died of cancer. If I was recommending an insurer for a borzoi then I would say Petplan.

Yep it is a bit of a mine field. I assume your pup didnt have kennel club insurance from the breeder for the first 6 weeks if so that is worth considering continuing . Otherwise look for someone who will cover the dog all its life if it has an illness some only cover anillness for a year. I also look for fairly large sums assured ie atm £7000 per illness for life. It sounds a lot but having had a dog which needed £6000 worth of treatment lesser amounts if you are unfortunate  so go. I use more than atm have heard animal friends is good.
Pet plan good cover but I have always found too expensive. Serch here for other threads on insurance it often comes up usually complaining about the cost lol  

Ok thanks, he's a labrador and he did come with all the 5 generation etc, he's 15 weeks now, and I keep saying I must get him insured, its just who to go with.  Funnily enough I was always told to steer clear of E&L when I had horses.  I was with the NFU then and they were absolutely fabulous.

Do nfu cover dogs ? are animal friends part of E and L ?  I have had no dealings with them but a couple of people told me how pleased they have been. I would use eon of the comparison sites then look carefully at the small print. Imo insurance is a necessary evil with having animals unless you are lucky enough to have deep pockets

I think u will find that once he reaches 16 weeks if u chose to go with the kennel club insurance he is not covered for hips problems etc. Sure thats what I got told when I insured my lab.

I have used petplan for years and never had a problem. Even started a policy for an older dog and 5 days later she had an accident and they paid out without question.
I have a friend who swears by Sainsbury pet insurance.

Did your breeder make a recommendation?  Most of them form opinions based on their owners experiences so they might have some advice.

I found this advice online which is useful when sorting types of cover:

Like most types of insurance, the different levels of pet cover can be complicated, but the most important thing is to check the level of vet fees. Rather confusingly, there are three main types of cover for vet fees - time and benefit limited; benefit limited; and cover for life.

The first is cheapest because it covers only specific medical conditions up to a maximum limit and for a maximum time, say £7,000 for 12 months. After that it becomes a pre-existing condition and the pet will not be covered.

Benefit limited means there is still a financial limit but no time limit on a particular condition.

Life cover is most expensive because there is no time limit and the financial limit is usually reinstated every year.

My older dogs are on Marks and Spencers but it's very expensive.  One of my dogs has ongoing conditions and the other had a major operation earlier in the year so when I was looking to insure my new puppy I used these situations to compare cover.  It's very easy to imagine that you'll never reach the insured limits but it really does happen!  In the end I chose Homebase which actually offered a higher cover than M&S for much less money.  It's also life cover.  You can view all policy docs online and get quotes from most of the major insurers.

I go to http://www.vip4u.co.uk who are an insurance broker dealing with dog insurance. I've been with them 5 years, only had 1 claim, but have always found them extremely helpful. Worth getting a quote.

Just make sure it is a 'for life' policy. I recently changed from Petplan to Axa as they were far cheaper ( saved £14 per month) and yet had excellent cover. However as long as it is lifetime cover it is better to shop around. I insured my pup at 7 weeks but she became ill within days and as the insurance doesn't cover illness for the first 2 weeks I had a bill of £1500 to pay, so it would be wise to insure asap.

>as the insurance doesn't cover illness for the first 2 weeks

If the covernote is issued by the vet who's just examined your puppy the insurance is valid as soon as you leave the vet's surgery.