Although I have never had this, I am now considering it for Lennon (7mth old JSI).

Can anyone recommend a particular company and for what reasons please?  Have read the leaflets in the vet's but personal experience is always best :)

Thanks

Hi Vicki,

I've got mine through M&S - so far so good but this is my first time of buying insurance.  I had a claim just a couple of months into the policy and they were really quick to pay out.  John checked out all the different companies looking at like for like cover rather than just price alone - I hate all that boring stuff :P  Anyway, we pay under £10 each monthly (you get a discount for 2nd and subsequent dogs) with lifetime cover and no excess at all - pretty good compared to many and the individual illness cover (from memory) is around £6,500 whereas some companies its only 2K or so.

If you do a search on here under insurance you'll find lots of threads with info and a few warning a particular one to stay clear of :)    Teri.

Thanks Teri - I'll have a look at the threads and also the M&S one

Cheers
x

another satisfied M&S customer here!

I am with M&S too! Very happy with them so far I pay £10.40 a month for my Bulldog and I have no excess. They were one of the only companies that would insure him for how much I paid for him, petplan would only insure up to £750!

I have my youngest with M&S too (seems a popular choice lol) but I havent needed to claim as yet- touch wood

My eldest is with Argos who do three levels of cover. I have claimed about £800 ish with him and it was paid out quickly and without fuss

Thanks everyone - you seem to all have gotten a really good deal - M&S have quoted me £11.77 pm so still thinking about it.

Vicki
when I took out the policy with M&S there was the option to pay a lower monthly premium if you up the excess a little  :)

Ooh ta - I'll look into that!  :)

Thought I'd done it right - that was with the maximum excess on the website of £80.  I may give them a ring and see if I can up the excess to £100 what difference that will make to the monthly payment.

Cheers for the info anyway :)

Thanks to all who recommended M & S......I've checked through their policy wording and obviously the premium and it's more than competitive. In fact generous. Plus get a store card (which we don't really want) and get another 5% off for paying that way.

We were just going to put the money saved by not having had insurance into a savings account i.e: £125 per annum, then tell ourselves what clever people we'd been after 5 years, when we still had £625 + interest, and hopefully no vets bills.....

The Insurance companies are obviously prone to exageration and say ...." 1 in 3 pets need to visit the Vet each year"....Our experience with 8 different 'rescue mutts' over the last 22 years says that Vets bills are a minor part of owning a pet.......anyone think Insurance is absoloutely vital ?

Scrums.

Not me - I've never had it, but I often consider it, only to discard it after much deliberation.  I'm at the deliberating stage at the moment (thanks to all who advised on this) but still haven't come to a decision.  I have had dogs all my life, and apart from my Dane, who had bloat, was operated on, and then had a recurrence 4 months later and had to be put to sleep, have had no really outstanding expenses, and I have lost three dogs to cancer at the age of 9 over the past few years.

Cheers

we considered not having insurance, but then settled for direct line, £22.32 a month for 2 pedigree springers, it seemed alot until one had to have surgery for a foreign object to be removed from the young ones tummy which turned out to be fibrous and all caught up in his intestines ( a terrible chewer!!) resulting in 2 hour surgery, a 3 day stay, loads of drugs, re-opening for infection flushing. This coming to a grand total of £2049.55, I thank goodness we did bother as all we had  to pay was £45 excess!!  I feel that this was also something that spiralled out of control, we initially thought it could just be a childs toy and a very easy removal! An example I think of how things can easily escalate!!

I'm with direct line too. I wouldn't have a dog without insurance as you just never know what is round the corner.  I used to be with More Than but they upped the premiums to £40.00 per month for 2 pedigree German Shepherds.  I think when dogs get older some of them increase the premiums.  I then moved to Direct Line.  Last year I paid £25.00 per month with £45.00 xs and this year it went up to £30.00 per month but my dogs are 9 and 10 yr old.  I suppose at that age there is more likelihood of a claim.  They'll cover up to £6000.00 for a particular condition. 

One of my dogs had spinal surgery six months ago and it cost just over £3500.00.  I paid the vet fees and the insurance company reimbursed me, apart from £45.00 xs.  I believe the insurance company will pay the vet direct but the particular vet hospital we went to would not accept insurance claims or cheques.  I always think you never know quite what an insurance company is like until you have to claim.  

I think that the main deciding factor in deciding NOT to insure is 'if my dog needs a major op/treatment costing say £1000+ and maybe recurring every year - could I manage it, or would I have to have the dog put down'. A lot of people COULD manage this, if they were pushed and so, for them, it is more of a gamble as to whether they will save money or not and doesn't have an impact on the life of the dog :)

Daisy

Ive covered both of mine for peace of mind- if anything happens theyre covered
and that means a lot to me :)

Hi Vicki.... i have Steele my pup covered by more than... there really cheap too.

My last couple of pups I have insured for their first year as this is when they seem most accident prone and chronic conditions are perhaps likely to rear their head.  After that I prefer to cover the risk myself.  In your calculations you also have to remember that a great deal of vets visits are for minor problems that require, perhaps, an examination and a course of antibiotics which invariably fall just below the minimum that the insurance company will pay out on so even when you are paying your insurance premium there is other amounts to be paid during the year.

Thanks Isabel, I think I'll just wing it - after all, he's 7 months now, and with an excess of £80 I may as well cover it myself. :)

I took on a collie 3 years ago that I didn't want. He was in a pitiful state both physically and mentally due to serious neglect and regular beating from his owner although I didn't know about the beating at the time and only saw the obvious neglect :-( I took him because I couldn't bear to leave him where he was and I kept him cos he turned out to be the most wonderful dog with a fantastic temperament in spite of the abuse he had suffered. After 18 months of living with me he was a different dog and then he started having seizures. I was told by the AHT that it was epilepsy but they only occurred during exercise so I wasn't convinced. It turned out to be a rare type of cancer that made his body think that he had enough glucose in his system when in fact the level was dangerously low :-( I only found one other instance of this on the internet and the lady that did the ultrasound that found the tumour actually consulted with vets in America for help. I was told 2 days before christmas that year that it was terminal as it had spread to his liver and I lost him on the 15th March last year, less than 3 months after that and 6 months after he became ill. Petplan paid approx £3500 out for him in that time on treatment. I would NEVER be without insurance. The most my other 2 have cost me is £250 for 2 lots of hip X-rays and that was paid with no problems. If you have never needed expensive treatment for your dog then you are lucky. The question is, do you have thousands in the bank ready for you to spend on treatment if it were necessary? Insurance isn't just about vets bills, you have other things to consider such as third party cover. Just in case anyone is wondering NO I don't work for an insurance company :-p

Hi Vicki
We have a 15 month old Bichon and are insured with Pet plan. He has undergone heart surgery and without insurance would have had to pay over £1600. Apart from £60 excess all bills were paid for direct to vets and hospital without us having to pay first then reclaim later. I would very much recommend insurance. We all hope we never have to make a claim but never know whats round the corner.
Regards
Deb

Always insure mine, use petplan cos vets love em and will bill them direct.

Tried a few others but have had issues with them, not least when one of my dogs died and I got a letter explaining how they normally did not pay out for dental work! :rolleyes:

iam with m/s they just pay out for wispa death and vet fee and cermation too,i been with m/m since they strated 2 1/2 years ago no problem with them change from pet plan beacuse they were get to dear ,where m/s cover is a good one.

I am with Petplan and they recently paid out around £1000 for my dogs chronic cystitis. I have only had to pay 70.00 (so far). I didn't have to pay up front. They settled with the vet directly. So I am glad I have insurance and would recommend them.

Lube

I am with petplan too, havent used it yet (touch wood) in my 2nd year with them.
I will be adding another puppy with petplan soon, will have to find out if i get any discount for 2.
My friends bull dog has had his eyes done 2 or 3 times and petplan was very good with them.
The vets just sort out all the paper work for them.

Hi all, just been reading all your posts and im getting quotes as we speak as ive a dane on the way. :) Has any 1 looked at animal friends pet insurance? what do you think about their prices? i thought they were quite cheap! Id like to get a good price so im looking at what you have reccomended at the mo :)

Animal friends is underwritten by E&L who dont like to pay out if they can avoid it :(

thats a shame then, i liked their prices! well after all my quotes, m&s seem 2 be the best :) i got the quick quote tho, im hoping its roughly the same for when you actually apply.

OK - I've finally come to a decision after swinging back and forth for three days - I have had Lennon insured as of tomorrow with M&S for £11.77 pm with an excess of £80.

All I've got to do now is keep him wrapped in bubble wrap and cotton wool till 00:01 hours LOL :)

Thanks to everyone who advised me on this.

Cheers Vicki

Hi vicki, is your price the same as your quote was? as my quote was 10.65 pm. Thought that was too cheap as to what other companys have given me.

Yep - quote was £11.77 so I took them up on it.  PetPlan varied from £20 to £35 pm which is way too expensive for me, and I have heard nothing but good things about M&S, so if your £10.65 quote was with them, I'd go for it.

Cheers

I have a shar-pei and not many insurance companies cover them.
I may ring m&s to see if they do.
My excess on petplan is £50.00.

Why is that Lazydaze?  I noticed this breed being excepted on a couple of companies I looked at.  Are they prone to illness?

Cheers

Great! looks like ive found my self a good deal! thanks vicki :)

Just changed to M&S here also from Pinnacle who kept putting up their premiums year after year despite not claiming.  Now insure one crossbreed and one WSD (classed as a pedigree as he isnt a cross) for about £18.00 with no excess which is brilliant.  People were great over the phone and gave me the multipet discount on the more expensive premium so helping you to save money.  Plus you get £7000 for treatment each year on the lifelong policy, cant be bad.

I have just finished hours of research on this and the best policies I found worth comparing (apart from the expensive Pet PLan) are:
More Than
Sainsburys
M&S

I went with Sainsbury's because of the lower excess. All 3 were £9.99 a month

I no i tried a few and they didnt do shar-pei, so when over the vets i went for pet plan.
Judging by the prices everyone has had, i might do some ringing around.
They are prone to skin problems, eye problems etc
Its all those wrinkles just like her owner lol
Jane

Just rang around a few companies for pet insurance. For shar-pei cover.
M&S dont :(
Tesco dont :(
Churchill dont :(
Morethan do. But after waiting ages for them to answer.
They do cover shar-pei but, Its the same price i pay now with pet plan. The amount of cover on death Is only £600 and never at the value you paid for your dog,So if like my friends with there Bull dog costing them £1500.00 they would only recieve £600. for death ,lost or stolen. illness ect is a lot less than my pet plan one.
I am sticking to my petplan at moment. :)
Jane

Hi
When looking for insurance don't just look at the cheapest premiums. Check first what their payment policy is ie do they settle within a certain time or even better, check with your vet if they will invoice insurer direct. If you have to pay for treatment yourself then have a chew to reclaim your money, it's not a great help.
Deb

More than give you 2 free months insurance also so worth taking this into the calculation.

churchill do i have a shar pei insured for 1000 for death 50 excess and thats only 14 a month

Thanks laura.
I will ring them again,
But when i rang last time the person on the line said no.
I have another shar-pei arriving in 2 weeks, so would have to add him also.
2nd year with pet plan at the moment.

Jane

But don't churchill only cover an illness for 1 year only, not for the lifetime of the pet?

I heard that too carol, to be honest i think i will stick too mine.
Hope you are ok, just saw the plane email lmao.
Lanzarote airport is like that too lol.
Got loads of pics even  of the pilots.
Jane

we use sainsburys after looking around they were best value

Barbie was operated on 2 weeks ago costing £265, the claim was sent in at the end of that week by the vet and last week we got the cheque for the full amount through Marks and Spencers insurance.

It is the first time we have made a claim but think it was pretty fast in paying out with no questions asked and no excess, all for £10.65 a month, that is for a large breed dog

Lynn

M&S for us £11.19 for our bulldog and no excess.

Hi Mandy

Did Marks & Spencer offer the option to pay by monthly instalments.  My friend went on line to set up a policy and he was not given the option to pay monthly but the whole amount was taken in one go with the message thank you for your payment.  I know the web site gave a monthly comparison but after going through the set up option we didnt get offerd the montly plan.  It is a very good policy though.

M and S do take the premiums monthly as its how I pay for mine.

does anyone know if M&S will cover working labradors tesco etc wont ??

   Yorker