hi just looking at the dog insurance better companys or bad ones to stay away from ?

more than are pretty good, they've been decent about paying out for ours in the past

thks

i have 3 dogs insured with sainsburys, they are excellent value, do lifetime cover and i have never had a problem with them paying out on anything, would highly recommend them.

I also use Sainsburys. I first used them when my dog was 10 and they took him on with no problems. Just had my first claim with them paid out. It did take longer than I expected but I think that may have been the vets delaying sending it to them as I was claiming for 6 months worth of treatment.

Try AXA direct.

I have been informed, by Vets and other customers, not to touch E&L. But I have to say that I have no personal knowledge of them.

ditto avoid E and L, or anyone underwritten by them
again ive no experience personally with them but i know people that have and they have a really bad reputation of not paying out
i've always used petplan - not the cheapest but ive never had any trouble

glad to see that sainburys is  a good tip they  are underwritten by axa and when u go direct with them u get 7k insurance instead of 6.5 and the premium is 2.5 pounds cheaper a month with axa ,so thks pedee and  everyone i be trying them .

AXA direct.  Very impressed and that's rare for me :)

CG

I'm with Argos and don't have any complaints at all. They even paid out recently for something which I wasn't sure they would as it could have been seen as preventative. Dolly had a really large wart appear on her face, in the space of 2 weeks it grew to the size of a large brussel sprout. Vet said it wasn't anything nasty but advised removal in case it got caught and became infected.

Policy wording stated they wouldn't pay out on preventative treatments, but the cheque came through within a week.

They also paid out for my other girls xrays which I thought were excessive. Vet didn't ask if we were insured but she was booked in to have what we thought were a couple of xrays due to an intermitent limp on the front leg. Went to pick her up to be presented with a bill for over £700 (we were expecting c £250/£300), and to be told that they'd only charged us for 7 of the 9 Xrays so what was the problem.

Oh I think they're underwritten by AXA as well.

Just one thing to bear in mind, the vets do seem to prefer petplan

Im with Direct Line at the moment, they are cheaper than petplan but the policy doesnt pay out as much as petplan and although theyve paid out with no problems recently on my claims I wish I wouldve stayed with Petplan.

I took my eldest boy to the vet yesterday, he has to have full body xrays which will be costing over £700, this vet and the other vet I use have both stopped doing direct claims to insurance companies except  through Petplan
I was really panicking as I dont have that money to fork out, anyway after standing my ground and finally saying I will go elsewhere they agreed to do it, but it was quite embarrassing.
Dont know what i would have done if theyd refused to do a direct claim

Just bear this in mind when youre choosing

> both stopped doing direct claims to insurance companies except  through Petplan

how can vets expect people to have the kind of money vet bills come to simply lying around? when we move our boy to a new vet i'll be checking if they claim direct form the insurer. i plan on having a credit card there for excess and emergencys but beyond a couple of hundred pounds how many people can pay out on the spot? seems weird to me.

current vets will happily claim from more than- they have a list of insurers who they are fine with, not just pet plan

Hi . I too are with Sainsbuy's. They've been fantastic in paying out for a multitude of health problems my wee girls had. At the moment they're paying for all her long term chemo. There have been three referrals to specialist. with loads of tests etc. I can't recomend them highly enough.

am off to the vets with my cat tonight so i ask him,but to be fair the police dont ask u who u insured with when they pull u over . axa seem a good one and a few agree i have to get a quote from pet plan as well to see.

My vets will pay Tesco directly.

>how can vets expect people to have the kind of money vet bills come to simply lying around?

Many people seem to be able to impulse-buy huge TVs etc from electrical stores without any problem, so why not a vet bill?

many people jeangenie, but not most people

Isn't that what credit cards are for?

well thats what i intend on having one for yes, but i would rather avoid getting one with a massive limit which certain vet fee's would certainly meet.

Astarte said

> but i would rather avoid getting one with a massive limit which certain vet fee's would certainly meet

Insurance companies wont guarantee to cover all costs - each case is assessed on its merits and certain drugs (wormers for eg) plus prescription foods are not necessarily covered (there may be other things too).  Add to that the different levels of cover (some have a maximum amount per condition rather than per annum also) and it's easy to understand why vets can't put their faith entirely in the insurance company settling all costs.

If presented with a bill by their vet and not having his/her agreement to claim directly, then IMO paying by a debit or credit card is the only fair thing to do otherwise the client is basically looking for interest free credit if paying by instalments - I don't understand why anyone should expect the vet to offer that facility too

those are fair points. it's an issue with shades of grey for me. though i suppose at the end of the day it's a business.

Don't know what I would have done without my credit card as my boy's cost thousands for various medical problems in his 4 years and we've had a few bills of £600/£700 at a time. Thankfully the KC are very fast at paying out so it usually works out that the cheque's cleared just in time for me to pay my credit card bill (do have a big overdraft as backup as well though, as would rather go into that than pay massive interest charges on the CC). If rest/restriction doesn't work regarding my dog's cruciate injury then I'll be looking at maybe a couple of thousand for TPLO - no way could I take that on without the credit card!

cruciate the main reason we'll be getting one. our lads had his surgery but they are concerned about the other hind leg being an issue in future :( more than paid out for most of it though the first time