I am currently looking into insurance for my new pup and have read all of the previous threads on the site which has brought my list of potential insurers down to Pet Plan, Direct Line or Pinncle.(thanks for all your help on that as thought I was going to spend weeks wading through different levels of cover). Can anyone who already insures their dogs with Pet Plan, Direct Line or Pinnacle, please let me know whether you are happy with the level of service you have received. Subject to your responses, I am hoping that I will be able to make an informed and final decision by the end of the day. many thanks in anticipation of your useful advice once again.

I use Pet Plan for Holly and I've been very impressed with their service. In fact they are the company that my vets recommend as they pay out very quickly without any porblems.

The helpline people are also very nice and friendly and the level of cover compared with the premium is very good. I pay £23.85 per month for unlimited vets fees each policy year and there aren't any problems with carrying a condition through into the next policy year.

I would recommend Pet Plan every time. Although I haven't had to claim yet (touch wood) I know a lot of people who have, and they haven't had any problmes at all.

Good luck in your decision.

Fiona

Nearly forgot - Pet Plan offer cover for life.

Issysmum hi ,I have Pet Plan, but it cost me £32 a month ,This they say allows Zac to be treated by any vet straight away
but you seem to have the same facility ? did you get a disc for the dog to wear on his collar .

Hi Patricia,

I've just double checked my policy and it does state that Holly can be treated by any vet. The only collar disk I got was for the 1yrs free cover with PetSafe, in case she wanders off.

I've had the insurance for 7wks now and when I've just looked on PetPlan the policy has increased If I was to cover Holly now, as a new policy, it would cost £26.85pcm with an excess of £70.00. I'm currently paying £23.85pcm with an excess of £60.00!!!!!

That really does seem to be taking the Michael somewhat, it was the oringinal prices up until 2 wks ago (that was when I last checked).

Fiona

PS It's the Supreme Policy.

Thanks for that information I am going to get onto them mine should be the same unless it is because
I live in London .Gold policy the girl said it's the best one and I might be wrong but I have to pay the first £80.

I got my quote from the internet. Baring in mind I live in a village so the theft and road traffic accidents risks are going to be less than in London.

Let us know how you get on,

Fiona
xx

There is an extra bit if you live in London from what I remember way back when I signed mine up.

Wendy

I just had a nosey round the PetPlan site and the two plans they recommend for my girls are quite different than the plans they are on. I wonder if there are only certain ones available on the site and others over the phone or if it just depends on when you got them. Mine for my purebred falls somewhere just below the supreme on cover and does cost less, but has MUCH more than the budget. My budget for my crossbreed has about the same cover, but doesn't cost as much. Purebred is 16 months and been insured over a year. Cross is 4 1/2 years and has been insured since she was 12 weeks.

Wendy

Hi Fiona, Well Zac seems to be on the correct plan £36-25P Per month and this covers Zac for death from Illness and death by accident on the supreme plan [I might have to bump him off now]lol

Patricia

I have claimed nearly £500 for TH's elbow scare. Pet Plan paid up promptly (even for the specialist's opinion) and on renewal her cover was unaffected. Her insurance is cheaper than Issysmum's because we live in a cheaper area. :rolleyes:

I would certainly recommend them.

(I had a run in with Direct Line Car Insurance recently and I thought their level of customer service for that was atrocious.)

I am with direct line and they are very helpfull, i havent had any problems with them and they are reasonably priced unlike pet plan who i was originally with, and they have paid out every claim i have made.

My 3 are with Direct Line, when I made a claim last year they paid out direct to the vet without any problems, they have a bit on the bottom of the claim form where you can sign it over to the vet and they get paid, rather then you having to pay and claim back.
The only thing I can see is that they cover for £4000 per condition per year, but after that they don't cover it any more, so if you have an ongoing problem after the 1st year they won't pay.
Ingrid

I'm with Pet Plan and their customer service is appalling, numerous times I've had problems when taking out policies. However I just ask to speak to the supervisor and usually they will sort it out for you. Oh and always take the name of the person you speak to!!!

Having said that I have a rotti who suffers from joint problems, colitis and incontinence and they are still paying out for her after 4 years. They are also prompt with their payments.

The only thing I do object to with pet plan is their breed supplement, for rottis etc.

Thanks for your reply. Isn't is strange how some people have had only positive dealings with Petplan and then others find the opposite. Pet Plan does seem to offer a good level of cover but they are one of the most expensive. I don't mind paying the extra if they have the best cover AND offer the bestclaims service. I'm worried about premium uplift which one other champdogger mentioned with Pet plan and obviously have now taken your feedback into account too. Will wait for further feedback. This is a lot more difficult than I thought!!

4 dogs with pet plan.cost£70.40.a month.1 with pinncle £12.14 a month she rare breed.no problem about covering her.two of the bitches with pp.are coved for whepling,where other companys donot cover for this.with pp the month payments did go up alot last year from £52.58 to £ 70.40 know,£17.82 extra.£213.84 a year extra,if it gos up this year as much i will go to another company.

premium uplift seems a bit steep. thanks for coming back to me.Will keep hunting but most people do seem positive about pet plan.

thanks for your reply. As Direct line don't offer life condition cover, I will be looking for an alternative as this is what I am really after. Many thanks for knocking one off my list.

I insure all the hounds & the horses with Pet Plan.....cannot fault them & I have had thousands of pounds worth of claims over the years!

thank you for your advice. Pet plan does look a good option. If I can't find another insurer who offers life cover and a good claims service I think I will go with them despite the higher premiums. Any more advice gratefully received.

I spend hours online every day so I know how to search for things quickly! I checked out loads and loads of pet insurers online, including the three you have picked out, and in the end I went for Scottish Pet Insurance (www.scotpet.co.uk).

I insure two greyhounds for £10.20 each a month, and a Great Dane for about £13.00 a month! All covered for life too!

You may think cos they are cheap they are useless, but each time I've had to claim, they've been quick, efficient and so helpful on the phone... They have also dealt directly with the vet so I've had nothing to worry about but getting my dogs better!

Put them on your shortlist!

Hi there, have just been into scottish pet website and looks like monthly premium would be £13.95 but can't see anything about life cover. It is so difficult to compare the companies as they all offer something slightly different and I can't compare like for like. If scottish pet don't offer life cover then I think it will be between direct line and petplan as its the life cover that I'm most bothered about. I just want to ensure that if for any reason (god forbid) my lovely new pup ends up with a continuing problem, I don't suddenly find the 'condition' uncovered after my premiums have been happily taken off me previously. That's far more important to me than cover for advertising if my pup gets lost as I would be happy to cover this element out of my own pocket. Any more advice/assistance would be gratefully received.

For any of you that are over fifty I can highly recommend Saga pet insurance its very reasonable and the excess is £35 and they pay out promptly and have discounts for multple dogs

I do pay a lot for my insurance but that's only because I've gone for unlimited cover and I live in Berkshire. It's because I live in an expensive area that I've opted for the Supreme Policy.

Vets fees in my area can easily go over £4000 which is the next limit down with a premium of £18.05.

Pet Plan also cover complimentary therapy and referrals, I'm not sure which other ones do, but this was a very important factor for me.

Good luck,

Fiona

I'd be very wary about the 'cover for life'. I was with Pet Protect who also offered cover for life, but on further enquiry, it turns out they re-quote once the dog is 8 years old. This seems to be common practice with many insurers. After 8 years the premium becomes very expensive and with an increased excess. However, in view of the increased risk of vet fees from that age it would still be worth paying the extra.

As far as I know with PetPlan they do increase the excess, but if you have a life problem I would still be willing to pay a bit more per year. I have had only positive things. Even if there are a 'few' catches with cover for life - it's better than ruling out a condition after a year which most other companies seem to do:(

Tinker's Pet Plan premium does include an age weighting. But they took her on when she was 7 and it only went up for the first time this year (she's nearly 12 now). I think the additional cost was £2 a month - but she is on the mongrel plan :D

If anybody on this board is over 50 :D Saga pet insurance
is worth looking at. Cover is for life and the yearly increase
in premiums is very moderate. I pay £135.00 for a Golden
Retriever with a £35.00 excess for each claim. This goes
up to £85.00 when your pet is 10 years old. I have always
found them very helpful and been satisfied with the way
my claims have been dealt with.
You can either visit their web site or if anyone is interested
I can dig out a phone number.
Jaq
ps. Sorry can't work out the monthly figure for premiums.

Got Tinker's renewal in last week and in 4 years it has gone from £7 a month to £20 I think this is coz she's getting on a bit now, but even so, it's a lot of money to pay every month.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this. I was with Pet Plan for 9 years. The premiums started at about £8 per month and rose steadily over the period to finish at about £17 per month. Admittedly the excess went up in a big hyke when Zico passed his 10th birthday, but even so, I thought this was very reasonable.

They also never queried anything and paid bills which were over a year old!

Life cover with Scottish Pet means for the rest of the pet's life, but they offer two 'tariffs'. One with slightly smaller premiums offers cover with a maximum of 12 months treatment per condition, the other offers unlimited treament per condition but the premium is a couple of pounds per month more expensive. If a pet is insured before a certain age (8 years old for dogs I think) it is covered for the rest of it's days. The excess is also one of the lowest available at £35.

I have just been in touch with Direct Line and they now do Life Cover but i must admit it all seems to be a bit of a mine field. I'm looking to insure my English Springer Spaniel and have collected an alarming amount of leaflets on pet insurance!

Have you considered Tesco's? To date I have found them great, i.e. they have paid out over £5,000 on my mini Dachi's bad back (2 slipped disc's) I pay approx £10.00 p/m so he's going to have to live a long time for them to recoperate the money back. Luckerly though each time his 'back has gone' they have classed it as a serperate condition, and paid out 'Thankgod' it deffently takes the financial worry out of a traumatic time. The only draw back though is they don't cover travelling expenses (I don't think any insurance co. does) especially as the 'speciality vet' always seems to be at the other side of the country!

Best regards,

'Chelle ....

I'm with Tesco's too, so far they've been great (&Cheap ) but they will only cover any condition for 1 year and they dont cover for anything to do with behavioural problems, or pregnancy. I'm hoping that they might cover me for the cost of Tess's spaying though as she's being spayed because of severe and prolonged phantom pregnancies and she possibly has a cyst in her womb (won't know until he opens her up).

I believe Petplan offer cover for life for any condition and do cover behavioural problems, but I found when I used them that the premiums were going up about £12 every year.

Paula

The hardest thing with all this is the fact that you all have differing opinions too:D I was wondering if anyone has info on whether they all differ depending on which breed you own- and if they do- does anyone have a good insurance firm for the GSD? I've bought Dogs Today, Dogs Monthly and Dogs World which all contain leaflets regarding insurance but again they all claim to be the best- I thought it better to come on here and see what you guy's come up with:D After all it's easier with a head start;)

Stacey

so Pet Plan, Scotish Pet and Direct Line all cover for life but i think that Pet Plan is a little bit more do, they all cover for pregnancy too i know Scotish Pet do as i was with them before i found them rather good and very easy to get on with on the phone.

Pet .............. Scotish ............. Direct
Plan .............. Pet ............. Line
LIFE .............. LIFE ............. LIFE
pregnancy ...... pregnancy .......... ?????
£14.95 ........ £14 ............ ????
£50 ........... £45 .......... ????

hope that this is right as i am now looking to have my 3 insurad again do any of them offer money off for haveing 3 pets or more?

as i can see it at the moment Scotish Pet are the best for me!!!

Hi there just another opinion but I had used pet paln for years but I feel they are getting just a bit greey this year I have moved to "more this"
Royal sun alliance and they matched everything I was covered with by pet plan and redced the bill also..

I cuurently pay 9.99 pounds, however my area in scotland is a cheaper area code but try them...it is only a call..I found them very helpful also..

I have check cover to cover and they have matched Petplan..

Petplans 1 and 2 nd cover doesn't even cover cost a dog now..

Everyone had different requirements form insurance but the above met mine..

regards pam

Have you considered NFU. They are outstanding and pay within 48 hours ! Cheap premiums since not a "company". Have a look at the website at www.nfu.co.uk. You will be impressed. Much better in my personal opinion than profit making firms and the service is truely run by people who care.

Keep well and good luck with the new pup.

Good site Darren just got quote for 2 dogs very reasonable
£243.97 a year first £40 to pay
Kennel club £198 for 1 dog
Pet Plan £440 for both (does include breeding)

Just a note re NFU i called them this morning and they don't offer cover for life on Vets fees and complained as the info on the website suggested that it was. They MAY cover an ongoing condtion but won't guarantee it.

Hi, My two are with pet plan. I had to claim £700 last year for Bella they settled direct to the vet very promptly. Onyx is currantly under going treatment for OCD £200 so far and as this is a problem that will be ongoing for the rest of her life its important to have an insurer that won't put a bar on conditions agter 12 mnths.

I'm going to ask my breeder- after all she's been in the game since 1971- she should know of the best insurance companies for GSD's:D