Best insurance providers?

I have always used Petplan but they have put our terrier's costs up to £46 a month (with no claims!!!!) and are quoting me over £55 a month for our new doberman.
Is there anyone else who is actually good? Pets at Home and Animal Friends are offering me very good deals...

I use AXA and I'm more than happy. As a recurring customer, and one who's made claims, my only minor niggle is that they were slow to pay out on the first claim - but as it was a direct claim with my vet it didn't really have much effect on me.
In year two, the premiums went up but only on par with the cost of new policies of comparable values. Infact, I did some test quotes as a new customer with AXA and my renewal prices came in lower! I couldn't get equal cover anywhere else cheaper.
My vets were more than happy to claim direct. They normally want a pre-authorisation form from the insurance company but AXA don't issue these for treatment under £500 - but put a note on the system to allow my vets to phone and discuss treatment/costs and have a verbal confirmation that there were no exclusions that would cause problems. As I mentioned, they were a little slow (said they hadn't received a full history, my vet said they include this by default as they know most insurers want it, not sure who was to blame there) but the second claim went through very quickly. Both claims paid in full without dispute.
I've phoned customer services several times with queries, e.g. if the tests would be covered (behavioural issue - but they consider the bloodtests a medical procedure so this comes out of the £7000 allowance), help filling the forms in, etc. and there's rarely been a queue on the phone, the staff have been easy to understand, very helpful and never tried to sell me further products either.
They'd be my first port of call for future dogs - unless I could afford Petplan that is.
I'll have to see what my premiums go up by next year now I've claimed but have had a few people say that they didn't rocket up too much despite high payouts.

I've previously used Direct Line and Sainsburys. No experience with claims but both shot the premiums up at renewal, and were beaten by miles with quotes elsewhere (hence me not sticking with them). I used to have my car insurance with Direct Line too and found them not so helpful with a claim, which also made me decide to switch my dogs away from them.

Thanks Krlyr. I hadn't looked at Axa but now i have they gave me a great quote. Very tempted. It's always so nice to hear user recommendations.

The other great quote i had was from Pets at Home... anyone used them?!

£4000 is quite low cover if this is the one quoted for. I'd only go for their £9000 cover. Another downside is that their excess includes a percentage of the bill - not so bad with small claims but soon adds up with larger ones. E.g. You claim for £200 of treatent, you pay £75 excess + 10% of the remaining £125 bill - so £87.50 excess. You get a £2000 bill and that's a £267.50 excess!

Their complementary treatment budget does seem quite generous though considering it includes APBC registered behaviourists. AXA's behavioural limit is only £250 per condition which I do find is a little low considering how much behaviourists can charge even for just an assessment. Ditto for complementary treatments, £250 won't get a whole load of hydrotherapy sessions - another minor little downside I've noticed (but that hasn't affected me personally yet)

My four are with AXA as well and I'm very happy with them. Premiums only go up a little each year and my vet is happy to claim direct.

I think you guys have answered it for me. If Axa pay direct, i want to go with them!!!!!

TESCO. Used them for the last 7 or 8 years Absolutley Brilliant. Good luck.

All insurance companies will pay direct it's your vet who decides if they will accept direct payment.