7 year old greyhound insurance

Basically I know I'm going to start to hit the age bracket where insurers don't want her as new business sooner rather than later, so I want to make sure I don't end up with the situation I'm in with the cat where I'm tied into pretty ridiculous premiums when the age ramp-ups kick in... essentially I need to pick a decent provider to stick with from the start and can't tart about to cut costs easily.

Would like to keep the excess as low as possible - the percentage based ones seem to have the potential to be pretty painful - especially since this is a cushion against the big bills. Other pets are insured via Sainsburys but I know their underwriter recently reclassified greys into the high risk (and high price) category.

Petplan are coming in decently at the moment but I know they'll ramp that right up at renewal so I'm wary of going for them... I'm trying NOT to be swayed by the possibilities of a free meerkat toy for going through that certain site either! (mainly because hubby would not approve)

The important thing is that they're a company that are going to pay up (we could cover vets fees short term via cards and what-not but obviously would be relying on getting the money back in the end - a wriggly claim dodging company is always my biggest nightmare on this one).

Anyone good/bad/don't touch with a disinfected bargepole?

I haven't claimed but I have signed up to VetsMediCover insurance.

It is £21 pcm no matter what breed or age (as long as they are under 8 and are not in their list of breeds that are £35pm - greys aren't)

It offers up to £10,000 per year and as its life long cover this renews yearly and you can claim for the same condition year after year. To me this means I can't see how under normal circumstances they are able to refuse to pay out.

The £21 a month will obviously go up with inflation but I'm told it will not go up based on how many claims you have or haven't made unlike most companies.

I spent 7 months looking in to insurance so am hoping its good

Let us know if you ever make a claim whether there is any sort of quibble, that seems to much of a good deal

I got a quote from Vetsmedicover for my grey , shes 6 and it was £21 pm

Well I know of someone who has claimes for her newfie (pays £5 pm as its in one of there 'other breeds' section.. it has an ongoing condition which costs something like £500 per month and they have been paying out for that.

Yes all dogs (except some of the big health prone ones) are £21 pm. It seems a pretty good level of cover to me for the cost.

I also got a quote from Animal Friends and that was about £14 per month with their superior cover which is lifetime policy. There has been a lot of controversy about this company but i think thats when their underwriters were E & L (equine and livestock) but they have a new underwriter now, Redsands i believe.

Yes I was looking at that too when I got mine:
Animal Friends: Lifetime cover, £14.73 a month, cover up to £20,000 per year, £2,000 per condition anually.

Animal Friends: £14.87 a month, £4000 per condition, up to £10,000 per year

But in the end I decided the top one didnt offer enough per condition - I posted a threat asking how much peoples claims had been and they were mainly over £2,000. Then for the other one its not a lifetime policy so will not cover conditions lasting over 1 year which I would worry about.
This is the thread if you are interested: http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=151004

I dont know if this is true but I wouldnt worry too much about the company if you have a lifelong cover, because as long as you dont have any pre-existing conditions (which is the bit they can be difficult about) they cant refuse to pay out. I guess for an older dog this is a little different though, as it will have been to the vets before!
For me the extra £6 a month gives me a lot more peace of mind plus it will not go up based on claims.