Free petplan insurance for puppy

HI there,

I am getting a puppy in about 6 weeks time and am starting to think about insurance but am reluctant to take up the 6 weeks free insurance as I have heard that if you go to the vet for anything in that time, even for an upset tummy then you are risking excluding any tummy related problems from other policies for the rest of the dogs life!

Is it wise to not take this free insurance?

The problem is you cant get insurance until they are 8 weeks so he would be uninsured for a very short while until i got the insurance sorted although i would hope nothing massive would happen in his first few days with me.

I am seriously considering getting insured with Animal Freinds as they offer what seems like good ifetime cover for reasonable prices (although when he gets to over 8 i am a little worried about having to pay 35% of the bill plus the excess)

Most companies seem to quote me for over £30pcm which seems excessivly high for a puppy, are poodles expensive to insure or something?

Goodness me! £30 + for one puppy does seem to be a little excessive for first time insurance. Like you, I am shortly due to be getting a pup and am investigating all the different companies. I can understand insurance being more expensive for bigger breeds but I can't understand why your quotes for a poodle are so much more than my quotes for a Jack Russell (unless it's a giant poodle of course!) - the most expensive I have found so far has still not been much over £20 per month and that's the all singing all dancing policies with bells on! Have you looked at Health Pets? Their cover is all 'lifetime' cover and even their most expensive option for me was still under £14. I have never heard of them before and don't know how good or bad they are - they were mentioned by another Dogsey member but they seem to be genuine and registered with the FSA and everything.

Let me know how you get on as I will be interested to hear who you finally choose to go with.

Hi,

Thanks for replying.

He is a miniature poodle so only a small dog.

Healthy Pets is one of the ones that quoted me over £30 (was £32.40 i think)

Which considering it will only go up seems rediculous 0_o

I will have to keep looking, shame you cant use a price comparison site like you can when doing car insurane, that would make it easier!

Cheapest I have found (for lifetime cover) is £20

I would take the free insurance . If your pup were to die suddenly or get lost or be stolen at least you would get the cost of him back . If he were to break a leg you would be covered for the cost of a perhaps very expensive operation . If however he had an upset stomach you don't even need to makke a claim if you don't want to or it is less than the excess amount anyway .
My miniature poodle is insured with petplan for less than £30 per month .

That's a huge difference from the same company isn't it! Perhaps one of the more experienced Dogsey members will be able to tell you if it's due to the breed. Do you know if there are certain problems that miniature poodles tend to get? I've never heard of anything for poodles but other breeds do have a tendency towards specific health problems and perhaps this could be the reason?

Dog insurance does seem to be very expensive and I've been surprised by the high excesses as I would think that for 'run of the mill' visits to the vet, you would never be able to claim on the insurance so we will be getting the insurance purely to cover serious illness and accidents (plus the third party bit I guess). This is very different from 10 years ago when I had my cat insured as I was usually able to claim whenever I had to visit the vet to get bites treated etc.

As my username indicates, I will be a first-time dog owner and I think it's going to be a steep learning curve!

I dont know if area affects prices too?

I havent looked at pet plan as i have heard that they seem to increase thier premiums drastically.

I will discuss it all with the breeder when we go meet Panda at 5 weeks but it is nice to hear other peoples opinions on the free insurance too.

I am hoping to get insurance for about £20pcm or less, as i know it will only get higher so dont want to start out too high

I am not sure how much cover i need really but know i want for life cover as I dont want to be stuck with a life long illness that is only covered for 1 year

Pick your company now and get insured as soon as you can. There is no point getting free insurance if you have no intention of using that company. They wont cover illnesses in the first 2 weeks, then when you switch there is usually another 2 week period when you wont be insured for illness. Also anything that happened in that free trial would then be excluded with any other company (even if you never claimed)

We got axa lifetime insurance - they are the company that underwrite alot of the others. I think its about £16 a month for Toby but he is a cross breed if that makes a difference?

I've asked a question about how much cover is really necessary but there are no replies as yet. Like you, I want to get lifetime cover as this seems sensible but I'd like to have an idea of what a typical amount that an illness or accident could cost in a year - some companies seem to limit the amount per condition anyway I've noticed so it's worth checking the fine print carefully. We hear of extreme examples such as someone spending £15K on getting their dog treated for something but surely this is just that: extreme???

just checked AXA and its quote was £24.24

Still seems alot for a little puppy

Most companies will give a maxmum payout for conditions, the difference with life cover is that they will keep paying it every year.

Vets are expensive! We've been in several times already this year and its costing about £50 a time just to see the vet and get a tube of cream.

There are extreme cases but even a claim of a few hundred would balance the cost of the premiums. Even if you paid it for years it could only take one claim to make it worthwhile. Do you want to risk it?