Is it better to get an amount per condition or per year

Dexter is insured with E&L and having now done a lot more research I realise I need to change him.

The one bit I'm not sure about is: do most insurers limit the amount they will pay out per condition...?

Are there any that will give lifetime cover for a condition - is there a company anyone here especially recommends?


Many thanks!

X amount per year every year is lifetime X amount per condition isn't.
Lifetime policys are much better but obviously cost more and if you can pay it i would go for lifetime.
X amount per condition sometimes sounds a lot but i know from personal experience it isn't. I've always had lifetime policys and wouldn't have anything else.
At the moment i've got an ongoing claim every month for meds in the region of £150 sometimes less sometimes more and as it stands there is no end in sight and for this condition so far it's ammounted to over £500 with another trip anytime so you can imagine how quick something like 4k would be gone.

Katie is with Sainsburys

Harvey is with Pet Shield (life cover) - wouldnt use them again

Kittens with Pet Plan (Life cover)

I would always recommend you insure for "life" - Sainburys good value for money.

Having been through the whole E&L fiasco with Leon, my Henry is insured with PDSA and I cannot praise them highly enough, very reasonable and he is insured at £3k per condition per year. They only take 1-2 weeks to make payment from the date I submit the form to my vet, far better than the 3 months plus I had to wait from E&L, and then not get the full amount back...nothing like that with PDSA...I would recommend them

We are with Tesco, and have their equivalent of "lifetime cover"

Per condition or lifetime is the best you can get. if you go for "yearly cover " then no matter if the condition cost £50 . £500, or £5000 , when you renew your policy , the next yr, said condition will be excluded from policy, that what "per yr" is.

Lifetime will pay out for the duration of the condition, or/ the amount of cover runs out...for instance, you have a dog that is diagnosed with Epilepsy, the initial investigation will cost ££££ , and following up treatment/medication will cost ££££, if your lifetime policy is £5000, it will continue to pay out till you reach said amount.

if you only have a yearly cover (will be cheaper premiums) they (insurers) will only pay out for said condition and follow up care for that yr (till renewal of policy) . when you come to renew your policy, they will exclude any related problems to the epilepsy,.

If you take out a lifetime policy (or equivalent) they will continue to pay out for the condition till the cover (££) runs out , be that this yr next or in the future.

if you can afford it , its a lifetime policy is best..some insurers word it differently, some will say , "lifetime" some will say "premium" "gold" and so on.

Read through the information carefully to see what you what from it,

Heres an article that might help you .

http://www.petinsuranceonline.co.uk/...ate/header.jpg

Many thanks for these fab answers - really, really helpful

I need to be really careful, I know, given how wrong I got it with E&L. They were recommended to me highly by a Rough Collie breeder and they seemed good at the time...

Thanks for the link - just going to read that now!

So a lifetime cover of £4000 covers any condition/s up to £4000 a year. At the end of the year it zero's again but will still cover ongoing/longterm treatments or conditions?

No, a lifetime cover will cover said condition till the 4000 runs out...

Reading the link, then yes thats how it reads, it will set the limit back to 0 for the following yr!

We had the lifetime one with Direct Line which at the time I took it out (8 years ago) I'd done my homework and seemed like the best deal. 2 years on, she had 2 eye operations (on a Sunday and with a specialist vet the other end of the country - as an emergency!) - I think that got close to £6000. Which was covered.

But mysteriously the goalposts move. Not only has the policy gone up way above the cost of inflation - but once she had her eye condition, were we locked in with Direct Line - as who else would have taken her on with that lifetime condition?

The premiums crept up too from £15 a month to round about £75 now she is elderly. That's in 8 years. What's that? Something close to 500% inflation?

It was, I am almost certain, limitless when I took it out but now it's something like £6000 or £8000 per condition.

And the excess has gone up from I forget what but maybe £30 to £80.

Now we also have to pay per condition so recently when she went to the vet's with one condition, vet found 2 which meant the 'cheaper' condition we have shelled out best part of £80 for. The same month we're still paying them £75 premium. Also the £80 excess on the other condition.

And so it goes on.

We can't afford to leave them.

I wouldn't recommend Direct Line, as it stands now and when I insure our next dog I won't even look at them.