Getting really stressed out about insurance and need some advice please?

Shopped around, our criteria is reasonable excess, lifelong cover and reasonable premium costs. Our 4 week free kc cover runs out in 10 days.

We found 3 big-name pet insurers offering lifelong cover but each of them have drawbacks.

KC - They want £23 a month, the costliest of the 3. They cover everything it seems which is a major plus. Major downsides are mixed reviews about their customer/claims service, rip off excess (£65 then 10% of the vets bill).

John Lewis - They want £16 a month, the lowest of the 3. Again lifelong cover which is the major plus. 5 star Defaqto rated too. No 10% of vet bill until the puppy gets to 9yo which seems fair. Downsides - their policy wording makes you agree that pre-existing, current and recurring conditions are not covered which leaves you kinda open to having claims rejected.

Argos - £18 a month. Lifelong cover, reasonable excess. Never heard of th underwriters, but they seem legit. Their wording is very similar.

So...do we go with the KC insurance which has a rip off excess, is the costliest and has mixed reviews about their claims service, or one of the other 2 with a more reasonable excess but policy wording small print that could give them excuse to decline any claim?

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Pablo accepts no responsibility for the posts from his owners

All new policies will not cover you for anything the dog has had in the past, that is what they usually mean by pre-existing conditions, obviously anything the dog currently has again they do not cover, and by re-occuring I believe that means that the dog may have had something before you insured with them and later down the line after you insure and they get it again then also you wont be covered. So if your dog has never previously had anything wrong claimed for or not and his records are currently clear, then I wouldnt think it would be a concern to be honest.

I have found one way to find out who pays out quickly and with minimum quibble is to ask your vet if they accept direct payment, if they do that means you will only have to pay the excess each time. Ask them which companies they will accept direct payment from, and then get quotes from them. If a vets going to accept direct payment he isnt going to spend ages waiting to be paid, or spending ages going through one query after another to get his money. So thats usually a good indicator.


Dont forget too, most new policies do not cover you for illness within the first 14days of the policy, although some will cover you for accident from day one.
I also think Im right in saying if you do have any illnesses within that first 14days you may even be exempt from claiming for that type of illness from then on full stop. So if you have only got 10 days I think it was you said on the exisiting one you need so get one ASAP, or you are going to have a period where you might not be covered at all for awhile.

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Can't say much for them all but Argos has paid out about £800 to me since January and the only hassle was them requesting more paperwork and post slowing things down.

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I'm with pets at home, and have their lifetime cover which costs me £15 a month and they have so far paid out £500 no problem!

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Harvey - staffy
Chance - american bulldog (rescue)

19 snakes, 5 geckos, phibs, T's, inverts, fluffies and hedgehog.

No, no, a thousand times NO!!!!!!

The KC were the reason I started my website (link in my sig). They are dreadful. Apart from the drawbacks you mentioned they've been featured in the Sunday Times and on Watchdog for the appalling things they do. They are even worse than E&L.

Very few of the 'name' companies will refuse to pay out on a genuine claim - but you are right to read the policies. All of the companies on my site do pay out - but they are only going to pay if you've been honest with them up front. They won't pay for pre-existing conditions (nobody does) but they do pay for genuine claims. They won't pay for things their policy doesn't cover - and most complaints are about this.

Most insurers' excess is a flat fee until 8 or 9 years when they may add a percentage. If they want a percentage excess before that - don't use them. You are right to go for lifelong cover. Don't mistake companies like Sainsburys 'lifetime' cover as the same thing. It's not - it's a 'per condition' cover.

Do overlap your new insurance over the KC freebie - you need a 14 day window for the new policy to cover illness in most cases. If you drop into the gap you won't be covered and the new insurer will treat the condition as 'pre-existing'.

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Things you should know before insuring your pet can be found at Important Facts about Pet Insurance. I can also try and answer questions about Pet Insurance via PM. I am not an insurance broker.

thats good to know didnt know Pets at Home did insurance