No more vet's bills - insure your dog for £9 a month (Healthy Pets)

Member Name: Sandra-M

Product:	Healthy Pets
Date:	09/10/01 (1054 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low premiums, Independent specialists, Apply online and get immediate cover

Disadvantages: None I can think of

Having just bought a new puppy, I have done some research on pet insurance for dogs and have found Healthy Pets to have the cheapest premiums.

Healthy Pets Limited (healthy-pets.co.uk) started in 1996 and have experienced growth rates in excess of 100% per year - so claims their website. They must be good then.

The site is fairly basic and it is easy to get a quote because the premiums are the same whether your dog is a pedigree or not and do not vary according to your postcode. Insurance for one dog is starts from £9 per month (with £70 excess) or £10.33 per month (with £40 excess). They also offer discounts for cover for numerous pets. For example it costs £13.24 (with £70 excess) to insure one cat and one dog. This compares to an online quote from Pethealthcare (pethealthcare.co.uk) for £250 for my bull mastiff puppy and £216 (£60 excess) from Pet Plan (petplan.co.uk).

The insurance is underwritten by Lloyds of London. The only difference in cover that I noticed is that Healthy Pets will pay vets fees up to £2500 in any one year whereas other plans claim to provide cover up to £4000 in any one year. I wonder how many people would claim over £2500 any way? Obviously this is something you would need to think about before reaching a decision. Another point is whether Healthy Pets would cover illnesses and injuries for life - 'life cover'. This is important if your pet gets an ongoing condition like arthritis or eczema as some policies stop paying out after 12 months.

I have decided to start cover with Healthy Pets and filled in my details online. The next day I received a pack and direct debit form. If you are happy you just fill it in within 10 days. Applying online meant I was covered immediately.

One last point, Healthy Pets are independent specialists in pet insurance. This means that they only sell insurance and you will not get bombarded with marketing literature to sell anything else!

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