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It's the time of year when I have to think about Harry Puss's pet insurance renewal. He's currently with Homebase, but I don't think the cover is high enough so I'm looking to change but don't know who to go with and I was hoping for a few suggestions...

The main thing the cover has to have is 'cover for life' as I don't like the idea of it being limited to 12 months.

At the moment I'm looking at Sainsburys - their prices are comparable to Petplan but you seem to get more cover and they have some good offers at the moment.

We've got Topsy insured with Sainsburys and I was impressed with their cover and prices. Suzie is with Petplan and Lloyd with Esure. I may well be swapping over when their insurance comes up for renewal.

I wasn't impressed with Tesco or Asda. I tend to look at the amount of cover rather than price. Sainsburys does seem to be one of the best at the moment.

Sainsburys are also doing some good offers at the moment - 9 months for the price of 12, double Nectar points for 2 years (we shop there now and then) and £70 cashback on Quidco.

Jan, the Sainsburys insurance gives £7500 per condition. Am I right in thinking that the £7500 is for that condition for the life of the pet and doesn't renew every year?

I think it is per condition.

The double Nectar points don't kick in until you have been claim free for a couple of years as far as I can remember.

Never thought of doing mine through Quidco! Must remember!

I've just checked and it looks as though it starts straight away and stops if you cancel the policy. I don't shop there a lot, but every little helps!

I've spoken to my mum and she's got Blaze insured with Sainsburys and they've been good with her. She's thinking of cancelling it though and putting the money in a savings account as she's paying £44 a month now.

That's the only problem when they get older, and I think it's the same with all companies. Even if you've not claimed, they wack the premium up.

The woman who runs our local pet shop does the same as your mum. If the premium is that much then it's a good idea.

Blaze has got arthritis so my mum's claimed a couple of times, but the treatment is nowhere near as much as the insurance plus the excess.

I was with Argos (platinum cover) for my dogs. They have always paid us immediately or negotiated to pay the vet direct.

I know of a lot of other people who are also pleased with them.

However, needs must and I recently changed to Direct Line to make some savings, and I have yet to try their service.

Fortunately we've not had to claim for any of the three dogs so I have no idea what either of the three companies we are with are lke.

Thanks for that Dave, I've just looked at Argos and it looks like good cover.

Petplan every time for us. Always paid the vets directly so we never have to bother about paying for a bill then reclaiming and its cover for life. Could get it cheaper elsewhere but somethings arent worth cutting corners on.

Paul

I'm not impressed with their level of cover or the premiums to be honest.

With our Russell, who is less than 12 months old, they wanted to charge almost the same premium that we pay for the 6 year old Lurcher!

Same here Jan - I've found that you can get a better level of cover for a similar price elsewhere. Harry was insured with them the first year we had him and they really hiked the price up. When I queried it the totally disinterested person on the other end of the phone said there was nothing they could do and would I like to cancel!

Exactly!

Having had to claim for a Great Dane in the past (different company) and knowing how much things can cost, I would rather go for a higher rate of cover and Sainsburys is about 3k more than Petplan.