What’s the Best Dog Insurance in NZ?

The extra cheap and stripped back Petnsur Surgery and Surgery Plus Plans rank among our top NZ pet insurance plans if not for offering Kiwis something unique then for offering a product that provides good value for pet owners who want a lower level of cover.

As the label says, these two plans have a small annual limit of $1,500 or $3,000 for surgical treatments (only) relating to accidental injury, illnesses and even hereditary conditions (that were absent for the first 3 years of life). The obvious win here is that you have low limits and therefore low premiums, but the downside is that big vet bills won't be well covered and that there are a range of conditions that are outside what's covered under the umbrella of 'surgical treatments' - namely anything that doesn't require surgery.

One more major upside is that the maximum age for new pets is 12 years old or younger - much older than most other plans.

Downsides include several condition limits - $400 / $700 for scans & x-rays, $700 / $1,100 for patella & cruciate injuries and $900 / $1,800 for cancer. Also, the 10% co-payment on all claims. Still though, the Petnsur Surgery and Surgery Plus Plans are two of your best options for cheap pet insurance in New Zealand.

An alternatives is Petnsur's Rhodium Plan which covers more than just surgical treatments and but has higher premiums and annual limits, without condition limits. Or even PD Insurance's Accident Plan which obviously only covers accidents but also only has an excess of up to $200 without a co-payment.

SPCA's The Works Cover pet insurance plan is a reasonable choice if you're looking for a more comprehensive pet insurance policy but with several important conditions not covered and several smaller condition limits we do believe there are better plans available.

Still, this policy is one of the few in New Zealand that covers parasite treatments, emergency boarding and overseas treatments (in Australia and Norfolk Island) so is definitely worth considering if you're after this type of cover. It is also one of the only pet insurance plans in New Zealand with the ability to waive pre-existing conditions with a vet's note.

And we definitely don't have a problem with the 10% multi pet discount which is more than most pet insurance companies in New Zealand offer.

Our issues mainly come from the relatively large and inflexible 20% co-payment on all claims. This means you can't choose to pay more or less upfront but less or more when it comes time to make a claim. Combined with their condition limits and lack of cover in other important areas like dental and routine care and this policy is hard to love.

Another option is AA's only pet insurance plan which has all the same level of cover as well as dental and hereditary conditions along with similar condition limits but more flexibility with picking your own policy limit/premiums.

Petnsur's Silver, Gold and Platinum Plans are structured the same as each other so we'll compare them as one single plan so as not to dominant our site with Petnsur logos. Overall, we rate them as decent pet insurance plans but with several better alternatives.

Perhaps the most attractive thing about these plans is their level of cover. Compared to Petnsur's Rhodium Plan, the Silver, Gold and Platinum Plans cover vaccinations and emergency boarding as well as a number of extras from desexing & microchipping, to lost pet costs, funeral costs, replacement pet costs and even alternative therapies (Petnsur is the only pet insurance with this cover). However, the condition limits for these extras are also very small meaning that they don't actually help that much when it comes to claim time.

Also, depending on the plan you chose and therefore the premiums you'll pay, you'll have a co-payment of 30%, 25% or 20% and a policy limit of $4,000, $6,000 or $9,000 - that's a pretty high co-payment and low policy limit compared to other pet insurance plans with similar coverage in New Zealand.

It should be said that several major treatments like patella & cruciate surgeries as well as cancer also have condition limits as do medical and surgical treatments respectively making this plan somewhat limiting for the biggest potential vet bills. Consider Petnsur's Rhodium Plan for no condition limits or AA Pet Insurance's Accident + Illness Plan for similar cover but even more flexibility around premiums and costs.

Unfortunately Cove's Accident Only Plan is their worst pet insurance policy. It's hard to mess up such a simple accident-only plan but Cove manages to do a pretty average job compared to the other options available.

So what's wrong with this pet insurance plan.

To start with, a fixed $500 excess is higher than any other accident only plan in New Zealand. On top of that, there's a 10% co-payment (i.e. a $3,000 vet bill would cost you $750). And on top of that, this plan can only be taken out if your pet is between 8 weeks and 5 years old. Most other accident only plans have a maximum age limit of 9 years (some have no maximum).

And then there's the 6 months stand down period for two of the most expensive conditions you'd want covered - cruciate ligament and intervertebral disc disease.

Cove seems to save things a little by also offering an emergency boarding benefit but this has a $1,500 condition limit which feels a bit unnecessary given the low policy limit, the excess and the co-pay.

The only real saving grace are the discounts you can get - a 10% multi-policy discount, a 10% discount when paying annually, and up to $100 when you refer a friend. We recommend most other accident-only pet insurances over this one but our favourite is PD's Accident Only Plan which has no important condition limits, no co-pay, has a maximum excess of $200, covers new pets up to 12 years old and third party liability claims.

Read our full Cove Pet Insurance review.

Petcover's most comprehensive and expensive plans are their three Superior Plans. Each offers slightly different annual policy limits and condition limits and therefore each also has progressively larger monthly premiums. The two more expensive plans also have optional lost pet and death benefits.

Otherwise, these plans are essentially the same as each other and cover a wide range of accidental injury, illness and less commonly covered expenses including up to $5,000,000 in third party liability cover (the most in NZ) along with cover for smaller things like emergency repatriation, quarantine/loss of documents, advertising/reward, and holiday cancellation.

Undoubtedly one of the worst things about Petcover policies is that many, including these three Superior Plans have co-payments that increase with your pet's age.

Overall, we don't recommend this plan unless you want the wide coverage that includes the extras mentioned above as no other pet insurance offers all of these specific cover options. Alternative plans with a similar structure include Tower's Comprehensive Plan which covers funeral costs, lost pet and holiday cancellation or Cove's Major Plan which covers emergency boarding and has an even higher $25,000 policy limit.
 

Petnsur's Titanium Plan is a comprehensive plan designed for owners who want full coverage for their pets. It is very similar to their Silver, Gold and Platinum plans although there are a few differences that we don't love and some that we do. Altogether though, the Titanium plan is pretty reasonable but we still reckon there are better offers from other insurers, especially considering the cost of this plan's premiums.

The biggest points of difference with the Titanium Plan are that you get third party liability and routine care cover but lose cover for vaccinations and emergency boarding. Otherwise the 20% co-payment stays, as does the 12 year maximum age for new policies and the very reasonable stand down periods of 7 days for injuries and 21 days for illness.

Your policy limit with the Titanium Plan also doubles to $18,000 from the Platinum Plan although you do lose extra cover for smaller things like lost pet, funeral costs, desexing, microchipping, and alternative therapies. 

Another downside is the condition limits. Of the total $18,000, you'll only get $3,000 for hospital expenses, tests and scans, $5,000 for most non-elective treatments, vet visits, and hereditary conditions, and $7,250 for theatre & surgical costs. All in all that's a bit disappointing for a plan that's supposed to be designed for your largest vet bills. PD's Deluxe Plan might not cover routine care but it has more generous condition limits so is definitely worth considering instead especially because the premiums are half as expensive.
 

Broad cover, flexible excesses and co-payments, a couple of add-ons and extras but low policy limits, and many specific claim limits - that's what you'll get with Petcover's Mid-Range Plans. So how do we rate them? 

Middle of the range.

We're certainly fans of cover for conditions like tick paralysis, third party liability and emergency boarding which are often excluded but when you have limits of $500 for emergency boarding and $1,000 for tick paralysis you start to feel less inclined to pick from this set of Petcover plans.

Interestingly many of the condition limits for these policies don't change between Core, Vital and Key Plans meaning that if you pick the Core Plan with a $5,000 annual limit then condition limits like $4,000 for hip dysplasia and $5,000 for cancer don't matter so much and therefore the plan starts to become more interesting.

Still though, we prefer pet insurance plans like Petnsur's Rhodium Plan or PD Insurance's Deluxe Plan. The Rhodium Plan doen't have condition limits so it actually covers most of your vet bills when you need it most and while PD's plan has some less significant condition limits it has no co-payment so you will likely never have a large vet bill.

Petcover's alarmingly-named Catastrophe 1 and 2 plans are marketed as low-cost pet insurance plans that will give you only the cover you need when a major illness or injury hits. These plans are not any more affordable than most and they don't really live up to the name, primarily because they both have condition limits for several major treatments including only $500 for skin conditions, $1,500 / $3,000 for cruciate ligament, patella luxation and hip dysplasia and $2,500 / $5,000 for cancer.

Another major downside to these plans (and Petcover more generally) is that your co-payment on claims increases when your pet reaches certain age milestones (these are different for different breeds). That means that your insurance gets less and less valuable, the longer you have it and the more likely you are to use it.

What you might notice however is that these plan only cover accidental injury and illness and have no extra cover meaning that your premiums should be a little smaller as you don't pay for any of the more gimmicky cover options like overseas treatment or emergency boarding. But that's not really the case. Although, there is an optional third party liability add-on for up to $1,000,000 cover but that will increase your premiums too.

Overall these two plans also miss the mark with lower than average policy limits or $5,000 and $10,000, but are still worth considering if you only want accident and illness cover. We'd also consider Petnsur's Rhodium Plan which has a $300 excess and $6,000 policy limit for slightly broader cover and no condition limits though.

The eldest brother in the Tower Pet Insurance plan family is the Comprehensive Plan. While we think it's the best Tower pet insurance plan in New Zealand, it's still not a plan we would recommend to many pet owners.

We say all these plans are related because they are essentially the same plans but with some slight changes. With the Comprehensive Plan, your coverage is identical to the Essential Plan, as is the 20% co-payment, 8 weeks to 8-years-old eligibility, stand-down period of 14 days for illness and optional add-on for dental cover.

The differences are that the policy limit is now up from $7,000 to $15,000 and the specific conditions limits are also approximately doubled to reflect this. But your monthly premiums are only around 20% bigger with this plan making it feel like a lot more value for money.

Overall, this plan is okay but not a favourite of ours because it has a $4,000 limit per non-life threatening injury, relatively young maximum age for new policies of 8 years (5 years for some breeds) and other restrictive limit amounts like $1,500 for patella and cruciate ligament surgeries and only $350 when you add dental.

PetCover has some of the most confusing pet insurance plans in New Zealand. Luckily this one is not so difficult to comprehend but unluckily it is also not a plan we liked very much. 

This comes down to a several of major things, namely that it doesn't cover some of the most common and expensive injuries and illnesses (cruciate ligament, patella luxation, hip dysplasia, skin conditions, cancer, brachycephalic airway obstruction etc.). But also because you start by getting a 20% co-payment after 4 or 8 years depending on the breed of your pet and this increases as they get older. And finally because any condition that your pet may get is not always covered for life - which is part of the reason many people choose pet insurance in the first place.

There are a few parts of the Safety-Net Economy Plan to note (other than the relatively low monthly premiums) and those are the outrageously high $1,000,000 third party liability cover (for dogs), the non-standard cover which includes emergency boarding and repatriation, lost pet, advertising/reward, holiday cancellation and quarantine/loss of documents cover. 

And also the fact that there is no upper age limit, making this plan a bit better for older pets. Still though, a far better plan that's just slightly less gentle on the wallet is the Pet-n-sur Rhodium Plan with a $300 co-payment, $6,000, policy limit and no condition limits.

Tower's Accident-only pet insurance plan has all the makings of a solid, albeit, no-so-special accident only plan but we actually think you should avoid this policy. That's primarily because there's a $2,000 condition limit on non-life threatening injuries, meaning that if your pet gets injured but is not going to die, you'll only get up to $2,000 to cover your vet bills. With a 20% co-payment as well, as morbid as it sounds, this policy is only really worth it if your pet would otherwise pass away. 

While one would assume that having a 20% co-payment means that Tower's Accident Only Plan has slightly cheaper monthly premiums than a plan with a smaller, or no co-payment/excess, PD Insurance offers the same plan but without the $2,000 limit on non-life threatening injuries and only a $200 excess for a cheaper premium. 

And even if this was not the case, we would always rather pay slightly more each month but know we're covered then pay a little less but not get the support we need when we have to make a claim. Tower also has no other ways to save on your premiums other than 5% multi pet discount. Oh, and they throw in a measly $100 for funeral costs.

The only real saving graces for this plan are the fact that there are no stand-down periods and no upper age limit for new policies, both of which are pretty unique for a pet insurance policy in New Zealand, and make this plan a better options for older dogs and cats. 

For accident-only pet insurances, we much prefer PD Insurance's Accident Plan which has no co-payment, no significant condition limits and covers third party liability or Southern Cross's AcciPet Plan which has flexible excess and co-payment options, up to 10% off in savings and their only condition limit ($2,500 for cruciate ligament injuries) is triple that of Tower's ($800).

The older brother to Tower's Accident Only Plan is their Essential Plan. Your monthly premiums are slightly higher and for this you'll also get illness, emergency boarding, lost pet and holiday cancellation cover plus a policy limit of $7,000 instead of $5,000. So, why do we think it's worse than Tower's accident only plan?

There are several reasons. For one, the condition limits of the Accident Only plan stick around including a $2,000 limit for non-life threatening injuries meaning you'd need at least 4 non-life threatening injuries to be treated in a year to make full use of this plan. This policy also now has a maximum age limit for new pets of 8 years, but this is actually 5 years for select breeds.

The policy also has a dental cover add-on but when you read the fine print you discover that dental treatment has a $350 limit, 20% co-payment and 90 day stand down period. So, a $450 dental bill will cost you $100. Anything more than that and you're on your own. Or, if your pet needs treatment within the first 3 months of your plan starting, then your own your own too.

And this plan's premiums are 1.5x bigger than Tower's Accident Only Plan - for what feels like less than 1.5x the cover.

Still, the Essential Plan covers illnesses so at least there's that. We like most pet insurances better than this one but if you're after a cost-effective alternative then Pet-n-Sur's Rhodium Plan is worth considering with a $300 co-payment, a $6,000 annual limit and no condition limits.

SPCA's entry-level Everyday Cover plan has all the makings of a top pet insurance policy but we actually think it's one of the worst pet insurances in New Zealand.

We say this primarily because of the $2,000 annual condition limit - not many pet insurance plans in New Zealand cap the amount you can claim for every condition. There's even lower limits on consultation fees ($300) and emergency boarding ($1,000). Then with a fixed 30% co-payment (again one of the highest in New Zealand) and no dental or third party liability cover it is very hard to recommend this plan.

Which is a shame considering SPCA Everyday Cover plan does stand out in that it has no maximum age limit, they offer a 10% multi pet discount and you can even have pre-existing conditions waived with a vet's note if your pet has been symptom-free for long enough. This plan also covers parasite treatments, which is not a given, and overseas treatments in Australia and Norfolk Island.

If you're looking for a plan with a similar level of cover but less downsides then consider AA Pet Insurance or Cove whose plans also have parasite and emergency boarding cover but have lower co-payment options and smaller or fewer condition limits.