In your opinion whats the best "for life" pet insurance company?

Pet plan IMO. Albeit for my cats, I've recently taken up insurance for them again and they came out the best on comparison.

i had petplan since my last dog was a puppy last time and ended up paying £50 a month when she was 14 with a £90 excess which just seemed a lot.

Depending on the breed of your dog, premiums will get higher as they get older.

Im with petplan. 90 excess but he is covered for life. Petplan also deal straight with vets which I prefer

Petplan are probably the industry preferred insurer of choice, they are not the cheapest by any stretch, we pay £30 a month for our two moggies. However I would probably argue they are the best in the industry due to the relationship they have with the RCVS. They are the only insurer I know of that actively contributes to animal shelters throughout the country. They do a lot of good given their expensive price.

I agree - they're not the cheapest, but less expensive policies don't cover as much. I've not had any issues with my cats at all, but I always take out the 'for life' plan. 2 cats costs me £26 a month.

They get you one you one way or another! The ones that seem cheap to start off with go up a lot as they get older and often increase your premium if you have a claim.
Petplan seem to start a bit more expensive but seem to go up more gradually and don't put the premium up because you claim. All insurance gets expensive as they get older.
I've been with various companies over the years but have found Petplan to be the best.

Create a savings account and set up a standing order and don't bother with insurance would be my recommendation.

The problem with that is what of the standing order has only been going a few months and your pet is unwell. Say they need an operation and you're hit with a £3000 beta bill? What do you do then? I know I'm not in a position to get even a quarter of that cash at the drop of a hat.

Unless you're always in a financial position to pay a hefty vets bill then you don't have much choice but to get insurance.

Saving the premium is just not enough. What if something happens before you've built up more that a few pounds? I was in the vets yesterday and someone I see while out walking my dog was in bits because her extremely well trained dog had suddenly turned, ran down the field, onto the road hit by a car and has seriously damaged its spine and spent 3 days in the vets as it couldn't stand or wee. He went home yesterday but needs an MRI to see the extent of the damage and possibly spinal surgery.
He isn't insured and she's facing bills from the 3 days in the vets, a scan will be £1500 - £2000 with spinal surgery also running into thousands plus the cost of any on going treatment and rehabilitation. If her dog caused any damage to the car, say it had swerved into a tree and anyone in the car was hurt she would be liable too and pet insurance has public liability cover so they would deal with that.
He's only 2.
I'd never want to be in the position of having to end my dogs life because I couldn't afford treatment. PetPlan paid out £4000 last year for my dogs autoimmune disease last year which came on overnight and couldn't have been predicted or prevented. She's now almost back to normal but its been a long expensive year.

Anyone not insured should consider joining the dogs trust as it provides public liability insurance in with the joining fee and isn't very expensive.