Reply With QuoteWe’re with Tesco,dog is 11 years old ,one claim .£85.00 per month.
Renewal time for our dog so looking for advice.
I have been insured with Pet Plan since we got him. They were recommended them at the time as a decent company. I have no reason to doubt this but can’t comment as I’ve never had to claim!
He’s just turned 8 and this year’s renewal is £87 a month. It was £64 last year. So I’m assuming we’re on a pretty steep year by year climb now. We have to co-pay 20% from year 10.
For reference, he’s a small cross breed and is covered for upto £7K a year in vets bills, £2K for therapies and they cover lifelong conditions as long as you stay with them.
He’s in fine health with no issues.
I don’t begrudge spending the money on him but obviously would rather move to someone cheaper if possible.
Any pointers gratefully recieved.
Dave
We’re with Tesco,dog is 11 years old ,one claim .£85.00 per month.
After paying for insurance for my previous two dogs I have never bothered with my BT's.
Once your dog gets to eight years old the price rockets and later on it's co-pay too and that is when you often get higher vets bills. My previous BT Deana broke her leg and it cost me £1200 but I'd have spent a lot more than that in premiums over time.
If you need to, just put the money away you would have paid in premiums after all most of my dog problems have been solved with one vets visit and there is always an excess to prevent you claiming for them anyway.
Cheers,
Neil.
Sister in law is a vet and has her pets with pet plan
She thinks you need to pick a good insurer and stay with them as generally a rival company will offer a decent year 1 rate then milk you for eternity as no one typically wants to insure an older animal without all the profit from the younger years.
Similar to Neil, we self insure now and have so far saved a few thousand pounds. Ernie’s 12 and going strong
We are with Pet Plan but IIRC it's up to £114 per month this year - she's a nine year old Staffy cross. We haven't had a claim for five or six years (she developed chronic pancreatitis when younger so had a few low level investigations but other than the occasional tummy upset is healthy). I was on the cusp of 'self insuring' this year but haven't pulled the insurance yet - though I have joined the Dogs Trust because that brings 3rd party insurance and only costs £25 pa. So when the renewal doc comes next year, I may be heading for self insurance.
It seems that when pet insurance came along vets fees went through the roof. My old vets used to charge very little till they merged with another practice and then sold out then it was a case of the bills went crazy.
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I went with self-insurance for my cat. I pay £45 a month into a spare bank account. As others mention with pet insurance, the premiums increase every year and the excess means you pay for most visits anyway.
Last edited by A440; 22nd April 2024 at 16:26.
Direct Line. Spaniel aged 9 and had 3 ops on one leg. Also has allergies and is on injections monthly. We've been paid out more than we paid in. But premiums going up now so will probably even out. It's worth it IMO. Don't have that decision do we pay or not.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Again Pet Plan, £43.00pm I/we don't know if there's a right or wrong choice, at least the wee bugger didn't cost us £3000 to buy.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
I use insurance which covers up to £10k in a year on any one illness/accident. I know with the higher premiums as he gets older we might only break even or even be at a loss, but I still think it's worth it. Not having to find £3-5k for an unexpected op is what it's all about. I don't want to make that decision not to help him based on the money.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Self insurance is ok, especially if you’ve got the means to spend a few thousand, until it isn’t.
I’ve been with PetPlan for decades, and tried other companies off and on as various pets have come and gone.
I had one dog develop detached retinas, that was a near £10k bill to keep some of his eyesight. Could have had the eyes removed I suppose, would have been much cheaper, but not a great outcome for him.
I had another dog diagnosed with epilepsy when a few months old, fortunately she was with PetPlan and they covered the treatment/meds for the next 9 years.
Personally, I wouldn’t be without pet insurance, and I’ve found PetPlan whilst not the cheapest the easiest company to deal with come claim time.
One of my mates is a small animal vet, he rates PetPlan too, the claims side for the practice is also very good. The vet industry has been undergoing a lot of corporate takeover stuff, a large percentage of practices are now owned by a small number of huge companies, and like everything the last few years costs have rocketed. At the same time, treatments have progressed as well, the Cambridge based eye specialist my dog was referred to an example, an amazing place but not cheap to access. Again, personally, I’d want my dog/s to have the option of getting whatever treatments were available and not have to consider cost as a part of that process.
I’d rather they didn’t get ill or have accidents at all of course, but if they do I don’t want to be thinking about money.
Exactly that.Originally Posted by Tooks
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Can't fault Petplan. Have our BSH cat insured through them. No quibbles, direct payments or settled within 5 days. Premiums very, very reasonable, and not hiked up year on year. They've been faultless and very compassionate in these past few months with our cats untreatable cancerous tumour :-(
Been with Petplan for 25 years with 2 Weimaraners and they have been faultless with handling claims.
they are expensive but I've had back more than I've paid in treatments; and there have been a lot.
Sadly lost the latest dog a couple of days ago and even then, spoke to Petplan and they were brilliant. Cover cancelled the day of PTS and can claim for anything outstanding up to a year.
once he was past 11 (I think) you pay 25% towards the claim and the excess, but he wracked up thousands with a variety of things over the years and they never faltered or queried the claims.
I misread that as your BHS/British Home Stores cat - fortunately I have a friend with BSH cats, so was able to quickly re-order the letters in my head to get what you were actually saying. But I'm very sorry to read about your cat's condition - very sad :(
Used to be with ManyPets for tne first couple of years after getting a puppy. They were fantastic but the renewal for year 3 was a bit pricey so switched to Waggel. I find the most useful feature of both the ability to get a quick video consultation with a vet for free through the app. When the dog looks slightly off-colour, always reassuring to get some free advice rather that pay for the vets.
As our dog gets older and the premium rises I'd be tempted to do what others do and pay monthly into my own "self-insurance" fund.
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