How much does dog insurance go up yearly/as dogs get old?

[AmigoDog]

Please help me!
I’m trying to choose pet insurance for my toy poodle puppy. I’m looking at Petplan and bought by many as I’ve seen them recommended several times. I want a policy that gives life time cover. I don’t need to cover prexisting conditions. I’d rather by over insured than under insured.

Bought by Many have a life time Cover plan with payments that never increase. They are giving me a quote of £57 per month. If I want to add death/lost dog it goes up to just over £60.
Petplan don’t seem to offer a policy with a One price Guarantee, but I could get a similar level of cover for £35pm or a much higher level for £49. The policy cost will presumably go up yearly.

I was just wondering what people’s experiences of price increases on insurance cost is over the years. I assume as a dog gets older the insurance cost goes up quite a bit - regardless of what claims have been made. So a policy that starts off as £35pm for a healthy puppy could end up what 3x? 4x that as the dog gets older and iller?

Also any other recommendations or things to consider?

I use Kennel Club insurance and my premium went up £5 this year.

Thanks Acheypain. Was this over the first year?

When our Jack Russell was 15 the monthly cover was £39 with Pet Plan.

Honestly I would take the lifetime one from bought by many. Knowing that payments would never increase is a big bonus. If I could chose my plan at the beginning with a new puppy that’s what I would go for.

My dog just turned eight. Started off with pet plan by premiums shot up after 2 years. Switched to John Lewis for a year great but then following year premiums shot up again and had never really claimed for anything big.

Switched to bought by many and then had a big claim through them so really can’t switch again now as dog won’t be covered for the illness she had. This years premium I will be paying over £80 a month and it’s only going to increase as she gets older.

Interested as thinking of getting a dog ......my cat for comparison started off at £6....9 years later was £53.....I know it's a cat but it did seem a big rise!

I think it's a trade off isn't it about risk and your financial situation.

The BBM one that doesn't increase covers by the look of it £20,000 for the dogs lifetime. This seems a lot until you have a dog like mine who claimed around £5000 before age of 3 and I know someone with over a £10k bill for one year.

However, I am sure there are lots of dogs who never hit the £20k mark over their lifetime.

If the premium never going up is important to you then that looks a good option.

Thanks rhubarb and thedogsmother
Rhubarb your experience is exactly what I was imagining. Thanks.

Wow justoverthehorizon that’s a massive jump!

It goes up a lot, we went for a lifetime policy and its gone up from 15 to 40 so far

Thanks biteyshark - that’s obviously an important consideration too.

(Excluding Bought by Many), all companies will increase premiums based on the age and breed of the pet each year. They all also do something called Premium Loading, they increase your monthly premiums after renewal when you've made claims. The larger the claim, the larger the increase. The only company that doesn't premium load, is Pet Plan, so whilst they look more expensive initially, by the time your pet is older and you've made a few claims, they're actually usually significantly cheaper.

I work in pet insurance and wouldn't insure my dogs and cats with any company other than pet plan

Pet plan are also a "safe" choice. They've been providing pet insurance (and only pet insurance) for over 40 years. BBM is a very new company (and based in Holland I think?). Given the current financial state of the country and likely knock on effect of Covid, I'd be wary of underwriters pulling out of the pet insurance market. Over the last 10 years or so a number of companies have lost their underwriters and their policies have been taken over my another underwriter, which come renewal time means you either have to accept their terms and conditions, or cancel your policy with the complications that brings (pet being too old to get a new policy, exclusions due to preexisting conditions etc.)

Thanks veggiesausageroll that’s all really interesting.

Our Tesco pet insurance went from £25 per month to £150 per month by the time our dog was 11. It hit £100:when she was 8!

We’re with Pet Plan. They provide a great level of cover but I have noticed that they’ve gone from £30 a month to £60 a month over five years. We’ve never had a claim. If it doubles again over the next few years I’ll be considering other options.

Petplan may be pricey, but they paid up no quibbling for every single ailment my dog had, plus the many scrapes he got into. Also the claim goes straight through the vet’s, so you are never out of pocket.

Any insurer ups its premiums year on year, and frankly after a dog is 8 or so it is worth weighing up whether to just put aside a sum of money to deal with health issues. It’s a gamble, though.

We stopped insurance when it hit £60 a month. We now self insure and buy kennel club membership. The kennel club membership provides third party cover.

I know some people think you have to insure but it does depend on your circumstances. I can afford to pay for treatment if necessary. I'm also not someone who would pay for extensive treatment. Dogs don't understand that treatment will make them feel better in 6 months.

We’re with PetPlan. The lifetime cover limit with BBM would worry me, having just had a dog cost well over that in under 18 months. (He was 6 years old when he became seriously ill.) PetPlan paid out all his claims without any problems at all.

The premiums do increase year on year with them, so it does end up costing more as they get older, plus once they reach 8 years old you have to pay a percentage of each treatment as well as the excess, but I wouldn’t go with anyone, purely for peace of mind, knowing, in a situation like we’ve just been through I don’t even have to hesitate to consider treatment, because I know it will be covered by them. It took a lot of the stress off knowing I could just rush him straight into the vet hospital and agree to all manner of tests and scans without fretting whether or not we could afford it.

Should read ‘I wouldn’t go with anyone else...’

@AmigoDog yes our dog is just a year old and it’s going up £5. We have made one claim after a grape eating incident. I think it’s about £44 a month now.

We had a cavalier insured with pet plan, year 1 it was approx £40 per month, by year 12 it was approx £120 per month. He used it a lot though, that may have been why it increased so much.

The excess per claim also increased.

I think my dogs was about £30ish when started with petplan at 6/7yrs and now £53p/m at 13yrs. It goes up a couple £ per month on premiums annually but is actually less than previous insurer (they started cheaper) & this is with regular claims too as it doesn't make a difference.

I pay 20% of vet bill too now she's older but majority of insurers make it unaffordable to insure at all when they get old or after big claim, at the moment her arthritis medications are more than the premiums.

20k sounds a lot, but could quickly get used up if say had some orthopedic problems (very common) and then required surgery, pain relief & other treatments for rest of life.
My dogs been pretty healthy but it must be upto at least £7k over past few years and I live in cheapish area for vet fees.

BBM is still fairly new so hard to know how will progress. When I was choosing, I went with petplan as I wanted stability as Halifax, axa left market altogether & m&s changed underwriters leaving people over a barrel if had preexisting conditions, which most do after a while given its anything on the vet records rather than claimed.

just make sure you settle by the time your dog hits 8. Was really easy to shop around at renewal up to that point then at 8 had hardly any choice. My now 9.5 year old dog has a lifetime plan for £20 per month but I have to pay a certain % of costs now

Our dog’s insurance went up by leaps every year after age eight despite no claims until her final illness. This seems so unreasonable considering many dogs reach their late teens now. Eight for most breeds is equivalent to a person of about 45.

Thank you so much everybody. I’ve gone with PetPlan.
The magic age 8 is good to know too. I really appreciate you all sharing your experiences with me.

Our cat insurance has gone up from £140 pm to £220pm, with anything thyroid excluded. She's 20