Insurance Petplan or Bought By Many

[leosayershair]

For 12 week old puppy?

Bought by Many Complete quote £25 or Petplan Ultimate £33?

Or any other recommendations?

Does the cost go up by much for following years?

And do they deal direct with vet or would I have to pay any vets bill first then claim?

I would opt for Petplan over Bought by Many. We are claiming through the BbM just now and it is a nightmare. Previously we had a Petplan policy and their claims process was excellent. I stupidly thought the cheaper policy with BbM was a better buy. How wrong was I!

The cost will most likely go up year on year with any insurer due to claims, ongoing conditions your pet has, their age etc. But this is all pretty standard for any insurance.

Most insurers will pay your vet direct. However some vets (ours included) want request payment from the customer up front, then you need to claim back from the insurer.

I’ve used Direct Line now for over 5 years, 2 dogs, 2 cats - all had payouts and never had a problem or huge premium hikes.

Look at Animal Friends. Can't recommend enough from personal experience. They process claims really quickly.

My dogs 14 been with petplan since about 6/7, the premiums don't rise with your own claims so can put it all through without worry, of course they all go up as its based on risk/costs in general (breed/area etc) but overall its been reasonable. Not sure what it started at maybe £28 and now £63 + 20% of vet fees but I don't mind that as rather premiums stay affordable. Her medication alone is £90 a month & they covered her stem cell treatment.

They've occasionally messed up with admin things but are easy to contact & have sorted it out quickly. They've always paid out and usually done in a week so the vets & specialists are happy to claim direct so only have to pay any excess to them.

BBM offer good alternative to petplan but still fairly new to market so not sure how will pan out long-term.

On arthritis FB group regularly see people having to cancel insurance policies because insurers hiked up the premiums (£150-200pm isn't unusual) to get rid of riskier/expensive customers when dogs have high claims or hit old age but this often when you need it the most.

Anything noted on vet records (claimed or not) is preexisting if want to change insurers & they usually group so diarrhoea will be all bowel conditions. Sometimes they will review if not reoccurred for period with minor things but its all at their discretion. So you really have to think long term & if will still be good policy when dog is 7+ compared to other types of insurance where know you can shop around each renewal.
Make sure you read the policy details fully so you know exactly what it covers. Animal Friends seem to be the worst according to an orthopedic vets for people discovering they aren't covered for what they thought and ending up with barely enough for the anesthesia cost when probably needing surgery. Specialist consults can be anywhere £100-500 diagnostic MRI £1.2-3k even hospitalisation care can quickly rack up a horrific bill.

Same as ScattieHattie here. Ddog is over 15 now, considered a large breed (although technically a mutt as he’s a Lurcher, but they insure him as a crossbreed) insured with PetPlan and his monthly premium is £65 + 20% of vet fees.

We haven’t had any admin issues with them and they have paid out consistently and quickly, including over £20,000 for our other dog in just under 18 months. A lot of vets will also deal direct with them, which is a godsend when you are dealing with all the stress of a sick dog and high vet bills, as it means you don’t have to pay up front and claim it back or deal with massive claim forms.

Thank you for the replies.

Those using PetPlan which cover do you have? Classic, Classic + or Ultimate?

I have the £4K classic and it honestly isn't enough but as I have claimed for just about every body part on my dog I can't change it now.

If I could turn the clock back I would have just gone for the top one. The reason I say that is we had a bill for over £2k for a bad bout of d&v requiring admissions, had faced (fortunately didn't need it in the end) an operation after an accident of over £5k and know someone who had over £10k bill for their dog.

Old girl is on £7k plan and my younger dog I upped from £7 to £12k ultimate when it was allowed at renewal while he had no preexisting conditions (you can reduce cover anytime) as can see at moment the £7k may not stretch far enough now, let alone 5yrs time as the cover doesn't increase year on year like vets bills does.

@sakuramiyagi

I would opt for Petplan over Bought by Many. We are claiming through the BbM just now and it is a nightmare. Previously we had a Petplan policy and their claims process was excellent. I stupidly thought the cheaper policy with BbM was a better buy. How wrong was I!

The cost will most likely go up year on year with any insurer due to claims, ongoing conditions your pet has, their age etc. But this is all pretty standard for any insurance.

Most insurers will pay your vet direct. However some vets (ours included) want request payment from the customer up front, then you need to claim back from the insurer.

I claimed with no issues with BBM. Was all done online

We are with Bought by Many, puppy broke her elbow falling down stairs at 12 weeks old, in total £4.5k vets bill which was paid for swiftly and with no hassle. Highly recommend.

Just to add, BBM paid vets directly

Petplan have always been great with us. Our dog is going to be classed as 'older' next year (8) so we will change from £53pcm to £x pcm + 20% of the bill.

We've used both - always Petplan for our previous two dogs, but when we adopted our current boy he was 8 1/2 and they wouldn't give him lifetime cover, so we went with BBM. Never had a problem claiming with either of them but BBM have paid up more quickly and settled with the vet directly, which is less hassle.

I'm with petplan and have just had to take my dog to emergency vet this weekend - they said they always breathe a sigh of relief when a dog is with petplan because they are the best. Some vet practices will do the claim for you and others expect you to do it - they always pay out within a week