Pet plan or bought by many

[Doggylover2021]

Really struggling what to do here and would welcome advice.

I’d like to go with pet plan for my dog (3 month old pupp) however they seem ridiculously expensive. Just got quoted on the phone £96/month which she then dropped to £76. However when I went online and got a quote it came out as £64. But that still seems so steep for a relatively young and healthy dog.

Went on bought for many and got £38/month which seems more reasonable. However their trust pilot reviews are worrying.

Help !

Have a look at Tesco pet insurance too - we've found them very good

Ive used More than and Animal Friends in the past, both have paid out claims with no issues.

That seems awfully expensive for Petplan. My policy for a 7-year-old terrier with a lifelong condition is less than half that. What breed are we talking?

Bought by many is amazing! They also have free vet video calling included which is REALLY helpful!

We have PetPlan for all our pets. When one of our dogs managed to rupture the cruciate ligaments in both knees, PetPlan paid up for all the vet visits, x-rays, two orthopaedic operations to stabilise her knees, another orthopaedic operation when she dislocated her kneecap (a rare complication of the other surgery), all the follow-ups and x-rays post op, and for treating the gastric ulcer caused by the pain meds for the gastric ulcer. Total cost - just over £10,000.

PetPlan paid for it all, without a murmur, and they paid it all directly to the vet hospital - we didn’t have to find all that money and then claim it back. The only thing they didn’t pay for was the special food she needed while recovering from the ulcer, but that was nothing, compared to what they did pay for.

We have always had good service from PetPlan, and I would recommend them most highly.

Is this because of existing conditions?

No existing conditions at all. I hear all the good things about pet plan and would really like to go with them but it feels like they are honestly taking the proverbial P with the amounts they’ve quoted on the phone or online.

My dog is a F1B cockapoo. Healthy and vet checked.

Can I ask - does bought by many not pay directly to the vet??

I have Animal Friends for my cats, one of who had terrible issues after breaking her leg, plus developing epilepsy. They were great and paid out quickly.

However, I did go with Bought by Many for Dpup, he is a labradoodle and I'm paying £14 a month. Although I fully expect this will jump to around £30 when he turns 1.

I also did it through Quidco and got cashback.

Animal Friends are excellent. They pay out immediately and their cover is very comprehensive and a good price.

Can I ask - does bought by many not pay directly to the vet??

Depends on the vet. Not heard any that haven't, but best to check with your vet before you go ahead

Bought by many paid direct to my vet with no problems. They paid out really quickly with our claim, even though they said at the time it might take longer due to the lockdown (first one), they also give text updates to how your claim is progressing.

That’s great thank you! Can I ask caplin how yours is £14/month? Is that with cash back?

Do check with the vet and see who they claim with directly. I would avoid animal friends

@Doggylover2021 I went via Quidco for cash back and opted for the lifetime cover up to £7k a year, the premium came up as £14 and then there was cash back on top.

But they do hike up significantly at renewal, it is a marketing ploy to draw you in. But they gave the most bang for you buck.

We have BBM.

I really rate them. We also got a higher level of cover than with PP.

We've only had to make one claim and they were completely non fuss to deal with.

Have also used there on line video calling when he was unwell. The vet was excellent.

I like the fact they provide cover abroad too as we had been planning on taking him to France with us, obviously this never happened.

We are with BBM, they paid nearly £4000 in the first year for our Labrador puppy! We got the renewal and it's was £1 cheaper than last year! We are very happy with them, some of the claims took a little longer during lockdown but they pay the vets direct for big things. And anything small like a check up got paid to me within a couple of days. We pay around £26 for £7k worth of claims a year, lifetime policy. Our vet prescribes joint supplements so we claim £40 every 6 weeks for them. So we are at the moment always claiming more than paying. We know that in the future the monthly payments may get higher, but its worth it for the peace of mind

I've got Petplan they are sooo expensive and they really hike their prices up at renewal time.

The only thing I like about them is if your dog has not seen the vet for x amount of time for a pre-existing condition (in my dogs case it was his tummy) they include it on the policy whereas a lot of the other insurance automatically exclude any pre-existing conditions.

Our 8 year old labrador is "only" £65/month on petplan. Why on earth is your quote so high for a mixed breed?. I just put it in online and was much much less.

Petplan is expensive but we have claimed more than the premiums have cost us so far. Last claim, last year and a £2k+ for an mri scan 😱

Companies with low premiums are only low because they payout on less claims or have poorer customer service when you need it. Be careful who you choose now as once they have an existing condition you are either stuck with them or won't get it covered elsewhere.

Thanks weallhavewings. What did you get when you put it in? I wonder why mine is so much higher. Maybe it depends on postcode??

We’ve recently changed from Petplan to Bought By Many as the Petplan renewal was almost double - dog is 2, had no claims, no vet visits other than when she was spayed/her vacs/annual check up.

Our vet does direct pay with BBM, pretty much everyone I know has BBM and rave about them and we’ve got higher cover than we had with Petplan.

I use Petplan Equine for my horses (mainly because vet only does direct pay with them or NFU) but can’t say I particularly rate them. DD’s pony took a kick on her leg in the field - vet was concerned there may be a fracture so x-rayed her but found nothing, few days box rest and she was as right as rain, but they excluded everything for all legs for the following year - they’ve removed the exclusion now to be fair.

Our vet will not do direct pay with Animal Friends - we had them with our old cat and had no problems with them at all, but reading the reviews I think we were lucky

I would always have insurance for a puppy, our dogs have always cost us the most in the start and end of their lives.

We have BBM for our current puppy. He came from a good breeder, with health checked parents and Grandparents. However they still develop elbow dysplasia. BBM paid out over £8000 for their surgery and Physiotherapy

Postcode and type of dog have a huge effect on premium prices with pet plan.
Dog types that have lots of claims will be many times more expensive than a generally healthier breed. My terriers are really cheap to insure compared to my friends french bulldog. Not a surprise when you look at the conditions french bulldogs are prone to.

But are they the same when you compare? How much payout per condition? Is it lifelong payout for a lifelong condition, or is it a year max? Etc. You need to compare like with like.

I have a seven year old labradoodle insured with petplan (£7000 policy) which costs £56 a month. Your quote seems an awful lot for a pup. Petplan are good at not increasing the costs by a huge amount year on year. Morethan were awful at doing this and my dog increased from £19 to £96 in five years although she did have health issues.

We're with BBM. 4 year old spaniel. I've paid approx. £1000 in premiums over his lifetime and claimed about £11k in costs - mainly for a bastard of an ear infection.

I have had no problems at all. All claims paid quickly and easily - the bigger ones straight to the vet. No hike to the price as a result of them.

I really rate them.