Petplan insurance for new puppy £58 (after discount)

[Griffalo123]

Hi,

We’ll shortly have our new puppy and I’m looking at insurance. Having done some research, Petplan seem to be great but the first year’s premium for £12k of cover is £58.14 (after a 20% discount!).
I’m worried that once the 20% no longer applies, and my dog gets older, the cost could spiral.

The highest equivalent cover with Many Pets is £35 pm - a lot less. Reviews also seem good but I’m worried it could be a false economy if the costs were to increase faster.

A table of how cosy may increase would be great but there’s nothing like this sadly.

Can anyone tell me how much they’ve seen costs rise annually with either of the above insurers?

Thanks!

We claim the max every year for our dog since we got him and its gone up £4/month the second year. £6/ month third year. We're with Animal Friends, they've been great.

I have one dog with direct line - they’ve been great.
My other dog is with animal friends, it’s currently about £30 a month.

Worst increase in costs in a year was with Many Pets. They hiked up the cost after the initial first year.

We usually went with Pet Plan but changed due to cost but then returned to Pet Plan.

I was with Many pets for a few years and claimed a couple of times without any issue.

They increased the premium massively this year so I moved to John Lewis, bought direct as was cheaper than going through comparison sites. JL have a similar high level of cover.

I'm with Petplan for a 4 year old moggie, my renewal is £32 per month for £7,500 lifetime cover. I'm too scared to shop around as my previous moggie had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and died just before he was 6 and Petplan paid out quickly and with no fuss. I had a limit of £5,000 with him and was nearly up to it when he died.

I’m with Manypets and just renewed my policy. They increased the premium by a couple of pounds per month. Having the dog neutered has brought the price down, plus opting out the scheme where you get money back if you don’t claim. My premiums are £5 cheaper per month than last year! Now £35 per month.(One year old lab).

If you want a referral code, I can send you one.

Forgot to say, I’ve got max cover (£15000). Did think of reducing it to £7000, but a friend just exceeded that cost with with her seven year old dog, so decided to keep the higher limit.

I'm with More Than. £36.27/month for 8yo mongrel. We've made claims in the past three years for xrays, dental extraction and medication. £4k cover

I love but regret my dog. That’s £420/year you could be putting towards your own child

We're with Tesco and pay £57 a month for 25k worth of cover (on a lifetime policy).

That's for a 5yo beagle.

Just realised I contradicted myself. They initially increased my premium, but then I phoned them, updated them on the neutering,and opted out the scheme, which brought the cost down.

Good pet insurance is expensive and yes if it's starting out that high it will only get higher as the dog ages.

My dog is 10 now and I pay £155 pcm for her insurance. Her insurance wasn't so much when she was young, but I've claimed several times over the years.

It has been worth every penny. Just this year alone she's had two major hind leg operations that cost nearly £4k each. John Lewis pet insurance have paid the full amount back both times (minus the excess) and their service and support has been excellent.

If you have a healthy dog and nothing ever goes wrong then it's easy to see insurance as a rip off. My little dog has not been so fortunate and I'm so grateful I paid for the best cover for her even though it is painful paying the premium each month.

Oh do piss off. Plenty of dog owners have no kids, grown up kids or can afford to take care of all their responsibilities.

I can assure you that all of us can do without the "sanctimommy" attitude.

We were with Petplan for 8 years until she died a few months ago.
We claimed a lot and we were never penalised with soaring premiums.
It went up a little bit every year and all claims were paid without question.
For that level of cover I think that's pretty good.

I was with petplan for 14 years with one border collie. In that time my premium went from around £20-£70. The biggest jumps were in the later years. I claimed almost every year.

In comparison, I insured a dog with many pets and the premium jumped from £30-£60 from year 1 to year 2. I wouldn’t use them again.

At the moment I’m using Agria. They are underwritten by the same insurer as the kennel club I believe. I’ve had no problems and no huge jumps either, I think it increased around £5 last year.

I’m with More Than and my renewal letter has come through today - it’s now £32.64 a month, premier policy - lifetime cover etc etc

I remember going through Compare the Meerkat when I first got dog, you can instantly see the cover you’re getting, the premiums etc.

Have you looked at the Petplan covered for life options? You get a quota on a fixed price, so you won’t see increases on a year on year basis. I opted for the middle range. I am very happy with this provider so far.

I'm with ManyPets. For me it went down I. The second year but up ever since then. Cannot remember exactly but along the lines of

Year 1 - £28pm
Year 2 - £25pm
Year 3 - £40pm
Year 4 - £55pm
Year 5 - £65pm
Year 6 - £75pm

£15kpa lifetime cover.

I just think dog insurance is expensive and budgeted for it to go as high as £150pm as the dog ages. Might not get that high but I budget up to five years ahead and wanted to ensure it was covered.

I think the price you pay when they are little lulls you into thinking that is the normal price and it might go up a little bit. IME it goes up a lot as they age.

I’m with pet plan. It was £35 a month, then £42 then I got quoted £58-something. I called up and dropped the annual max amount pay out from £12k to £9k, cancelled the life insurance payment (figured I wouldn’t rush out to buy a replacement if DDog died), and it’s now £38 a month.

pretty much all dog insurance options are expensive this year so figured I’d stay with the company my vet will settle directly with rather than me having to pay for treatment then claim the money back. Do factor that in when you decide if you want to change insurance companies, I know people who’ve struggled to pay a £3k bill at the vets that’s needed settling as the treatment happened, even though the insurance will pay you back a month or so later. perhaps worth a call to your vets to see which companies they are happy to settle directly with?

Why on earth would you get a dog if resent spending money to keep them. £420 doesn't go very far towards vets bill these days if dog gets ill or has an accident so you'd be depriving your child even more money without buying pet insurance or you could just euthanise your dog and save £'s I mean I'm sure your child will appreciate you saving money for them.

Many pets went from £50 to £75 (dog is 5). Dropped to £70 when I called and offered a £20 Amazon voucher. John Lewis quoted £45 for a similar level of cover.

We're with co-op, £10k lifetime cover. £18 pm in year 1, just going up to £23 in year 2.

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer everyone. Some extra food for thought!

Interesting to see how prices have changed for some and how you can potentially ‘haggle’ a bit/make adjustments at renewal.

I know this won’t suit everyone, so please don’t pile onto me which I’m expecting on here to be honest, but why not think about what I’ve always done.
I have five dogs, used to have more as I showed & bred my at risk rare breed for over forty years at all the main shows, Insurance would have been extortionate for so many. So I set up years ago a separate building society account & paid into it regularly a lump sum probably something like an insurance premium for one or two of them, depending what I could afford to spare each month.
All vet bills have come out of that account over the years & a few other expenses my gang needed. The account now stands at £30k+ even after several huge vet bills through the years, money that would have been in some insurance firms profits.
As I say, not for everyone, though in all my years showing I never came across any other exhibitor or breeder who paid insurance, we all followed the same method.

I think that's more viable with multiple dogs - because the chances of all being sick are lower. Insurance is, after all, all about risk.

I know I currently stand at being about £10k better off for having insurance when I compare what I've paid to what I've claimed for my current dog.

That's insurance for you. It's all about who you want to carry the financial risk. You want someone else to carry it, you get insurance. You don't mind carrying the risk yourself, no need to insure.

I would hate the risk, so I pay someone else to have it instead