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!

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.

This isn't a bad idea in theory - and is probably sensible for older dogs, but the problems start when the dog gets sick within a few months of their life and you only have £100 put aside.

Our dog has always been healthy but I know people who've had issues with their dogs from 4-5 months of age. If they'd risked no insurance (and didn't have savings or a credit card) they'd have been screwed.

It’s a good idea but a gamble. Sone people will never claim, others will every year.

Yep.

For every person who says they've never claimed in 50 years of dog ownership, there'll be someone who did all the right research and ended up with a dog who was in the vets every six months for it's entire life, lol.

I guess if you have access to credit cards and/or savings that you're willing to use, insurance isn't really an issue, but most people don't have thousands they can access at the drop of a hat.

I'd say if you choose to self-insure, at least pay the £25 to Dogs' Trust every year so you have public liability in place - just in case.

A lot depends on the breed of dog, some sadly have lots of problems and this will be reflected in the premiums.

Our last dog was very sickly, we claimed just over £12k over her lifetime of 8 years, the premium increase didn't reflect all the claims we put in like car insurance does.

Yes that’s true. My breed tends to be a pretty robust, hardy breed so big issues were mostly not a problem. If you’re unlucky enough to have a puppy with real problems then it wouldn’t work. All my youngsters were from my own & I knew what was in, or rather not in, the pedigree going back generations, health & temperament were the two things important to me.