Pet insurance - sorry ! Premium just shot up

[PollyPJ]

Morning all. Today's task is to sort out my insurance. I've been with petplan since we got our dog (medium cross breed terrier )
Started £21 and is now £68 on renewal. He's 5. No claims whatsoever in that time
But I hate insurance and sorting it out stressed me out insanely.
Can anyone recommend an alternative ? I've got so many quotes which are way way cheaper -like £20 a month premium including animal friends and a few others but are they ok? I'd like to benefit from your lived experience xperience please if possible. Thank you !

It will still be in his medical notes, so could still be used as grounds for exclusions.

Unfortunately it will still count as an exclusion 😬

Yikes. One cheeky slice of cake and it's held against him and us. Poor thing. He made a mistake ! 🤣. I need to get on a laptop for this shizzle and start reading fine print. One questionnaire has asked about vet treatment in last two years but nothing before. I'll have to be really careful. You can't get a petplan quote without email either which is annoying as I want to test it

I used Animal Friends for my last dog and am for my current dog. Claimed for both dogs and the process so simple and quick. I can't fault them.

One of mine eat a Nerf gun bullet - PetPlan has excluded anything to do with the digestive tract.

Did they require more treatment beyond inducing vomiting?

Quite honestly, I’d stay where you are, only because the new insurer will exclude anything to do with vomiting/tummy issues due to cake-gate. I’m not sure how we’re supposed to change insurers because of this stupid rule. Your existing company will cover vomiting and tummy but new won’t. It’s very annoying.

I’ve had my last and current dog insured with Animal Friends. Last dog had loads of issues, especially as she got older and we claimed many times. Never had any problem with claims being refused and they always paid up quickly.

You can adjust the level of cover and excess to suit your budget to bring down the premium. I currently pay around £30 per month for £6000 limit per condition that renews each year and a £159 excess for a small dog. As she gets older and premiums increase, I may change the level of cover and/or excess but I’ll decide according to my circumstances and her health when that time comes.

I’ve no doubt that Pet Plan are great, but so they should be for the premiums they charge and it’s a balance. As long as you go with any other insurer having done your homework and with your eyes wide open, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t go with anyone else. As others have mentioned, for me the biggest concern would be worrying that they wouldn’t pay out for pre-existing conditions so just be really careful before switching to anyone new.

In 30 years of owning dogs, we insured the first but as she got older, everything was excluded so we've not insured her two successors... the money is saved into a pet health pot instead. We were quids in on dog two who was only ill for the last three days, but have had more expenses with the current one.

We have this issue at the moment. Our DDog is about to turn 8 years old, and in december 23 she had to have surgery for a torn cruciate ligament, which was a chunky £5k plus bill. We're with Tesco, they covered the surgery costs with no quibble whatsoever, but out insurance basically doubled in cost in the following year. Our vet advised that ddog is at higher risk of the other back ligament going too, so I'm a bit stuck. We can't not insure her, because that's not a bill we could just cover at the moment, but we don't seem to be able to switch or she wouldn't be covered anyway.

@CoubousAndTourmalet Oh goodness I really wasn't trying to be snotty At All. I just said we went with them mainly for cost & therefore that's the reason - a family member whose a vet saying they would use pet plan would have definitely gone into our decision.. I was trying to put it in context (Clearly hamfistedly. ) I know you were trying to be helpful and I was too - geniuinely did not mean to come across as snotty and I apologise that I did so. I feel rather mortified.

Sorry 💐

@BasiliskStareyou really weren't being snotty.

I agree with @baggieAnn

Sainsburys is very good

Yes our vet said exactly the same thing about Petplan.

My policy had a bigger increase than thst - almost doubled to £70 a month with Manypets. Two year old lab.

We did the same with our rescue, and were mostly lucky although we did motor through a large chunk of it in the final weeks of her life.
Our vet was very kind and aware we self insured, assuring us some tests were not compulsory and very unlikely to change the outcome. She was very clearly at the end of her life. We like to think she had a happy retirement with us.

Vets aren't exactly insurance experts and they might not be being entirely impartial.

We’re with LV= for one of our dogs and they’ve been excellent. I say that but it’s due for renewal soon and I’m expecting it to go up by a chunk and some co-payment as he’s 8 now. But he’s been on lifelong medication for a few years which costs around £50 a month and our current premium is £50 a month. They also pay the vet direct so we don’t have to pay up front.

Nope. The vets were worried it would swell as it was foam and she was only 9 weeks old, so she had an injection to make her sick.
A couple of weeks after, she needed her anal glands emptying.
This was all during the four weeks of free KC insurance. So when I switched to PetPlan, they basically excluded everything to do with the digestive tract from entry to exit.
I learnt my lesson and insured the next one before I picked her up.

We use MoreThan for our 7 year old lab. The premium is now £84 per month, with only one claim for a lump on his nose which turned out to be nothing. £100 excess per claim.

however - it covers us for up to £6000 per condition, per year, lifetime. nothing is or will be excluded.

Lab has just been diagnosed with arthritis which was a £2,000 claim, and had a week in-patient care after an horrendous reaction to Metacam given, which wrecked his stomach.

we haven’t had the entire bill for that yet but expecting £3k plus.

so I’m expecting the premium to rocket next year but still glad we have the cover.

we will also have to pay 20% of any claim from when he is 9.

Petplan are excellent. You really do get what you pay for with them.

If anyone of you changes pet insurance please be aware that anything you’ve seen a vet for will be classed as a pre-existing condition and will not be covered.
And make sure your new policy has a lifetime cover in it as a lot of cheap insurance doesn’t pay out after the first year as again it ends up pre-existing.
my insurance plan for my old girl started off at £25 a month as a puppy but ended up £83 a month which for us was good as she had a lifetime condition for which medication was over £200 per month.
Really think carefully and do your research.
my insurance paid for everything over 13 years including illness and an accident they never once refused a claim.

That’s who we were with
you can’t get better than petplan

@PollyPJ just got an email today to say our oldest dog 11 went from £85pm to £90, was £25 when we got her as a pup.

I’ve given it up, but we do have pretty good savings. Instead of the £70 a month it wanted, £50 a month now goes into its own savings pot. It was getting ridiculous