Pet Insurance Advise - Dog

[Dave20046]

Vets say Petplan are good but they ripped me off a bit once so I avoid.


Dog surgery can be expensive so not sure the self insure route will be best but it's probably quite a close thing. I think for the first 5 years premiums were about £14 a month, I'm on year 10 now at £23 per month so roughly spent a little over £3k on insurance. The excesses have been prohibitive of claiming on little stuff but we did once decide a watch looked tasty and ate that so surgery then was about £1200. I just need something slightly bigger to be surgically removed before death and I reckon I'll be quids in, perhaps a large pocket watch or a small alarm clock.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by shiftin_gear98

Thanks for all the comments.

Looking at my local Vet's website they don't seem to be linked to any insurance. But I will ask them as I need to get pup booked in with them for his jabs etc.
They do a PHP Pet Health Plan, @ £15.00 a month to cover the yearly cost of jabs worms etc. But again I have no idea if this is worth it or not.

I did look at PetPlan last night, they however seem to be quite expensive, £44.01 for basic cover and £71.29 for similar cover to Bought by Many. I will have to study the wording for both companies policy's.

Having looked at reviews for More Than this morning I'm not gonna give them a second thought.
The amount of 1 star reviews were way too high. Not worth the risk in paying if they will not pay out.

On companies I've had Petplan, Animal Friends (didn't have an issue and I think they got lumped with the surgery but the Vet strongly warned me to leave them), Direct line and now with Sainsburies. Haven't tested sainsburies yet.

If it hasn't already been said; your best bet is to get one decent provider go for lifetime cover and stick with them. It's actually how Petplan stung me, I bought Lifetime cover and they said 'you get a free 8 week trial first' which I obviously accepted, I actually had to make a claim 4 weeks in which went ok but then the complaint reoccurred on week 9 and they denied it because the trial they gave me wasn't Lifetime cover plan so they treated it as a pre-existing complaint even though I'd actually bought Lifetime cover on the policy I subscribed to. Sneaky ****s.

[shiftin_gear98]

Dave, Fingers crossed it doesn't eat anything else.

What dog do you have, £23.00 a month for a 10 year old seems a bargain.
I'm being quote £40+ for a pup. Bloody pedigree mutt.
I'm beginning to wonder what pitful's owning a lab is going to bring.

[shiftin_gear98]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

On companies I've had Petplan, Animal Friends (didn't have an issue and I think they got lumped with the surgery but the Vet strongly warned me to leave them), Direct line and now with Sainsburies. Haven't tested sainsburies yet.

If it hasn't already been said; your best bet is to get one decent provider go for lifetime cover and stick with them. It's actually how Petplan stung me, I bought Lifetime cover and they said 'you get a free 8 week trial first' which I obviously accepted, I actually had to make a claim 4 weeks in which went ok but then the complaint reoccurred on week 9 and they denied it because the trial they gave me wasn't Lifetime cover plan so they treated it as a pre-existing complaint even though I'd actually bought Lifetime cover on the policy I subscribed to. Sneaky ****s.

That is a bit of a **** take.
Do you do yearly plans now?

[shiftin_gear98]

Has anybody done the Vet monthly health plan thing?
I have no idea if £15.00 a month is good or not, compared to just paying for what you need as and when.
My vet doesn't seem to advertise pricing.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by shiftin_gear98

Dave, Fingers crossed it doesn't eat anything else.

What dog do you have, £23.00 a month for a 10 year old seems a bargain.
I'm being quote £40+ for a pup. Bloody pedigree mutt.
I'm beginning to wonder what pitful's owning a lab is going to bring.

Haha I was trying to save my self from the shame... it's a cat that thinks it's a dog!

That premium makes self insure a bit more attractive but then again I know two people who bought pedigree puppies and thought 'I'll arrange insurance later' - number one ate something it shouldn't have that cost £2k and number 2 found the puppy had some complex defect that took a lot of blood transfusions etc. the total was about £6k of debt for the owner

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by shiftin_gear98

That is a bit of a **** take.
Do you do yearly plans now?

Yeah it was a shyster mov, they must have figured most problems rear their heads in the infant stages so commercially they can dodge the long term responsibility of those complaints if they offer a 'free trial' in those first 2 months.

I go for a yearly lifetime cover now.
You will also learn, Vets profit from pretty much every little aspect. From the food they sell to subscriptions. I started off at a big chain vets who tried to refuse treatmeant because I wasn't buying their overpriced food claiming that the kitten may have had IBS which needed ruling out, took it to a little independent and they gave him antibiotics quite cheaply and all was good forever more.

[shiftin_gear98]

Yeah I think it'll be a steep learning curve. My vet is a local independent. So hopefully they are good.
No shame in it being a cat, any feedback and advice welcomed. Thanks.

And yeah I think the chances of something happening when they are young and dumb. Is quite high.

[Biker Biggles]

One other consideration. Im told that people are paying seriously silly money to buy their dogs these days and that cost needs to be factored in. Not doing so gives my self insurance fund a nice start in life. I would certainly baulk at paying a grand or even more for a new dog when there are plenty of very nice ones available for a niminal amount from rescue centres.

[shiftin_gear98]

You'd have kittens if you knew how much this damn dog is costing already.