Petplan Insurance Cancellation

dacouch

medders2604 wrote: »

The premium is very very high, how old is your dog and is it pedigree?

My dog (a bit of this and bits of that breed) is 13 now had numerous claims over the years and I only pay £37 per month with £150 excess and 30% contribution. Its a lot of money and I did consider cancelling a while ago but kept it and am sooooo glad as she has now been diagnosed as diabetic and with insulin, needles, blood testing kits and prescription diet as well as consultations her bill is well in excess of £1500 since December.

Pet Insurers charge less for Heinz 57 as they are normally much more hardy than normal dogs so they get less claims so the premiums are lower

dacouch

I think you can cancel with Pet Plan mid term (They may had an admin charge) providing you have not made a claim from them in the current period of Insurance.

You could take cover out with a cheaper company, just bear in mind a new company will exclude any cover for any existing conditions. The majority of the cheap companies will only pay for a condition for one period of Insurance then they exclude it, in addition they will normally only cover the dog until they are aged about 8 where as the more expensive companies will keep covering providing you keep renewing. Which is why the cheaper companies are so much cheaper.

So if you do change insurer check the small print, as a rough guide if they are massively cheaper than pet plan they probably have the exclusions.

P.S I think Pet Plan charge a little more for rottveilars on top of the normal prices

krato

Thanks for all of your replies it's made me think more about it. I guess I'll have to pay up, I'll probably put it on my credit card as there's no way I can afford the extra per month. Your right they class rottweilers as a select breed, so it adds to the premium, my post code also bumps it up due to living in Manchester. I just hope everything goes well, bills already gone up enough surely this can't keep happening! Where's all my good luck? =[

dacouch

Inflation in vets bills runs ar around 10% a year plus they are continually coming up with new treatments that never existed so each year the pet insurers claims bill go up massively so they are passed on to the policy holders

mum2one

We pay £45 a month, and have £90 excess and now 20% of the bill with petplan, ours is a 13 1/2 yr old pedigree Springer Spaniel, a lot of the cheaper policies will only pay out a maximum sum for the dog per illness, so say its 8k, and you have a dog that needs a lifetime of treatment such as diabetices etc then u may find once the sum has been paid out you have to find the rest.
We were extremely lucky we were insured with petplan, as 4 yrs ago, our dog fractured a bone at the bottom of his spine and this fragmented into his spinal cord - we had 2 options either see a specialist and c what they say, but be prepared we could lose the dog, or lose him there and then, we ended at the specialist pet hospital we went to one the far side of Chester, our dog had to have a partial mri scan, it was heart breaking, he was temporary paralysed, and it was a 50/50 at to whether he would recover. Then we were on £60 excess only, I have to say thank god he recovered, he got 95% mobilty back, but we had to cancel holidays, and I can not thank petplan enough and the pet hospital. After the intial assesment, mri scan, treatment via tablets, and a further follow up assesment at the hospital, the bill came in at about 2k. So even over the dogs lifetime we have most proberly paid more into the policy than we had out, but that is a chance we are willing to take.
I know its a lot of money, but if you do go for a cheaper insurance please check out the small print.

dacouch

Oh I forgot a good trick that will save you a fortune. If your vet prescibes any medication you can buy this on the internet for a fraction of the price through special websites. They normally deliver the next day. (They will even do the insulin)

Just google "Pet + Medicines"

It will save you about 60% of the medications and flea treatments you pay the vet, lots and lots of people do it (There is probably a thread about it on MSE) and Martin would be proud of you for doing this

dacouch

Thats a nice post mum2one, I'm glad your dog recovered, springers are lovely aren't they.

As I said in my earlier post new treatments come along all the time in the vet business (Most of them filter down from human medicine). The MRI scan he had is an example of the new treatments that weren't around a couple of years ago for pets, I bet the MRI scan was very expensive

mum2one

dacouch wrote: »

Thats a nice post mum2one, I'm glad your dog recovered, springers are lovely aren't they.

As I said in my earlier post new treatments come along all the time in the vet business (Most of them filter down from human medicine). The MRI scan he had is an example of the new treatments that weren't around a couple of years ago for pets, I bet the MRI scan was very expensive

Thank you, yes this os 4 yrs ago and the part mri was £800.
Hes a little star... (big star) but were living on borrowed time, he will be 14 in June, which is an excellent age for Spaniels, but hes got prostrate probs, the vets xrayed but couldnt work out which was the bladder and which was the prostrate, they said they could operate but he wouldnt survive the op, and as long as hes happy, hes eating, drinking, haveing walkies and waterworks etc normal, enjoy the time.
Didn't help earlier took DD to see Marley and Me, and hense at the end I'm sobbing my heart out, luckly I wasnt the only one. Came home and gave Whisky a big hug.
We've been so lucky with him, hes been spolit rotten by day 1, and he was 8 when I had dd, and we were worried that he wouldnt accept her, when we came home from hospital I put dd on settee, Whisky jumped up, and curled himself around her as if to say I'm protecting her. There inseperable, we live by the school dd goes to and at play times Whisky is out in the garden looking at the playground and wont move till all the kids go back inside, and when shes due home from school hes up down, in and out like a cat on a tin roof. xx

dacouch

They are very clever dogs and very hyperactive and absolute nutters, they just want to play all the time

krato

Again thanks for all of your replies =]

I'm still thinking about it, however came up with the plan of paying monthly on my credit card, that way if I can't afford to pay it one month it isn't too much of an issue. I'd be paying off more than pet plan so the payments wouldn't carry over to the following year, however I'd only be paying off a little of what's already on my card.. =/

Thanks for the medication tip! My vets at the moment is very cheap, she had antibiotics, antiinflamitorys an injection (not sure what for) and a check up which only came to £18, yesterday we took her back for the vet to see how she's doing, he gave her a quick look over and told us to go back on Saturday- he didn't charge for the visit, which my previous vets would have done. I don't know if this is cheap compared to what others pay but from my experience it is.

I'm just not looking forward to next years premium if I have to claim this year and wonder if it would be best for someone else who is financially stable to look after her instead =[