Pet plan premium increase

Kate0286

Hi,

I am looking for some advice please. I have a two year old cockapoo who is insured with pet plan-covered for life policy. The first year 21-22 the premium was £479, the second year 22-23 it was £551. The renewal docs for this year state the premium will be £694.80 with the monthly payment increasing from £45.95 to £57.90. 

I understand that the premium will increase each year but this seems like a huge jump (£551 to £694) for a two year old dog with no health conditions or claims. Does anyone know if this is a standard increase? If it keeps increasing this much each year I can only imagine what I'll be paying when she's 5 or 6. 

I'm not sure if I should look for a different insurance company or put savings into an account for her. I am aware of the astronomical costs of vet treatment but just trying to weigh up the pros and cons. 

Any advice is appreciated. This is my first dog and I havs no idea what seems normal or excessive with pet insurance. 

Thank you.

elsien

Petplan is one of the dearer ones but they are good and they don’t hoik the price up if you di claim. 

I think it’s most likely to be underlying increasing vet costs.
If you look at other insurers, properly check the cover limits and that they are genuinely for life. 

If you self insure (and some on here do) you need to be clear on how much vets bills can be. An overnight in an out of hours vet hospital with tests and a drip but no other treatment cost me £800 a couple of years ago. A cruciate ligament goes and you’re into the thousands. 

It may never happen but can you afford to cover if it does - that’s the basis of all insurance. I’ve had one dog that hardly needed anything and another where the insurer paid our more than I ever paid in due to chronic conditions.
And if you don’t want medical cover, at least look at third party cover in case of accidents - dogs trust membership will cover that, for example. 

Kate0286

Thanks for your reply. You have raised some good points. I queried the increase of £50 last year and was told it was due to vet costs in the area. It always feels like a gamble because she may never need it in which case it's money that could have been saved but as you point out something going wrong can cost thousands. My parents spent over £4000 on diagnostics and surgery for their cat as he wasn't insured. 

I'll have a look what options are available but already think I will stick with it this year and see how much it increases next year. I thought as she is young the bigger hikes in price would be further down the line but no prior experience with pet insurance. 

baser999

I’d certainly shop around; we used to for our cat until it reached a point where he had too many underlying problems we simply stopped trying to get cover. We simply have to pay for routine check ups and prescriptions. We get his medications on line, refusing to be ‘robbed’ any longer by the vet who charged us around £75 for pills we could buy for £30. Go figure.

sheramber

You can do quotes online to see what other companies would charge but remeber other companies increase premiums if you make a claim,

Check out reviews online for any company you are interested in.

Read the policy document ( not the summary)   carefully to know wexactly what you are covered for.

If you think another company offers a better deal then you can change but  remember there is an exclusion period at the beginning when you take out a new policy.

Self insurance is fine as long as you have time to save up a good sum before you need to claim and you do not  dip into it for something else.
  
You would need to save more than your current premium as £700 a year will take a while to reach a sizeable sum.  But you do have the money if you do not need to claim.

It is a gamble.

Petplan are the Rolls Royce of companies but their premiums can be  higher than others.

Kate0286

baser999 said:

I’d certainly shop around; we used to for our cat until it reached a point where he had too many underlying problems we simply stopped trying to get cover. We simply have to pay for routine check ups and prescriptions. We get his medications on line, refusing to be ‘robbed’ any longer by the vet who charged us around £75 for pills we could buy for £30. Go figure.

Thanks. The cost of medications at the vets is ridiculous. I paid £79 for three months of fea, worm and tic treatment and the pills were so huge she struggled to take them even when I tried to wrap them in food. The cost of animal health certificate for me to take her abroad for one entry into the EU is £200 whereas it was 40 euro in Belgium to get the vet to sign the animal health certificate for return to the UK and to administer worming tablet. The vet costs over here seem to increase at an alarming rate. 

Kate0286

sheramber said:

You can do quotes online to see what other companies would charge but remeber other companies increase premiums if you make a claim,

Check out reviews online for any company you are interested in.

Read the policy document ( not the summary)   carefully to know wexactly what you are covered for.

If you think another company offers a better deal then you can change but  remember there is an exclusion period at the beginning when you take out a new policy.

Self insurance is fine as long as you have time to save up a good sum before you need to claim and you do not  dip into it for something else.
  
You would need to save more than your current premium as £700 a year will take a while to reach a sizeable sum.  But you do have the money if you do not need to claim.

It is a gamble.

Petplan are the Rolls Royce of companies but their premiums can be  higher than others.

Thank you. I'll have a look at all of the things you mentioned, exclusions period at the begining is something I hadn't even thought about. I'll have a look and see what the options are. I've heard that pet plan normally pay out which was the main reason for going with them.

elsien

To be fair, we are shielded from the true cost of medication because of the NHS. We have no idea how much medications cost in the real world. Which is why animal meds prices can come as a bit of a surprise.
Plus online chemists who sell at a discount don’t have the associated overheads of a vets practice. I’m sure there are some rip off merchants out there but I’ve always been happy with my Vet and I have always felt that they have been quite transparent about costs.

Hedgepigs

The vet practice Vs online pharmacy pricing is largely due to volume pricing. The pharmaceutical companies offer big discount for the bulk wholesale purchases. Whereas local vets might only hold half a dozen of something at a time.

The big issue around veterinary costs is private equity firms buying up all the independent vets. So much so the Competition and Markets Authority are reviewing the situation. There is a public survey open about it too.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-respond-to-the-veterinary-services-market-for-pets-review

But this is why insurance premiums are sky rocketing 

KxMx

Kate0286 said:

baser999 said:

I’d certainly shop around; we used to for our cat until it reached a point where he had too many underlying problems we simply stopped trying to get cover. We simply have to pay for routine check ups and prescriptions. We get his medications on line, refusing to be ‘robbed’ any longer by the vet who charged us around £75 for pills we could buy for £30. Go figure.

Thanks. The cost of medications at the vets is ridiculous. I paid £79 for three months of fea, worm and tic treatment and the pills were so huge she struggled to take them even when I tried to wrap them in food. The cost of animal health certificate for me to take her abroad for one entry into the EU is £200 whereas it was 40 euro in Belgium to get the vet to sign the animal health certificate for return to the UK and to administer worming tablet. The vet costs over here seem to increase at an alarming rate. 

Always check with the Vet first, but when my cat needed anti biotic pills I ground them down using a mini mortar and pestle, and mixed the powder into her food. Worked a treat. 

For fleas/worms/ticks I always went for spot on drops.

Insurance wise when I changed a few times over the years (no claims or vet visits apart from routine check ups), I cancelled the old insurance only when the exclusion period on new insurance had passed. It is legal AFAIK.

I ended up with PetPlan who I can't recommend enough. My cat was PTS 4 years ago but I still hear similarly good things about them today. Had a £3k bill which was purely diagnosic, I didn't try the treatment as her diagnosis was terminal and for a few other reasons. They paid up as quick and quibble free as on the £30 bills.
I did by that time have a £115 excess and 20% co pay due to her age, but that was easily covered from savings. £3k would have wiped them out entirely with no easy way to replenish. 

sheramber

My vet offered me a prescription telling me I could buy the medication cheaper online and actually pointed out a company to me.