Pet Insurance Why is Pet Plan more expensive?

cheesecake28

We've recently got a small dog from a shelter. The shelter gave us 4 weeks free insurance with pet plan. To continue the insurance when the 4 free weeks end , they've quoted me £43 a month ( for £4000 of vet bills for all injuries and illness)

Yet when I do a search on comparison sites ,for similar policy , monthly prices start from £7 a month . So why is pet plan way more expensive , can someone enlighten me. I've never had pet insurance before. 

Pet plan say on their letter that they are more expensive because other cheaper policies have more restrictive cover leaving you to pay more of the vet bill, and cheaper policies will increase the price if you claim.  Is this really true?

Anyone had any experience?

DullGreyGuy

cheesecake28 said:

We've recently got a small dog from a shelter. The shelter gave us 4 weeks free insurance with pet plan. To continue the insurance when the 4 free weeks end , they've quoted me £43 a month ( for £4000 of vet bills for all injuries and illness)

Yet when I do a search on comparison sites ,for similar policy , monthly prices start from £7 a month . So why is pet plan way more expensive , can someone enlighten me. I've never had pet insurance before. 

Pet plan say on their letter that they are more expensive because other cheaper policies have more restrictive cover leaving you to pay more of the vet bill, and cheaper policies will increase the price if you claim.  Is this really true?

Anyone had any experience?

For a start are you comparing like for like? 

PetPlan used to only offer Lifetime policies but now also offer Essentials which is a time limited product where as others offer a third level that sits between the above two which is a maximum benefit. If you are comparing a time limited product with a lifetime policy that will create a vast difference  (unfortunately different companies use different marketing names). 

The other key difference is PetPlan dont consider claims history in their pricing whereas if your pet developed a chronic condition with most other insurers and you were claiming on the lifetime cover every year for its treatment the price of the insurance will sky rocket 

The problem with health insurance, pet or human, is that once you've made a claim you've little option about moving elsewhere because any new insurer is going to exclude that going forward so either you renew with your current insurer who've increased the price 5x again or you move to a new insurer and pay the £3,000 of vet treatments a year yourself for the now excluded condition and thats if you can find one. 

There can be a range of other different things that may be covered by one insurer but not by another, you may not want/need a 24/7 vet helpline to call others will not buy a policy without one. 


Note however PetPlan do put up the prices as your pet gets older and as vet bills continue to spiral so it only protects you from specific claims not the general inflation etc. 

Slinky

PP are more expensive because they pay out 90% of claims without question. 

We had £12K cover for our cat, who ran up a £9.5K bill for cancer treatment in a week. We had to pay the excess and the first 20% (would have been 10% if she was under 10 Corrected, see below), but the rest was paid direct to the vet within 10 days. After renewal, where the premium increased by just £5 per month, she was still covered for the same cancer. Many policies will not give ongoing cover for claimed-for conditions after renewal, so if for example your pet has diabetes, once the poliy needs renewing, you'll be paying for diabetes medicine until the pet dies, as no other insurance company will then cover them for that condition either.

Other things to take into consideration, if your pet passes away (as ours did the following year, the cancer returned and although PP would have paid for further treatment we decided it wasn't fair on her and let her go), PP paid for the euthanasia (less £15), which we didn't expect. At that time, the policy ceased. This isn't always the case, we've seen people on here complaining that their pet has died, but they find that they are still committed to paying the premium until the renewal date because their monthly premium is actually paying of a 'loan' of the annual sum.

£4K isn't much cover, how much does it cost to take you up to £12K. Vets bills for broken bones etc are not cheap.

DullGreyGuy

Slinky said:

Many policies will not give ongoing cover for claimed-for conditions after renewal, so if for example your pet has diabetes, once the poliy needs renewing, you'll be paying for diabetes medicine until the pet dies, as no other insurance company will then cover them for that condition either.

Most policies do, depending on timing and costs...

The three levels of cover are:

• Time Limited - a single condition has a maximum amount it will pay (eg £4k) but also a maximum duration over which that can be claimed (normally 12 months)
• Maximum Limit - similar to the above but there is no time limit so if the condition costs £1k a year you can claim for 4 years whereas if it was £100 year it would cover the pet for 40 years (if it doesn't die before)
• Lifetime - you have an annual limit, it refreshes every year

So all will give cover over two policy years as long as you dont exhaust the limit in the first year and the illness doesn't occur on the very first day of the policy for a time limited one. 


PetPlan now offer bullet 1 and 3 so equally you can find your cover exhausted and no future cover with them if you choose the Essentials 

35har1old

Slinky said:

PP are more expensive because they pay out 90% of claims without question. 

We had £12K cover for our cat, who ran up a £9.5K bill for cancer treatment in a week. We had to pay the excess and the first 20% (would have been 10% if she was under 10), but the rest was paid direct to the vet within 10 days. After renewal, where the premium increased by just £5 per month, she was still covered for the same cancer. Many policies will not give ongoing cover for claimed-for conditions after renewal, so if for example your pet has diabetes, once the poliy needs renewing, you'll be paying for diabetes medicine until the pet dies, as no other insurance company will then cover them for that condition either.

Other things to take into consideration, if your pet passes away (as ours did the following year, the cancer returned and although PP would have paid for further treatment we decided it wasn't fair on her and let her go), PP paid for the euthanasia (less £15), which we didn't expect. At that time, the policy ceased. This isn't always the case, we've seen people on here complaining that their pet has died, but they find that they are still committed to paying the premium until the renewal date because their monthly premium is actually paying of a 'loan' of the annual sum.

£4K isn't much cover, how much does it cost to take you up to £12K. Vets bills for broken bones etc are not cheap.

There must be different terms between dog and cats
As I have two dogs one insured with petplan only pay the excess with no percentage payment but perhaps there is a choice at time of insuring to pay a higher premium which removes the percentage excess
The second dog is insured through Agria it does have a percentage excess but it does have a larger sum insured for less than Pet Plan they also state that they don't increase the premium in the event of a claim

Slinky

35har1old said:

Slinky said:

PP are more expensive because they pay out 90% of claims without question. 

We had £12K cover for our cat, who ran up a £9.5K bill for cancer treatment in a week. We had to pay the excess and the first 20% (would have been 10% if she was under 10), but the rest was paid direct to the vet within 10 days. After renewal, where the premium increased by just £5 per month, she was still covered for the same cancer. Many policies will not give ongoing cover for claimed-for conditions after renewal, so if for example your pet has diabetes, once the poliy needs renewing, you'll be paying for diabetes medicine until the pet dies, as no other insurance company will then cover them for that condition either.

Other things to take into consideration, if your pet passes away (as ours did the following year, the cancer returned and although PP would have paid for further treatment we decided it wasn't fair on her and let her go), PP paid for the euthanasia (less £15), which we didn't expect. At that time, the policy ceased. This isn't always the case, we've seen people on here complaining that their pet has died, but they find that they are still committed to paying the premium until the renewal date because their monthly premium is actually paying of a 'loan' of the annual sum.

£4K isn't much cover, how much does it cost to take you up to £12K. Vets bills for broken bones etc are not cheap.

There must be different terms between dog and cats
As I have two dogs one insured with petplan only pay the excess with no percentage payment but perhaps there is a choice at time of insuring to pay a higher premium which removes the percentage excess
The second dog is insured through Agria it does have a percentage excess but it does have a larger sum insured for less than Pet Plan they also state that they don't increase the premium in the event of a claim

Sorry, I think you're correct, it was 20% because of her age, below 10 years of age it would just be the £80 per condition excess.

sheramber

You get what you pay for.  Cheap can be cheap for a reason. 

 There are cheap companies who find any excuse not to pay out.

It also common for the firs yer to be cheap to entice you in and then premiums escalate in subsequent years.

Any preexisting conditions  will be excluded by a new company.

Check the policy document . not the summary, carefully to make sure you know what you are covered for. Many people make assumptions and then find they are not covered after all.

Is it lifetime cover with vet fees reinstating each year or is there a limit  to how long you can claim for a condition. 

  This is important if your pet develops a lifetime condition such as arthritis.

Check out reviews on the company 

You can take out  low cover and be prepared to  to pay any extra amount not covered by putting money away in a separate account.

 £4000 does not go far at the vets.

Or, you can have peace of mind that  you have enough cover if needed

kingstreet

We got our (now 8 year old) lad from Dogs' Trust three years ago and our PP premium is up to £100. PP was absolutely fantastic before we lost our last one back in 2021. They turned around our £3,500 claims for operations really quickly with no quibbles.