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Would you always claim on insurance for Vet Treatment

supermonkey
Posts: 759 Forumite


Hello All,
My dog got an ear infection, took to vets expecting a consultation fee & a few £ for ear drops, but total bill over £160. Looking online, this doesn't seem unusual.
They did suggest claiming on our pet insurance if excess was lower than the total charge.
Policy is a lifetime plan, the paperwork suggests the yearly charge is fixed, but I could be wrong.
Excess is £99, so I'd be £61 better off if I claim, but I'm wondering if this could increase the policy costs in the future?
Thanks
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Comments
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If you are not going to use it you should really stop paying for it.0
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If the monthly cost is fixed for future years, I would claim. Otherwise I personally wouldn’t. Perhaps it was just my insurance but every time I claimed the renewal quote increased by substantially more than the claim. In the end I decided to self insure and put the premium in a separate account. We did this in the knowledge we could be well out of pocket if something serious happens though.1
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That seems a lot for ear treatment. Is your vet Medivet by any chance? I took mine a few weeks ago, they cleaned the ear and put drops in (single dose you don't need to give drops every day) and it was £91. My vets are independent, I moved from a Medivet practice as their charges were so high0
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it depends who your insurance is with. All insurance will go up every year anyway because costs are rising but companies like Petplan don’t hoik up the premiums when you’ve had claims whereas other cheaper ones are more likely to take claims into account.It’s not something you need to decide straight away - there’s been occasions where I’ve decided not to claim but then the dog has had a recurrence of the same issue which has made it more worthwhile.All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.0 -
supermonkey said:Hello All,My dog got an ear infection, took to vets expecting a consultation fee & a few £ for ear drops, but total bill over £160. Looking online, this doesn't seem unusual.They did suggest claiming on our pet insurance if excess was lower than the total charge.Policy is a lifetime plan, the paperwork suggests the yearly charge is fixed, but I could be wrong.Excess is £99, so I'd be £61 better off if I claim, but I'm wondering if this could increase the policy costs in the future?Thanks
Petplan claim they won't increase the premium in the event of a claim
I do doubt this claim as the premium has gone up
3 old golden retriever 19 % increase = £178.80
Ear infection could reoccure within policy year0 -
Premiums go up due to increased running costs- increased wages for staff, increased NI recently, increase in utility costs:etc. etc
I knew someone with two spaniels same age mine had several claims and the other had none.The Petplan premiums were exactly the same.0 -
supermonkey said:Hello All,My dog got an ear infection, took to vets expecting a consultation fee & a few £ for ear drops, but total bill over £160. Looking online, this doesn't seem unusual.They did suggest claiming on our pet insurance if excess was lower than the total charge.Policy is a lifetime plan, the paperwork suggests the yearly charge is fixed, but I could be wrong.Excess is £99, so I'd be £61 better off if I claim, but I'm wondering if this could increase the policy costs in the future?ThanksYou may need to notify them , even if you are claiming.0
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We had a £9.5K claim for cancer treatment for our cat from PetPlan. At renewal the premium went up by £6 per month, which was only marginally more than the previous year when there had been no claims.You've reminded me I need to put a claim in for about £160 to PP for current cat. We pay £35 a month for him. I've had a £400 claim already this year, so they're not making much out of us.Make £2025 in 2025
Prolific £592.95, Octopoints £5.20, Topcashback £393.08, Tesco Clubcard challenges £89.90, Misc Sales £321, Airtime £50, Shopmium £26.60, Everup £20.32.
Total (26/8/25) £1498.75/£2025 74%
Make £2024 in 2024
Prolific £907.37, Chase Int £59.97, Chase roundup int £3.55, Chase CB £122.88, Roadkill £1.30, Octopus ref £50, Octopoints £70.46, TCB £112.03, Shopmium £3, Iceland £4, Ipsos £20, Misc Sales £55.44Total £1410/£2024 70%Make £2023 in 2023 Total: £2606.33/£2023 128.8%1
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