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[Help] Completely O/T: Dog Insurance



pb21

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2010
6,248
We have just got a new dog/puppy, a 5 month old mixed breed from RSPCA Brighton. She came with 4 weeks pet insurance but we need to sort out something long term and am looking for some advice as there are so many options and we have no experience!

Pretty sure to get lifetime insurance and at the moment think that 'boughtbymany' complete or regular is best. These are £29 and £22/month and cover £15k and £7k of vet's fees per year respectively. What we don't know is how much the premium increases each year, any ideas?

Basically don't want to end up on Noel Fitzpatrick's TV show and not able to afford for her to have new hips!

Thanks.
 

AmexRuislip

Trainee Spy 🕵️‍♂️
Feb 2, 2014
33,711
Ruislip
We have just got a new dog/puppy, a 5 month old mixed breed from RSPCA Brighton. She came with 4 weeks pet insurance but we need to sort out something long term and am looking for some advice as there are so many options and we have no experience!

Pretty sure to get lifetime insurance and at the moment think that 'boughtbymany' complete or regular is best. These are £29 and £22/month and cover £15k and £7k of vet's fees per year respectively. What we don't know is how much the premium increases each year, any ideas?

Basically don't want to end up on Noel Fitzpatrick's TV show and not able to afford for her to have new hips!

Thanks.

We are with these guys, no complaints.

https://www.animalfriends.co.uk
 

AlastairWatts

Active member
Nov 1, 2009
500
High Wycombe
It just gets more and more expensive each year, especially if you make a claim. I insure my lab/rottweiler cross with Tesco pet insurance (who were cheapest when I got him) and the premiums, after three claims, now run at a little over £550 a year. Labradors (or lab crosses) seem to spend their waking hours looking for food and all three claims have been when he's managed to poison himself eating something that he shouldn't. But I don't think that I can change insurance company because he's either 8 or 9 years old (he's a rescue dog so no-one really knows) and with that history the costs will be the same with another company. To make matters worse there's a big excess too. I live just off a main A road so I always worry that he'll get out and cause an accident. I've been told that members of the Dogs Trust get free third party insurance, and someone suggested that the best way would be to join them and then cover the vets bills yourself, but given the scale of charges I've had to py in the past I didn't think that an option, especially as the dog is getting older. So - like all insurances - it's all great until you make a claim.
 

Madafwo

I'm probably being facetious.
Nov 11, 2013
1,591
We've had our pet insurance with the Co-op for years, it's about £30 a month for my two, one of which is over 10 years old and has had a £3,000 root canal surgery.
 
Jul 7, 2003
8,542
We have a rescue dog and, because you don't know the history, it is always best to get decent insurance. We did some research and went with Tesco pet insurance. Animal Friends were our second choice.
 


Brian Parsons

New member
May 16, 2013
571
Bicester, Oxfordshire.
Here's a thought. Open a savings account and put what you would spend monthly on insurance into it. As it builds up not only are you saving money but at the " end" you have a nice nest egg and havent made another insurance company richer. Ive been doing this for over thirty years and numerous healthy pets.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk
 

drew

Drew
Oct 3, 2006
22,981
Burgess Hill
Here's a thought. Open a savings account and put what you would spend monthly on insurance into it. As it builds up not only are you saving money but at the " end" you have a nice nest egg and havent made another insurance company richer. Ive been doing this for over thirty years and numerous healthy pets.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

Do you do the same with your car or house insurance?
 


dejavuatbtn

Well-known member
Aug 4, 2010
7,097
Henfield
Son in law’s beautiful dog of 6 years just diagnosed with Epilepsy. Vet and medication bills will be costly for rest of its life. It only needs one unhealthy pet to justify the expense.
 

pb21

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2010
6,248
Thanks for all the replies definitely good to have some opinions based on experience.

On the self insurance thing I can't see that being too feasible, she may need £2ks worth of vet fees and that would take ~6 years at £30/month.
 

Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Jul 11, 2003
59,071
The Fatherland
Third paw-ty or fully comp?
 


dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Mar 27, 2013
51,892
Burgess Hill
Not the same and you know it.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

It is, only the potential risks differ........so just depends on how much you’re prepared to gamble. Lots of corporates do this incidentally, known as ‘captive insurance’. They usually lob the money into an offshore company.
 
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Kazenga <3

Test 805843
Feb 28, 2010
4,870
Team c/r HQ
It is, only the potential risks differ........so just st depends on how much you’re prepared to gamble. Lots of corporates do this incidentally, known as ‘captive insurance’. They usually lob the money into an offshore company.

Slightly off on a tangent but in my line of work do a fair bit of life/health insurance... and can never understand why people are so unwilling to pay for it. Like you say it is is massive gamble and people are gambling with their ability to maintain a standard of living in the face of illness for the sake of avoiding paying the equivalent of what- a couple of rounds in the pub?? - per month. Of course these same people will always have their gadgets, cars, pets insured but don't seemingly don't value themselves as highly.
 

Shropshire Seagull

Well-known member
Nov 5, 2004
8,463
Telford
Slightly off on a tangent but in my line of work do a fair bit of life/health insurance... and can never understand why people are so unwilling to pay for it. Like you say it is is massive gamble and people are gambling with their ability to maintain a standard of living in the face of illness for the sake of avoiding paying the equivalent of what- a couple of rounds in the pub?? - per month. Of course these same people will always have their gadgets, cars, pets insured but don't seemingly don't value themselves as highly.

That's because these types hold the mentality of: "I'll be dead so I don't care ...."
 


Kazenga <3

Test 805843
Feb 28, 2010
4,870
Team c/r HQ
That's because these types hold the mentality of: "I'll be dead so I don't care ...."

Some of them think like that, but it's more the people with families and the attitude of 'it won't happen to me' that rankles- one hell of a gamble to take. Of course you hope to never have to use insurance, in which case yes it's money 'wasted', but if you do need it then it becomes the best money you can ever spend.

Saving personal money to retain as a potential nest-egg if not needed was mentioned above. Nice idea, but chances are the money you can save won't come anywhere near the figure payable on an insurance policy and that may be required in the event of anything significant.
 

arewethereyet?

Well-known member
Jul 19, 2011
751
Brighton
Thanks for all the replies definitely good to have some opinions based on experience.

On the self insurance thing I can't see that being too feasible, she may need £2ks worth of vet fees and that would take ~6 years at £30/month.
Definitely this, don’t even consider it. I pay £61 a month currently for my 12yr old lurcher, it’s going up again in February and whatever it’s going to be will be worth every pound, I simply NEVER want to be in the situation of “well it’s going to cost xxx and I don’t have that kind of money situation, or don’t worry sir, your insurance will cover that. No brainer.
 

ferring seagull

Well-known member
Dec 30, 2010
4,606
Son in law’s beautiful dog of 6 years just diagnosed with Epilepsy. Vet and medication bills will be costly for rest of its life. It only needs one unhealthy pet to justify the expense.

I agree, if a dog develops cancer drugs will be horrendously expensive so a lifetime insurance is best where claim limits renew each year.

My six year old working cocker is currently insured with Petplan who are arguably the best if most expensive - £57.00 monthly as of January 2019.

I also pay £14.00 monthly to Alliance Pet Care through my vet which covers all the flea and worming treatments, kennel cough jab and annual health check which is a decent saving compared with simply meeting each expense as it arises. Worth considering !
 
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Gazwag

5 millionth post poster
Mar 4, 2004
30,086
Bexhill-on-Sea
Go through a company like Topcashback and you will get a couple of months premium back. We have just changed from Tesco, our dog is 11 now and their premium this year went up over £250, Got insurance with Petplan now which was a lot cheaper than Tesco and we go a load of cashback to help.
 

WATFORD zero

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Jul 10, 2003
25,549
Is it just me or since the take up of pet insurance have Vets premises become far more lavish and the couple of vets I know are earning a fortune. It seems that they have become incredibly expensive and are happy to undertake all sorts of treatments that a few years ago would have meant putting animals down ?

I really find it hard to morally justify spending the thousands on a pet which seems to be the norm these days.

And before anyone starts, I'm as guilty as the next as I pay more a year for my daughter's cat insurance than I do to insure a sports car !
 

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