What does Dog Insurance cost?

We look at the average cost of dog insurance in the UK and the 5 factors that influence it. If you've spent any time looking online for dog insurance quotes, you will have noticed that the cost can vary a lot!

Find out how much your cover will cost with Bought By Many's unique pet insurance.

Our prices for a three-year-old Jack Russell start from around £8.50 a month for a Value policy and a Border Collie of the same age would cost about £9.33 a month to cover.

What is the average cost of dog insurance?

The average annual premium paid for pet insurance by UK dog owners is £366 - equating to just over £30 per month, according to Consumer Intelligence data from more than 200 dog insurance quotes. But you might pay much more or much less than this, depending on 5 factors that influence the cost.

For example, insuring a 3 year old Great Dane on the Premier policy from John Lewis Finance Pet Insurance could cost over £120 per month. But if you have a crossbreed dog of the same age, you could buy Animal Friends' no-frills Accident Only policy for as little as £3.01 a month.

Across all of our policies, we found that 10% of customers who bought a policy between March and May 2017 paid £12.25 a month or less.

Prices for many policies are likely to increase as your dog gets older, whether you claim or not. Premiums for dogs over seven can be five times more than for a dog aged one or two.

However, we've created a policy that will never increase in price, even if you claim. It is only available to buy for dogs aged under two, but once you have it you'll never have to worry about your monthly or annual price going up.

Join our Fixed For Life group to find out how much your cover will cost.

Bought By Many also has a members-only exclusive deal offering 20% off dog insurance - this would amount to a saving of over £73 across a year based on the average annual premium above. Find out more here.

Factor 1: The type of dog insurance policy you choose

The first thing that affects the cost of dog insurance is your choice of policy. There are four main types of dog insurance:

• Accident only dog insurance is the cheapest. Often costing less than £5 a month, it is designed to help if your dog needs a vet's attention as a result of an accident - but it won't pay out for illnesses
• Time limited dog insurance is the next cheapest type of dog insurance. It's a basic dog insurance policy designed to offer some financial help with vet bills if your dog needs treatment for a short-term illness. Importantly, the costs usually only cover a 12-month period, and if your dog's medical condition recurs, this type of insurance won't pay out. Time limited dog insurance typically costs between £5 and £20 a month. Time limited policies tend to have names like "Essential" (Petplan) and "Basic" (More Than).
• Per condition dog insurance doesn't impose any time limit, but instead caps the total amount you can claim for any one medical condition that affects your dog. This cap is often £4,000 or £8,000; and the higher it is, the higher the monthly dog insurance cost will be. Per condition dog insurance usually costs more than Time limited dog insurance. More Than Classic is an example of a per condition pet insurance policy.
• Lifetime dog insurance is the most expensive type of dog insurance, but also provides the most comprehensive cover. It covers more or less any vet treatment your dog needs during their lifetime, up to a pre-determined amount. Lifetime pet insurance usually costs from £13 to more than £80 per month, depending on the other factors. Pet insurance companies sometimes refer to lifetime pet insurance by different names, such as "Covered for Life" (Petplan), "Lifelong" (Pet Protect), and "Long Term Cover" (John Lewis Finance).

All time-limited and lifetime dog insurance policies have a maximum amount that they will pay out - this could be as low as £1,500 for the cheapest time-limited dog insurance policies, or as high as £12,000 per year for the most comprehensive lifetime dog insurance policies.

Bought By Many has created a range of products that include features no other insurers include, such as no price increase, money back if you do not claim and cover for pre-existing conditions. The cost of these reflect the unique benefits we offer.

We've also launched an inexpensive Liability Only policy that costs £10, £14 or £20 a year, depending on the size of your dog.

If you prefer to budget for vet fees rather than buy pet insurance, you may want to consider a liability policy. It is cheap but covers claims that may result from your dog injuring someone or damaging their property, which can run into thousands of pounds.

Factor 2: Where you live

Your home address can have a big impact on the price you pay for dog insurance. This is to do with variations in the costs of vet treatment in different parts of the country. Typically, dog insurance is cheaper outside London and the South East of England.

To get a sense of this, have a look at how much the cost of insuring a Labrador on a lifetime policy varies across the UK. Prices are accurate as of February 2017:

Factor 3: Your dog's age

Generally the cost to insure a one or two year old dog is much less than the cost of insuring an older dog. In fact, it may cost more than 10x as much, particularly if your dog is over 8 years old, when many dog insurance companies will refuse to offer dog insurance cover at all. It is also common practice for pet insurance companies to ask owners to pay between 20% and 35% of the cost of any claims for dogs aged over 9 years old.

Most of our policies are available for dogs of any age and we ask owners of older dogs to cover 20% of any claims. We have a group for older dogs and a policy called Fixed For Life that is only open to dogs under two but it will never increase in price as your dog gets older.

Many people see the cost of their dog insurance increasing over time, and feel that the insurance company is acting unfairly - but higher costs for older dogs reflect the fact that visits to the vet are an inevitability rather than a risk.

In these circumstances, some owners opt for "self-insurance" by paying a fixed amount into a savings account each month, so that there is a reserve to draw on if their dog gets sick, instead of continuing to pay the insurance premium.

A final quirk of pet insurance companies' pricing is that dogs are slightly cheaper to insure at age one than when they under the age of one. The reason for this is that the probability of making a claim for vet treatment is slightly higher in the first year of a dog's life than in the second year.

Factor 4: The breed of dog you have

General rules of thumb:

• Mixed-breed dogs and mongrels are cheaper to insure than pedigree dogs.
• Smaller dogs cost less to insure than bigger dogs
• Insurance for female dogs cost slightly less than insurance for male dogs (even if they have been neutered or spayed)
• The cost of insuring cross breed dogs (such as Cockapoos or Labradoodles) will reflect the cost of insurance for the dominant breed

Meanwhile, the cost of pedigree dog insurance varies significantly between breeds.

You can insure a toy dog such as a Chihuahua, Shih Tzu, Yorkshire Terrier, or Maltese on a time-limited policy for as little as £5.84 per month.

Working terrier breeds - such as the Jack Russell and Border Terrier - generally have robust constitutions and are therefore even cheaper to insure, with prices from £5.48 per month. Again, these costs would be for a basic, time-limited policy.

At the other end of the spectrum, larger dogs are more expensive to insure: a German Shepherd Dog costs from £7.80 per month to insure, a Boxer from £9.75 per month and a Siberian Husky from £11.20 per month.

Dogs with a propensity to develop breed-specific medical conditions also tend to be more expensive to insure: insuring a Basset Hound costs from £7.80 per month, a while the dog insurance cost for a Bulldog starts at £13.68 per month.

Factor 5: The dog insurance company and policy you choose

This has a big influence on the cost of dog insurance. Market leaders such as Petplan, John Lewis Finance, and More Than's dog insurance policies offer up to £12,000 of vet bills cover, as well as enhanced cover for public liability, theft, straying, dental treatment, and even alternative therapies.

Bought By Many's Complete policy is the most comprehensive on the market and includes up to £15,000 of vet fee cover each year. Our other policies offer unique features such as no price increase, money back if you do not claim and cover for pre-existing conditions. Find out more about them and get a quote here.

At the other end of the spectrum, newer pet insurance companies like ProtectYourBubble and Helpucover have started offering very cheap dog insurance for people whose priority is to keep costs down.

Bought By Many offers a Value policy and affordable Liability Only cover.

How can I reduce the cost of dog insurance?

One popular method to bring down the price of dog insurance quotes is to increase the policy excess. This is an option with some but not all pet insurance companies, for example:

• Many Bought By Many policies include the option of a voluntary 20% co-payment, in addition to the fixed £69 policy excess
• More Than allows you to opt for a 10% voluntary excess, in addition to the fixed £75 policy excess
• With John Lewis Finance Pet Insurance, you can set the excess at £60, £80, £100, £140, £250 or £500
• Direct Line offers a choice between an excess of £95 or £190

Opting for a higher excess typically reduces the cost of dog insurance by 10% to 15% - but it does of course mean you need to make a bigger contribution to the costs if you need to claim.

Many dog insurance companies also offer multi dog discounts to help people who want insurance for more than one dog to control their costs.

Note

Unless otherwise specified, these example prices are based on buying Basic pet insurance cover with a £1500 limit from More Than, using the Bought By Many member discount, for a 7 year old dog in Truro, with a 10% voluntary excess. Prices are accurate as of February 2017. Below is a full list of costs for different dog breeds on this basis - to take advantage of this Bought By Many discount, join our dog insurance group:

How much is pet insurance for a....?

Last of all, if you're looking to find out about the cost of insuring a cat, why not read our article on Pet Insurance Cost?

All example quotes are accurate as of February 2017, and are made using an MK postcode

This article was independently written by Bought By Many. We were not paid to write it, but we may receive commission for sales that result from you clicking on a link to one of our partners.