Petplan is probably the first name that comes up when you start researching pet insurance in the UK, and there's a pretty simple reason for that. They invented it. Petplan launched the UK's first pet insurance policy back in 1976 and have been the market leader ever since, which means they've been paying claims and refining how things work for nearly fifty years while a lot of their competitors were still a twinkle in someone's eye.
That history doesn't automatically make them the right choice for every pet and every budget, but it does mean there's a lot to say about how they actually operate in practice, which is really what people want to know.
Who are Petplan?
Petplan sits inside the Allianz group, one of the largest insurance companies in the world, which means the financial backing behind every policy is about as solid as you'll find anywhere in the UK pet insurance market. Claims are handled in-house by Petplan's own UK team rather than being outsourced, which is one of the reasons they have a strong reputation for consistency, particularly on long running chronic conditions where some less established insurers can become a bit difficult.
Their public review score changes over time, but Petplan has a large volume of customer reviews compared with many UK pet insurers. Petplan says it pays 97% of claims submitted, with around 90% settled within five working days, and around 90% of customers renew each year. That renewal figure is meaningful, because people who aren't happy tend to leave.
What types of policy do they offer?
Petplan's main range for cats and dogs splits into two types. The Essential policy is a 12 month time limited policy, meaning each condition is covered for up to a year from when treatment begins. The Covered for Life range is their lifetime cover, which comes in three levels, Classic at £4,000 per year, Classic Plus at £7,000 per year, and Ultimate at £12,000 per year, with that limit resetting at each renewal as long as you keep the policy going.
That reset is the whole point of lifetime cover and it's what makes it worth the higher premium for a lot of people, because it means ongoing conditions like diabetes, arthritis, cancer or skin problems stay covered year after year rather than being excluded once the first year of treatment is done.
Dental illness is included on most policies as long as your pet has regular dental check-ups documented by your vet, which is worth knowing because dental cover is something a lot of insurers limit heavily or leave out altogether. Behavioural treatment and complementary therapies are included on the higher tiers.
New policies for dogs can be started up to age seven, and for cats up to age nine, so if you have an older pet you'll want to check whether you qualify before spending too long comparing options.
How the claims process works
This is where Petplan's decades in the market really make a difference. They have direct payment arrangements with most UK vet practices including specialist referral hospitals, which means your vet can claim directly from Petplan and you only need to cover your excess rather than finding the full bill upfront and waiting to be paid back. Not every practice is set up for this but the network is extensive and well established, more so than most other insurers.
Claims can be submitted online through the Petplan app or customer portal, where your details and your pet's details are already filled in so you're not starting from scratch each time. Their Cover Certainty tool, launched in 2025, lets vets check your cover status and your remaining limit in real time before treatment begins, which genuinely takes some of the stress out of an already anxious situation.
A few things worth knowing
Petplan is not the cheapest option in the market and isn't trying to be. Their premiums sit at the higher end and renewal increases as pets get older can be significant, particularly for larger breeds and pedigrees. That's not unusual for comprehensive lifetime cover but Petplan's renewals do tend to come in at the upper end of what the market charges, and it's worth factoring that in from the beginning rather than getting a nasty surprise a few years down the line.
The co-payment that kicks in for older pets is something worth understanding before you reach that point. Once a dog turns eight or a cat turns ten, you pay 20% of vet fees on top of your standard excess. On an ongoing condition costing a few thousand pounds a year, that 20% adds up to a meaningful amount, and it compounds year on year if the condition continues. It is in the policy terms but a lot of people don't notice it until renewal.
The standard excess is also worth checking, it runs at £100 per condition per year for dogs and between £85 and £115 for cats depending on the policy, and it applies per condition rather than once per year, so a pet with multiple issues in the same year will have the excess applied each time.
On the positive side, Petplan's per condition limit structure means a pet with multiple conditions gets the full annual limit available for each one, which can be genuinely valuable for pets with complicated health histories and is one area where they compare well against some competitors who apply a single shared annual limit across everything.
If you want to see how Petplan compares to other insurers we cover on the site, take a look at our Petplan insurer page. And as with any policy, reading the actual wording before you need to claim is always the right approach rather than relying on the summary.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute a recommendation, endorsement or financial advice. Always read the current policy wording before purchasing cover.