Pet Insurance guide discussion area

skintandscared_2

I'm so confused with the insurance thing, just don't know what to do. We have a Jack Russell pup who is a bit of a mix (non-pedigree) and I don't know whether to go for a life policy or a yearly one. Would Petplan accept invoices direct from a vet? Basically we would not have the money to pay bill and then get reimbursed afterwards. I am going to start putting something aside just in case because I couldn't bear for him not to get treatment because we couldn't afford it!

In answer to the previous poster about how pedigree dogs should get cheaper insurance ... my sister got a pedigree Lab with all the kennel club checks, family history chart and all that. Wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Pup had muscular dystrophy and turns out the mother was a carrier but it was completely acceptable to breed even with that knowledge (which wasn't disclosed!!!) Thousands of pounds of vets bills in his first year and then was put down before he turned 1. Pedigree does NOT guarantee good health!!

dirtmother

No, it doesn't you're right. I wasn't suggesting that people should pay less (or even the same as) than for a mixed or undefined breed dog - the claims history is the claims history after all.

But you currently pay more for a defined breed regardless of the individual dog's *known* risks. Doesn't mean the 'well-bred' won't get the specific problems tested for (I've not heard about "Kennel Club checks") so it is still possible, just less likely. Might get something else. But the fact remains that those who seek out 'better bred (and reared) puppies are subsidising those who don't (I have no problem at all subsidising those who take on rescue animals)

laurieshrimp

Hi
I seem to have spent hours trying to get a reasonable quote with reasonable cover.A 5 yr old choc lab no history.
We had a policy with sainsburys expiring was £120 last year.
This year £195 cause the dog is older? but we can offer you £30 shop vouchers if you want.
So if I had not rung up nothing.Wonder how many they catch?
Anyone know a really good site.All of the ones to date want your full details and no doubt the life ,hse and car reminders wil come
thks
laurie

TomsMom

laurieshrimp wrote: »

Hi
I seem to have spent hours trying to get a reasonable quote with reasonable cover.A 5 yr old choc lab no history.
We had a policy with sainsburys expiring was £120 last year.
This year £195 cause the dog is older? but we can offer you £30 shop vouchers if you want.
So if I had not rung up nothing.Wonder how many they catch?
Anyone know a really good site.All of the ones to date want your full details and no doubt the life ,hse and car reminders wil come
thks
laurie

You did better than me.

Took out a lifetime top policy with John Lewis last July, £150 p.a. One claim for £302 for removal of a benign lump. This year's renewal has come through at £327, approx 120% increase. I've had numerous conversations with them and they're not budging and certainly not offered any sweeteners either. Dog is only 3 years old now and only had the one claim, nothing else on her records. My vet was horrified at the increase, even offered to contact them to discuss her health history and confirm she is healthy and well looked after but JL don't want to know.

cathodetube

TomsMom wrote: »

You did better than me.

Took out a lifetime top policy with John Lewis last July, £150 p.a. One claim for £302 for removal of a benign lump. This year's renewal has come through at £327, approx 120% increase. I've had numerous conversations with them and they're not budging and certainly not offered any sweeteners either. Dog is only 3 years old now and only had the one claim, nothing else on her records. My vet was horrified at the increase, even offered to contact them to discuss her health history and confirm she is healthy and well looked after but JL don't want to know.

I would get other quotes from other companies and explain what the past history is, and perhaps get a letter from your vet to see if that would make a difference. A new company might exclude any further lumps, benign or otherwise. It is usual to raise the cost of premiums each year and JL certainly isn't the only company doing so.

TomsMom

cathodetube wrote: »

I would get other quotes from other companies and explain what the past history is, and perhaps get a letter from your vet to see if that would make a difference. A new company might exclude any further lumps, benign or otherwise. It is usual to raise the cost of premiums each year and JL certainly isn't the only company doing so.

I've had quite a few other quotes, including a quote as a new customer from JL. I've contacted a couple of companies to see whether the lump would be excluded as a pre-existing condition and also asked if the exclusion can be lifted after a set period of time. Axa replied they will exclude any pre-existing condition, even anything on the vet's records that showed clinical symptoms but wasn't claimed for, and they wouldn't even consider lifting an exclusion for diarrhoea.

With Aviva I got the impression they use a call centre which deals with mulitiple clients and I was told my details and query would be passed on to Aviva and they'd get back to me, which they never did.

My vet, who recommends PetPlan and PP pay them direct, said PP would take me on and she would speak to them and make sure that lumps were not excluded, but PP's premium was over £29 even with a first year discount so I wouldn't be changing to somewhere already more expensive.

JL said if I take out their policy as a new customer it would be £16.81 (renewal came in at £27.29) but it would probably exclude lumps unless the vet confirmed that any future lump that occurred was not linked in any way to the original lump. For me that's too much of a risk because insurance companies have a wonderful way of linking a lot of things to something that occurred previously.

I've already had to make a decision and today I rang JL and downgraded my policy and increased my excess. I've worked my upwards in their chain with discussions regarding this, speaking to JL and the underwriters RSA, and am at the moment awaiting the outcome of their customer liaison officer's dealings with the underwriters and have asked for the option of reverting back to my original level of cover if the original renewal premium can be lowered to an acceptable level for me.

During one discussion with RSA I was told I was already speaking to the last person it was possible for me to speak to and it was suggested I could contact the Financial Ombudsman but said "Please note the FOS doesn't normally consider matters relating to a firm's legitimate use of it's commercial judgement, such as the level of premium it decides to charge for a risk". That bears out the fact they someone I know who did contact the FO regarding a large premium renewal increase and the FO rejected their complaint because they don't do anything about premiums.

I expected a rise in premium but I expected it to be a reasonable one. There was a 10% online discount originally, and apparently a 20% introductory discount (so I'm now told but I didn't see this when I took the policy out). So I expected at least 30% rise plus some more for my dog being one year older (she's still young at just three years old now) but I consider 120% to be extremely unreasonable considering I live in the same house, it's the same dog and she's only three and my vet's fees (another of their reasons for the rise) have gone up by just 3.1% for consultation fee and 1.5% on the cost of drugs. A friend of mine with JL, same underwriter, had her premium increase last month at just 40% which is nearer what I expected.

Despite what they like you to believe, ]"You can be assured that we only apply premium increases to reflect the risk we are being asked to cover and not to penalise customers for any previous claims they've made", JL have confirmed to me that "Because you have made a claim, this makes it more likely that you will claim in the future and therefore you are considered a higher risk".

Stanley45

fordcortina wrote: »

Hi
I've printed off comparison site info to check... and am aware of the limitations of cover with cheaper policies, but can anyone shed any light on the reliability of the cheaper companies, such as Animal Friends, covermypet, purelypets etc?
Many thanks for any help offered!

Fordcortina - my experience of working in a vets is that Animal Friends is one of the insurance companies least likely to pay out when needed. Their cheap policies and advertised charitable donations to animal welfare hook people in, many who cannot afford the more expensive insurance policies, but when vet care is needed they find every way they can not to pay out. My advice would be to avoid them and if you can afford it take out a policy with a specialist pet insurance company such as Pet Plan, although there are no guarantees with any of them, I would opt for them.

skintandscared_2

Can anyone tell me what the thing with PetPlan is where people are saying the % excess goes up each year? Does that happen even with a "lifetime" policy?

I have to decide on an insurance policy this weekend. I feel like I am blindfolding myself and sticking a pin in a list of names at the moment but am inclined to go with the more expensive PetPlan just for peace of mind (after reading the thread about AXA pulling out of pet insurance and possibly leaving thousands in the lurch when their annual policies expire!!)

I have a 12 week old "scruffy jack" Jack Russell pup and the premiums for a lifetime policy with about £7k per year, per condition are about £27 a month. That's a lot for such a tiny healthy pup, I know, but I can't afford to go cheap and not be covered properly.

skintandscared_2

Also, is anyone with Direct Line? I have a quote for £10.50 for an £80 excess and £4k of annual cover. Or £17.50 for £6k of cover (both are per condition).

cathodetube

skintandscared wrote: »

Can anyone tell me what the thing with PetPlan is where people are saying the % excess goes up each year? Does that happen even with a "lifetime" policy?

I have to decide on an insurance policy this weekend. I feel like I am blindfolding myself and sticking a pin in a list of names at the moment but am inclined to go with the more expensive PetPlan just for peace of mind (after reading the thread about AXA pulling out of pet insurance and possibly leaving thousands in the lurch when their annual policies expire!!)

I have a 12 week old "scruffy jack" Jack Russell pup and the premiums for a lifetime policy with about £7k per year, per condition are about £27 a month. That's a lot for such a tiny healthy pup, I know, but I can't afford to go cheap and not be covered properly.

I think you should ask the question of PetPlan and and get it in writing if you are going to go with them. I have learned that things change all the time with pet insurance, so would not rely on anything said over the phone.