Vetsmedicover - massive rise in premiums

byb3

Here is a warning for all of you who use vetsmedicover.

My premium for a 1yr3mth Springador has went up from £216 to £348 in a year with no claims made. An increase of 61%. To put that in context, it's now more expensive for me to insure my pet dog than it is for personal Private Health care.

I understand from what I've read they offer a great service, but that sort of increase in a single year is ridiculous.

It seems that pets are now the new 'cash cow' for insurance companies. With the costs of everything rising I can't help but think we'll be seeing more of what we saw last year with Civil unrest.

rising_from_the_ashes

Did you get an introductory discount off the 1st years premium?

That's often what happens with a lot of companies & people get a huge shock at renewal time.

If you've had no claims, then I'd shop around for another provider.

byb3

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Did you get an introductory discount off the 1st years premium?

That's often what happens with a lot of companies & people get a huge shock at renewal time.

If you've had no claims, then I'd shop around for another provider.

There is an accompanying letter going through all the reasons why their costs have gone up and how they have to make a 'price adjustment'. Apparently some operations have went up 300% since 2009 because they are now so advanced.

I'd rather just have the 2009 operations at 1/3rd of the price. It's not like they've made such groundbreaking discoveries in 3 years.

They also make a mention of Lloyds TSB and Halifax leaving the Pet Insurance market.

OnAndUp

Doesn't it drive you MAD!!!!!! :mad:

I looked into that Insurance because there was only two set prices for dogs the "normal" price and the "certain breeds" price.

Was thinking they may have been less likely to hike the prices!

Op what was the "normal" monthly set price when you joined?

rising_from_the_ashes

The price for cats is HUGE! (£17/month each) ..... both mine are covered by PetPlan and it's just under £19/month total for both of them!

Same with the dog TBH, I was quoted £22/month for Maisie ......

byb3

OnAndUp wrote: »

Doesn't it drive you MAD!!!!!! :mad:

I looked into that Insurance because there was only two set prices for dogs the "normal" price and the "certain breeds" price.

Was thinking they may have been less likely to hike the prices!

Op what was the "normal" monthly set price when you joined?

It was £20/mth when I first joined for our springador at 3mths old, and I don't think that was a special offer. Crossbreeds are well known for having less health problems but insurance companies don't value this.

sfmedusa

I've now cancelled all my pet insurance policies and set up a fund using the money that I would be spending on premiums to cover vet fees. I did this after working out that even with a cat who had a massively expensive heart problem for a number of years and a number of other claims I have still paid them over £11,000 more than they have paid me over the years.

My dog's cover went up from £24 a month to £46 in one year (with no claims) and this joined up with the insurance on my 3 cats to push the premiums over £100 a month and I finally decided that enough is enough. It is really hard to justify paying those premiums when the last half a dozen vet visits have either been things that I can't claim because they're either not covered or are under the claims threshold.

gettingready

I am deading June when 5 of my 6 cats (4 mine and 2 my daughter's but all insured kind of together) are due for reneval as George had very expensive surgery last yeae so this will push his premium up no doubt....

Zara/s one went up from 32 to 47 last year, this year she is due for reneval in October so.. will see...

Zara and George both now have "pre-exisiting" so can not move them anywhere else but the other 5 cats - will see what peices Argos comes up with and will take it from there.

Personally would not risk not having them insured as have no cash and not access to credit in case of emergency but the total of 6 cats and a dog is aeound 130 per month now which is an awful lot....

SpanielLady

I currently have 4 dogs, and I was a bit shocked when my VetsMedicover renewal premiums for my dogs jumped up from £18-£21/month last year to £28 this year. However, I've renewed the policy with my dog and took out another VM policy for my new puppy. This is because I've had good service from them with another dog I had with them, a dog which I had to put down this past January due to a brain tumour. The vet bills for my poor unlucky boy came to around £2000 with specialist vet, MRI scans, etc. Vetsmedicover was brilliant. They paid out within 2weeks- before the demand invoice from the specialist vets finally came to me in the post. VM premiums are now £28/month, which is a large jump- but I've shopped around, and I believe this is a fair price given the lifetime cover, amount of cover, and level of service they offer. Their first year price of £18-21 a month was really never going to keep them in business if you know anything about vet bills and how much vet fees keep going up year after year. Every episode of vet trips I take now for each dog for even a minor condition usually runs into the £hundreds. A simple surgery will run from £400-£1000. They may not be as competitive in price as before, but it's still excellent value for money imho, and I can see why they may have had to hike their fees to stay in business. So long as their quality of service and level of cover remain high, I'm happy to stay with them and take new policies with them. If you go to somewhere comparable like PetPlan, you'll pay at least twice or triple the premiums of VM, though you may gain other benefits like lost pets, etc.