Rip Off Tesco Pet Insurance

Shanker

Just got my renewal this morning for Barney, (my 7 year old Border Terrier dog).


Tesco Pet Insurance.


It's gone from £14.08/month to £20.56/month. A rise of just over 46%!


There's been no claims and no causes for it to rise as a result of any incidents.


When calculating rises for other policies, (e.g. car, household, appliances, boiler etc.), I usually work on inflation plus a bit to be safe so I can budget, but who the hell can budget for 46% shockers!


The excuses given by the "kids" at the call centre are age increase ( 1 year) and vet's fees rising by 50%. The latter I do not know where the figure is plucked from, but certainly our vet hasn't raised their fees by this much. If this figure is correct then perhaps we are now paying for another area of the country, which you don't do with car or house insurance.


I tried to reason that I have a small health insurance policy that covers for supplementary treatment, dentistry and optician fees as an when I need it and having made regular claims has not gone up appreciably in the last 10 years. The argument came back that pets are more prone to illness - where the hell do they get this information from? If anything humans are back and forward to the doctor more often than anything!


Hypochondria is a human condition!


If this is the increase that is going to occur year on year, I am going to be paying nigh on £100/month in a very short time - is it worth it?


I cannot see my boy suffer, so it is emotional blackmail! If not that then it is a form of legalised protection racket.


I have looked around for alternative quotes but they are all within a few pence of each other - it smacks of a cartel which I thought was illegal!


Why oh why can something not be done about this?

InsideInsurance

The problem is that Pet insurance is short term insurance and so is reviewed each year and will go up each year. As the pet gets older the increases will be greater as the risk of a claim in the next 12 months increases.

If you say you've made no claims then presumably the dog is good health and so you are free to change insurers if others are cheaper.

OnanTheBarbarian

We have a BT and they are hearty dogs that suffer few illnesses compared to many breeds.

As said above, if you are previously claim free then just jump to another insurer. If you have lifetime cover and a claim has been made for a previous condition with tesco, no other insurers will cover it. So check before you leap.

mansemum66

We also had our tesco renewal this morning for our twelve year old cat - £41 a month! We've never claimed and she has no conditions so I've gone on the comparison sites and found one that is comparable to tesco for £14.

OnanTheBarbarian

InsideInsurance is it correct that there is less underwriting capacity in the pet insurance market now? I seem to recall Allianz or one of the other big hitters pulling out.

dunstonh

I cannot see my boy suffer, so it is emotional blackmail! If not that then it is a form of legalised protection racket.

If you feel that way then dont insure the pet and self insure instead. i.e. you pay all the bills when they occur.

Most people will find that the bills increase as the dogs get older.

Why oh why can something not be done about this?

What would you have them do then?

gardner1

Shanker wrote: »

Just got my renewal this morning for Barney, (my 7 year old Border Terrier dog).


Tesco Pet Insurance.


It's gone from £14.08/month to £20.56/month. A rise of just over 46%!


There's been no claims and no causes for it to rise as a result of any incidents.


When calculating rises for other policies, (e.g. car, household, appliances, boiler etc.), I usually work on inflation plus a bit to be safe so I can budget, but who the hell can budget for 46% shockers!


The excuses given by the "kids" at the call centre are age increase ( 1 year) and vet's fees rising by 50%. The latter I do not know where the figure is plucked from, but certainly our vet hasn't raised their fees by this much. If this figure is correct then perhaps we are now paying for another area of the country, which you don't do with car or house insurance.


I tried to reason that I have a small health insurance policy that covers for supplementary treatment, dentistry and optician fees as an when I need it and having made regular claims has not gone up appreciably in the last 10 years. The argument came back that pets are more prone to illness - where the hell do they get this information from? If anything humans are back and forward to the doctor more often than anything!


Hypochondria is a human condition!


If this is the increase that is going to occur year on year, I am going to be paying nigh on £100/month in a very short time - is it worth it?


I cannot see my boy suffer, so it is emotional blackmail! If not that then it is a form of legalised protection racket.


I have looked around for alternative quotes but they are all within a few pence of each other - it smacks of a cartel which I thought was illegal!


Why oh why can something not be done about this?

if you can find cheaper leave if not pay up its simple

Shanker

I wish I could find something cheaper with the same cover but as I say they are all charging the same with very little difference in the policy conditions.


Its a cartel!

dacouch

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

InsideInsurance is it correct that there is less underwriting capacity in the pet insurance market now? I seem to recall Allianz or one of the other big hitters pulling out.

Axa and RSA if I remember correctly as they were losing money.

rs65

mansemum66 wrote: »

We also had our tesco renewal this morning for our twelve year old cat - £41 a month! We've never claimed and she has no conditions so I've gone on the comparison sites and found one that is comparable to tesco for £14.

You have just destroyed the OPs cartel argument.

dacouch

Inflation in Vet's bills is well in excess of normal inflation for a number of reasons mainly due to Vets taking a very long time to train and wanting to be rewarded for their training.

The main reason however is due to constant improvements in pet healthcare.This is generally fed by improvements in human medication which filter thought to animal medicine.

As Onan mentioned, a couple of big (Relatively new) players have totally withdrawn from the market as they were losing money. This normally means they had been over optimistic with their pricing and charged premiums that were too low. When this happens it tends to cause the other players in the market to reduce their premiums so keep in line with the new players. When the cheaper priced competitors withdrew from the market, the remaining entrants will often increase their premiums to a similar level they were before the competition so their margins go back to the level before the competition.

Things like CT scanners and other hi tech equipment can be very expensive and the costs filter through to the premiums.