Pet insurance annual increases, where is best?

morg_monster

We've had our annual renewal quotes in for our 2 moggies, who have been insured through Argos (platinum/lifetime) since we got them in 2010. I'm considering changing insurance for one cat as she only has one pre-existing condition which is easy and cheap to treat. I'm less concerned with the monthly premium than the increase each year. I've been looking through old paperwork and the annual increases for argos are a bit shocking! Since 2010 the percentage increases have been:
60%, 15%, 0%, 6%, 27%, 53% (the ONLY year there was a claim), and this time the renewal increase is 41%.

I've looked at a couple of lifetime policies and found we can save money and get similar cover - I'm looking at pet plan, but will they do these ridiculous increases each year even when we don't claim?

(Fair play to argos they have paid out for every claim we've made but it's just getting too much now, £65 for both cats a month)

KxMx

Just something to consider, the pre existing condition may be cheap to treat, but an insurer may link it to other problems and exclude cover for those too.

An example perhaps would be, skin issue on one paw, they then may exclude anything/everything to do with all 4 paws.

It is worth asking what exclusions would be if you took out a policy with a new insurer.

morg_monster

That's a good point, I will check. Her pre existing condition is cystitis - this was caused by stress when our baby first started getting mobile and following her about! The first time it happened we got antibiotics, but after that we treated it ourselves by taking care to keep baby and cat apart and now baby is a toddler things are fine. So yes it may exclude general bladder stuff.

Weighing up, we would probably be happy and able to pay for almost all chronic stuff ourselves. It's the thought of that potential £1000-10000 all at once bill for a road accident etc that is why we have insurance really, to take those difficult decisions away. Ironically as they get older the chance of a road accident is decreasing as they tend to spend about half an hour max outside on any given day now and that is all in the back garden.

KxMx

True, I always use the example of my friends outdoor cat, he had his accident indoors (fell off a mantle and landed awkwardly), hip needed a couple ops & he had to be immobilised, cost 2k in all, he was insured so all good

My own cat goes outside less as she ages, but I keep the insurance up, purely because it would be so difficult to find the money if I was self funding. Even a credit card would need repaying, on my income I don't get 0% deals and minimum payments +interest on such a low income would be a nightmare.

sheramber

Every company increases the premiums every year to take into account increased costs for claims( everybody's, not just yours), and running costs.

However, Petplan do not tend to have large increases and do not increase premiums due to paying a claim as some companies do.

They do introduce a copay percentage of the bill as well as th foxed excess when your pet reaches a certain age.

Petplan will consider removing an exclusion for a pre existing condition if there have been no symptoms or treatment for two years. You need to discuss this with the underwriter before taking out the policy and get it in writing or not shown as an exclusion on the policy if it is accepted that it is now no longer an exclusion.

morg_monster

Thanks sheramber. I know they have to increase them every year but these argos increases are just insane. I knew they had increased them each year but when I finally got around to digging out each year's renewal letter I was a bit gobsmacked by the amounts. Good to hear that petplan should not be so ridiculous.

I would be happy to stay with Argos at this price (£30 pm for this cat) if I knew there would only be single digit % increase each year... but at this rate it will be £50 a month next year and the same for the other cat, and by that point we would actually only have to save the premium amount each month to have a decent chunk of cash to cover chronic type problems (as I said, not RTAs).

The other interesting thought is that as animals get older the value of a lifetime policy gets less. Our cats are 8 and 9 and again, excepting an accident, I can't really imagine that our cats could get through £7000 treatment for a single condition.

Finally KxMx - sorry it's not an option for you, but thanks for your comment about the 0% credit card. I had never thought of that as an option but we do tend to open a new 0% for purchases/BT cc every couple of years and we usually get given £8-10k credit limit. We use it for grocery shopping and pay off in full each month, but really it's there for any urgent big spends. Might talk to DH about that option but maybe that's for when they get a bit older and a bit less insurable.