Insurance premium unchanged between ongoing and non-ongoing conditions

aroominyork

Last year our German Shepherd developed an illness which was initially diagnosed after x-ray as hip dysplasia, but when he deteriorated they ran an MRI which showed paralumbar abscesses. They immediately operated and saved him and More Than paid out over £8000 in insurance. However, they put a diagnosis of hip dysplasia on their system. When the correct diagnosis was discovered, they said they could not change the diagnosis on their system but would add a note about the abscesses.

When his insurance renewal note came through recently the premium was very high. I questioned it and they said the underwriter had quoted on the basis of an ongoing condition (ie hip dysplasia). I explained the correct diagnosis was abscesses which were not ongoing. They agreed with this, changed their records and went back to the underwriters for a new quote. The underwriters said the premium would be unchanged.

I made a complaint and, while they found in my favour due to delays and mis-recording the diagnosis, they said the premium would not be changed. “I’ve discussed your concerns about the premium with our pricing team and they have confirmed that if his condition had been recorded correctly, the price would have remained the same. Although changing the status of a claim / condition from ongoing to not-ongoing can sometimes alter the premium, our pricing team are confident that in this case the price is correct and is representative of the premiums that we have charged for pets of the same breed, age and claims experience.”

This seems crazy. How can a claim for a one-off episode of abscesses result in the same premium as a dog with ongoing hip dysplasia? Should I escalate this to the Financial Ombudsman?

Joeyjo

Unfortunately your dog does have hip dysplasia as it was seen on the xrays. 

HD was not the primary cause of the issues recently and may not be causing him major issues currently but it is extremely likely to lead to arthritic changes & treatments in the future and so your insurance company will be protecting themselves from that risk.