Changing pet insurance question

Snow_Gem

My Mum's pet insurance for her dog is due to renew and the renewal price is up by almost £4 a month.  I want to find something cheaper for her but she's a bit stubborn and wants to stay with the insurer because she's had better customer experience than with other pet insurers in the past (the dog has no claims, except one incident of eating a box of grapes which needed emergency out-of hours treatment). 

She currently has Kennel Club Pet Insurance administered by Agria. Out of curiosity I've gone to the Agria website direct and got a quote cheaper by almost £10 a month for the same cover. So my question is if the Kennel Club insurance is provided by Agria, does that mean she can't take out a new policy with Agria directly? I've never done this before so wondering if it's not allowed?

Thank you

DullGreyGuy

If they have quoted then you are free to accept the quote but just because its the same underwriter doesnt mean the policy or the service will be anything like the co-branded option. In some cases brands just lend their name to put on the cover and get a sales commission but in other cases they notably change the policy, have a say in how operations are run or even in some cases use different operations

Snow_Gem

Thank you for clarifying.  That's an element I hadn't completely considered, that the Kennel Club may be the reason for receiving the better service.  I'll certainly put it to my Mum. Thank you again.

MalMonroe

Hi, I think your Mum's better off staying with the insurance she's got. If she switches to have an Agria policy directly she may end up paying more. It's worth asking but, having insured several cats over the past 30 years I'm aware that even if a pet owner sneezes, the policy price increases!

With our last lovely cat (sadly died earlier this year) her insurance rose each year but I think it's worth it. 

Your Mum is happy with her pet insurance. I'd leave it alone. I don't think £4 a month increase is too bad, really. And if her dog needs any treatment, she's got peace of mind. 

I don't really think it's worth upsetting her apple-cart.

That's just my own opinion but I'm aware that pet insurance increases each year, can reach very high sums but if a pet (there was one on here recently) needs a major operation, full insurance is worth its weight in gold. 

Switching policies could just add even more pounds since insurance companies never do anything for free, in my experience. But it's always worth a phone call to find out, especially as in your Mum's case, it's the same insurance company. It doesn't cost much to ask, anyway.

DullGreyGuy

Snow_Gem said:

Thank you for clarifying.  That's an element I hadn't completely considered, that the Kennel Club may be the reason for receiving the better service.  I'll certainly put it to my Mum. Thank you again.

It may be, or it may be they are just wanting an extra £10/month commission... the problem is that its very hard to know.

The problem with Health insurance (be it yours or your pets) is that if a claim does happen you basically then got locked into that insurer as anyone else will then see it and related conditions are excluded... shopping around to save a few pennies may result in your being stuck with a shoddy bargain basement outfit for the next decade. 

Snow_Gem

Thanks for your comments. Things are getting super tight so I was looking for anywhere in her budget she could save but I think the consensus is pretty clear, particularly with it being something important like health, so we'll leave it to renew.