Shocking Pet Insurance Renewal

FTB2912

I nearly fell off my chair this morning when I got an email from our pet insurer Napo with a renewal price. We have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that turned 1 in March and has been insured for with Napo coming up to a year end of May with a price of £39.40 per month. I wanted to be a responsible dog owner so got lifetime cover and also extensive cover which would cover up to £12k in vet fees a year. Thought to myself, well you never know... something terrible might happen and with vet fees rising at least our little pooch would be covered. 

So the renewal price I was quoted was the below: 



Our monthly price will go up from £39.40 to £114.26 which is nearly THREE TIMES. Napo have put down reasons for the increase which look like standard wording to me as 'Breed and age. We predict they might need extra care based on trend we see in similar breeds and ages.' and 'Inflation increasing vet costs. Sadly, vet costs have gone up with inflation. Increased inflation pays a big part in calculating your renewal.' 
Our dog is one year old! But I have to confess that we've put one claim in with Napo where we had to induce vomiting as our puppy ate a mouse in a field where it's known that there is poison down. This was an isolated accident though and certainly wouldn't justify the increase.

So we're looking at switching providers, which I know is really not ideal. I've done the usual price comparisons websites but wanted to ask if anyone had any good experiences with an insurance provider and specifically what it's like switching from one provider to another? 
My worry is that when switching to a new provider apparently they often quote 'previous or existing condition' and then refuse to pay should something happen. 

Any thoughts and feedback welcome. Feel free to rant about pet insurance prices too

DullGreyGuy

FTB2912 said:

My worry is that when switching to a new provider apparently they often quote 'previous or existing condition' and then refuse to pay should something happen. 

Any thoughts and feedback welcome. Feel free to rant about pet insurance prices too

Any health insurance, human or pet, is the same... as soon as you've made a claim it becomes very difficult to shop around as most other insurers will exclude this condition and anything related to it. This effectively creates lock in with many basically having the choice of sticking with their current insurer or risking being uninsured. 


PetPlan, and one other insurer, do make the promise that your renewal won't be impacted by the claims you've made whilst with them but they are notably more expensive than other insurers especially as the animal ages. That said there are plenty claiming up to near the policy limit each year for chronic conditions who think they are amazing for obvious reasons. 

sheramber

Napo was new the market and lured people in with very low premiums.

Now reality strikes. 

Petplan  will cover a pre existing condition in certain circumstances, such as no recurrence for two years with no further treatment. 

Or if it something that is not likely to recur or cause any related problems in the future.

But, make you tell them and get it confirmed in writing that it will be covered. 

There may be others. I only know about Petplan.

Petplan is not cheap, but are reliable. They do not increase your premium if you claim as many others do. 

Premiums do increase due to increased running costs and your dog getting older. .

Cheap policies are often cheap for a reason. 

Tethys72

We're in a similar position. We have just got our renewal from ManyPets and it's gone up from £740 to £1630 for our 6 year old black lab. I've just been on the phone to them and they are utterly unapologetic about the increase with the usual, 'there have been may improvements in treatments pushing up prices, etc'. 
This is basically daylight robbery.

sheramber

It is not robbery if you are the one claiming. 

Those who do not claim subsidise those who do.

Insurance  companies are not like the NHS. They are in business to make a profit for their shareholders.

You always have the option to self insure by putting money away in a separate account to cover vet fees. But you risk not having enough money put away in the early years, until you have built up a fund.