Very surprised at insurance renewal

[lettie10]

Having read about Axa and the problems with not taking on any new Pet Insurance customers and price hiking for existing customers I was dreading my renewal forms.

They arrived this morning and I am gobsmaked (but in a good way).  The premiums for my 2 are approx £17 and £20 pm respectively which equates to approx £450 for the year for both which is almost exactly what I paid last year, no rise at all for Lifetime Cover up to £7000 per annum.

Granted they are both young dogs 1.5 and 2.5 and have not had to claim at all in the last year but I was still expecting a price rise to try to encourage me to switch elsewhere.

I am still going to shop around to see what else is out there but will stay where I am if I can't better the price.

[ali2010]

Are you with AXA? If so I would think about moving if you have not made any claims and your dogs do not have any pre-existing conditions.

The problem is that I understand that axa will completely stop doing pet insurance soon. So  if your dogs are poorly in the future and you have to change insurers you will not be covered for pre existing conditions. Also axa seem to have increased premiums after claims have been made

Axa have put our pet insurance up from £28 per month to £207.82 per month  .  Our cocker has recently had cancer of the liver and has had an operation to cut the cancer from his liver and is now undergoing chemotherapy. We cannot get insurance elsewhere and have had to cancel the axa policy as its so expensive. Its left us with no insurance and we are just starting to pay the vets bills (luckily most of the bills up to now were covered by the insurance)

Sorry for the rant but am so annoyed with axa

[Redked]

We are with Axa but renewal isn't until April next year. As long as we don't have to claim (fingers crossed) I am moving to a different company. I wouldn't risk staying with them at all. I even thought about cancelling and swapping after what I'd read on here and feel like I'm taking a risk just seeing the year out with them.

[janandted]

We are with Axa but renewal isn't until April next year. As long as we don't have to claim (fingers crossed) I am moving to a different company. I wouldn't risk staying with them at all. I even thought about cancelling and swapping after what I'd read on here and feel like I'm taking a risk just seeing the year out with them.

Yes I am feeling the same ......my renewal is due end June.......not sure what to do 

[lettie10]

Yes, I am currently with Axa till 1st Nov so am def going to do the price comparison game (this has always worked in the past for car, house insurance etc).

Have made no claims last year but was still expecting them to hike the renewal to discourage renewing with them, that's what I was so surprised about after reading some of the horror stories.

Will let you know what the comparable quotes are in due course.  The problem I have found is that the companies seem to like to offer a monthly charge payable by direct debit but I like to pay my premiums for the year in one lump sum and not too many offer that.

[piph]

Yes, I am currently with Axa till 1st Nov so am def going to do the price comparison game (this has always worked in the past for car, house insurance etc).

Have made no claims last year but was still expecting them to hike the renewal to discourage renewing with them, that's what I was so surprised about after reading some of the horror stories.

Will let you know what the comparable quotes are in due course.  The problem I have found is that the companies seem to like to offer a monthly charge payable by direct debit but I like to pay my premiums for the year in one lump sum and not too many offer that.

That seems a bit odd - I think that most companies will let you pay for the year up front in one lump sum if you want to do that!  You may need to phone them and ask.  I think that on a lot of the comparison sites they only state the amount per month as it makes it sound cheaper!

[SophieBlueRoanLover]

Lettie - you're very lucky that your premiums haven't increased, and also that you haven't had anything to claim for.

I would still recommend moving, though, as Axa has shown itself to be an unscrupulous company (I'm one of the others with ridiculous rises). I'm currently waiting to hear what the outcome from the Financial Ombudsman investigation is, but in the meantime I would suggest everyone move elsewhere. If a company thinks that it's fair to increase your premium 610% for any reason whatsoever then it should be boycotted! If it can do this to me then it can do it to anyone else. They've admitted to me that the premiums are based on a whole host of things, including your claims history and potential claims future, and from what PetsPlan customers have been told, they don't do this. My vet also said that this should not be the case, as you shouldn't be penalised for having an ill dog (if you paid the premium prior to them getting ill).

To the others who are still with Axa, I would also shop around and look elsewhere. You should be able to cancel your policies without any cancellation penalties. Even if they don't increase your premium now, who knows what they might do in the future. If you've never claimed from then and your dogs have no pre-existing conditions, then I can see no reason whatsoever to stay with Axa!!

[lettie10]

Quick update:

Decided that a move from AXA was a good idea.

I did some price comparisons and after filtering out the ones that are for "Accident Only" and the like I actually had some very good quotes.

I only looked at "Lifetime" cover and the best quotes for me were from Argos, More Than and John Lewis.
After some deliberation I chose More Than as the John Lewis Excess charge was double all the others at £140.

So today I have covered both Jazz and Bailey with More Than for Lifetime cover up to £12000 per condition per year and all the other items i.e. Lost, stolen, death due to illness, legal, public liability etc are higher than the other two and I got an extra 20% discount for 2 pets all for £448.48.

I am very happy so lets just hope we don't have to test how good they actually are at paying out.

[Jan D]

Interesting....I am in exactly the same boat as you. Bobby's AXA renewal has just come through at £19 a month, however.....he has just been signed off by the vet after his salivary gland problem - total costs about £230...so I had already rung AXA for a claim form before the renewal came through.  Then I rang again when the renewal came through. The form is yet to show up and his insurance runs out on 20th Nov. No doubt they will want to upwardly revise the premium after this claim...

I am going to change him to More Than too. Roxy is already there and I will get the 20% discount.

Just wondering when the AXA claim form will show up.... 

[Liz F]

Interesting....I am in exactly the same boat as you. Bobby's AXA renewal has just come through at £19 a month, however.....he has just been signed off by the vet after his salivary gland problem - total costs about £230...so I had already rung AXA for a claim form before the renewal came through.  Then I rang again when the renewal came through. The form is yet to show up and his insurance runs out on 20th Nov. No doubt they will want to upwardly revise the premium after this claim...

I am going to change him to More Than too. Roxy is already there and I will get the 20% discount.

Just wondering when the AXA claim form will show up.... 

My claim form for Diesels lumps never showed up by post (even though they said 3 times that they had sent it In the end I asked them to email it which they did while I was on the phone.  They paid up (£579.00) in 3 days, Im concerned that when renewal comes in it will be hefty, but need to wait and see as if I move Diesel then he wont be covered for this condition.  Iam however changing Ollis insurance as he has no pre existing conditions.