Insurance prices??

[michelle77]

Hi Everyone, i have just had my renewal for my dog insurance from M&S, i was paying £14 it has gone up to £22 and i have not claimed on it. 

is this what other people pay, would i be able to get it cheaper with the same level of cover?

thanks
michelle

[Shelley]

I'm with M&S too, I think my renewal is due in July or August, so it is interesting to see how yours has gone up.

We have no excess and at the moment pay £10 something for one Newf, £11 something for the other one and yet we pay £17 something for Tia, which I have never thought makes sense as there is supposed to be 10% off what we pay for her anyway!

I don't think we have made a claim for any of the dogs in the last year, so if they put the price up too much I won't bother paying it, I shall just put £50 into an account every month just in case someone gives me a big bill

[Cob-Web]

Hi Everyone, i have just had my renewal for my dog insurance from M&S, i was paying £14 it has gone up to £22 and i have not claimed on it. 

is this what other people pay, would i be able to get it cheaper with the same level of cover?

thanks
michelle

I think you might have been quite lucky with your timing, Michelle - the underwriters for M & S changed the way they assessed risk last year (about August, I think) - and a lot of people experienced higher premiums as a result 

From what I remember, the underwriters consider young, un-neutered males higher risk as they are more likely to get into fights and be injured - but I don't think they have actually provided the research that proves this 

[Rhona W]

From what I remember, the underwriters consider young, un-neutered males higher risk as they are more likely to get into fights and be injured

I am with Halifax who is underwritten by the same company and my neutered male is no cheaper than my entire one.  I was hoping for a discount. 

[michelle123]

In addition, I dont believe that they actually ask the question about whether the dog is neutered or not - therefore if they dont ask the question they cant assess the risk on that basis   

Me thinks that there is another issue with M&S and that is having the premiums too low, gaining loads of business which inevitably invites claims therefore a big loss ratio.    Having worked in insurance all of my working life this is the more likely scenario.  Especially given the fact that the underwriter is AXA and another company offering similar cover with AXA havent increased their premiums 

[*Lucy*]

I'm with Healthy Pets - £33 for both girls!!

Great level of cover too!

[jann]

  I'm with M&S too.

 Flo's increased from appr £11 to £13.23 from April 2nd  (Flo is 4yrs)

I insured Harley for the first time 2 wks ago and it was £17.70 -  they did not ask if he was neutered ! Harley is (3yrs)

Both policies have no excess. When I asked why the difference between Flo and Harley she said that all premiums had increased in June and that male dogs were more expensive !

I don't know why there are so many differences in what we all pay with M&s ? I wonder if other insurers have so many differing rates ??

[debbie321]

I'm with Healthy Pets too.  Gold cover for Ben was £5.65 per month.  I've just added the two cats and it's now £14.62.

They're underwritten by Axa I think and their cover seems pretty good.  I've made a couple of claims with no fuss.

www.healthy-pets.co.uk

[happydog]

Healthy Pets here too. I am paying £12.09 pcm for the gold option with a £50 excess. Fern is nearly 8.

[BabyBear]

I would love the choice of different insurance companies, however, because we live in germany the only pet insurance company for us is PetPlan.  We pay £16 a month with a £ 50 excess.

[mad 4 cockers]

Was with M&S for the first year (Alfie £10.50ish & Charlie £9.45ish got 5% discount for having both insured whan but the renewal came it's gone to (£16ish & £13ish) even though I've never claimed, so now I gone with Healthy Pets both are now insured with the gold option for £17.50 (for both of them), they still have a policy each.

[Cob-Web]

A question for people who have switched insurers: has anyone experienced any problems with exclusions on the new policy?

I understood that even if you haven't claimed on the original policy, then the new insurer can exclude conditions linked to any treatment that your dog has received? 

[michelle123]

No Rachel.  My policy is with Healthy Pets and there are no exclusions. 

I hadnt made a claim on the M&S policy and hope never to make a claim on this policy either 

An Insurer would have to have a justified reason for making an exclusion on a policy, dont think they can impose terms willy nilly above their standard policy wording 

[vicster]

I use the AA they find the best prices i pay £9.75 for Norris and £7.20 for my cat Tilly.
Thats gold cover and i thought that was reasonable.

[Cob-Web]

I hadnt made a claim on the M&S policy and hope never to make a claim on this policy either 

An Insurer would have to have a justified reason for making an exclusion on a policy, dont think they can impose terms willy nilly above their standard policy wording 

I was thinking of when a dog has received treatment that hadn't been claimed for; that has to be declared too, doesn't it?

I had assumed we were tied into M & S for life, even though we haven't claimed - Molo has been treated for minor infections, and I asked for his eyes to be checked last year cos they were looking cloudy - even if nothing was found, could a new insurer exclude any eye treatment, for instance?