Do premiums go up if you have made a claim?

[AnnieG]

Sorry if this has already been answered elsewhere - I can't find a similar topic.  Cassie's insurance premiums have just gone up to a massive £599.88 per year with M&S insurance.  It's a huge hike from £352.32 pa, despite our having to pay the first £70 plus 20% of any bills.  I have just got an online quote from the same company for a totally fictitious dog called Phoebe who is the same age, sex etc as Cassie and it comes to £472.44 - over £150 less.  The only difference between Cassie and Phoebe (apart from the fact that Cassie exists!) is that we have had to make some heavy claims this year because of eye, liver and pancreas problems.  Can anyone tell me if a company can hike premiums because of claims made in the preceding year?

Thanks

[Eve]

I think you might find that Phoebe is a new customer and so gets preferential treatment. Some premiums do go up but not to that extent.

[AnnieG]

Mmmm - good point, Eve. I think Phoebe might be making a confession about her double identity to M&S very shortly.  This situation is  neither fair nor acceptable - but is it legal?  I can't find anything about a no claims discount in the policy.  I can see a good row in the offing but I'd like to be sure of my ground before launching the attack.  To be fair, I could currently be stacking up claims for another £2000+ so - even at this price - the insurance works out as a bargain. But after all, that's what insurance is for. 

[Geordietyke]

I mentioned on another thread about Odie's quote going up from £180 to £214pa with NO claims!  You would think they'd want to keep existing customers happy as there are so many insurers out there to choose from! 

[Maria]

That's exactly what happened with Boysie and M&S - his premium increased vastly (they wanted £121 a month, from £68  ) after he was diagnosed as hypothyroid, and when I got an online quote it was a lot less - the difference was coincidently the amount his treatment / tests would cost annually........when I rang and queried it, I was told that they had started to do 'individual' quotes, which would include an assessment of the likelihood of a claim in the following year, based on history.
We ended up moving him to another insurer as even though his hypothyroidism isn't covered we still saved money.

[Pudding]

The thing is when you have made a claim.... it is not a good idea to change company
as the new company will not insure you on the things you have already made a clam for
IE... if you have had an eye problem and you have made a clam, and you move to a new insurance company
they will not let you make any clams on the eyes... i hope this makes sense
if you have not had to make any clams then you can change all you like

[JeffandAnnie]

My insurance for Jeff only went up a few pounds and I made two largish claims last year; same insurer as Geordietyke too (Argos)  Seems to be fairly random how they work out premiums.

[Jeannie]

I phoned Argos this morning since I'm going to change my policy from Petplan to them, and asked if it made any difference to the premium  on renewal if you have made a number of claims.  The person I spoke to was very helpful, he said individual claims make no difference to the amount by which the premium goes up, what does make a difference is if there are a large number of claims that year for any particular breed so if for instance they had loads of claims for conditions relating to cockers over and above the norm then the premium for cocker spaniels as a whole is likely to go up, if the situation doesn't change much then the increase is not likely to be so great - so in other words they look at the big picture.  Thought that was interesting to know.

[Geordietyke]

That still doesn't explain why Jeff and Annie's quote only went up a few pounds and mine has gone up £35   I still want to stay with Argos so will give them a ring I think!  Thanks for that

[Geordietyke]

As mentioned on another thread, I rang and renewed my Argos Platinum policy.  I added a voluntary excess to bring it up to £115 excess which brought the quote to £197 which wasn't bad for the highest package they do.  I also left his purchase price at £650 although reducing this WOULD have reduced the quote. 

[Eve]

Mmmm - good point, Eve. I think Phoebe might be making a confession about her double identity to M&S very shortly.  This situation is  neither fair nor acceptable - but is it legal?  I can't find anything about a no claims discount in the policy.  I can see a good row in the offing but I'd like to be sure of my ground before launching the attack.  To be fair, I could currently be stacking up claims for another £2000+ so - even at this price - the insurance works out as a bargain. But after all, that's what insurance is for. 

I would go back to them with what you have found out, ask them if they can better the offer they have give you as you are part of a very large online dog chat room which discusses among other things the best insurance company.

If you don't ask, you don't get!!

[Loudon]

Yep! Forget names like PetPlan (the best) etc and remember it's massive, cold insurance companies behind this backed by Lloyds. Bottom line is their in it for profit.

Maybe your a winner, but most of us are losers scared to put in a claim for a small to medium amount as the insurance goes up each time you claim and the older the dog becomes. Insurance is great for illness like diabetes etc but even then some insurance companies have limits.

I wouldn't advise lying to an insurance company there not stupid.

However, say your premium was £500 this year and £600 next year. If you set up a wee account you would have £500 in it straight away and 12 months later £1100 and a year later £1700. Worried about claims against your dog for causing damage, accidents, etc behaviour then join Dog Trust and your covered.