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Flo's renewal has come through and gone from £28 a month to £48.
She had a mast cell tumour removed from her neck around the time that last renewal came through so I was told it wouldn't affect it then but clearly has now.
Prior to the mast cell issue, it was £18 a month.
At this rate it'll be £100 a month when she's 8.
If I don't have pre-existing condition cover it's around £20 a month, so it's clearly either that ramping it up or the Insurers trying to claw back their outlay.
It's a good level of cover £10K per condition for lifetime with John Lewis pet Insurance.
Paid out no problems with the previous claim although I was a bit miffed as the treatment spanned renewal so they charged me two excesses, saying it was in two policy years.
So, gamble with mast cell not making a reappearance or stump up the £5 a week for peace of mind?
I was going to ask the vet how much the previous claim was to try and get a handle on costs and what I might need to set aside in the event of a reoccurrence.
Well, it's worth shopping around that's for sure.
Today I had a bit of a 'I need to reduce my outgoings' day. So I started on the insurance for buildings/content with Legal & General which has just come through on renewal at £430.
Did some research and got the same cover, with additional home emergency & legal on top for £129!
..with Legal and General.
(point is, shop about as it doesn't hurt. Best wishes for doggy. PDSA were flawelss when I needed to claim on pet insurance if any use - and premiums went up about 30% after a £5k claim)
It's pretty much the same for all pet insurance as far as I can tell... we are stuck paying over £70 a month to cover our doggie as he has liver problems, have to pay the excess every year and can't change insurers otherwise any liver issues aren't covered.
But then we are claiming around the same as our premiums most months, so can't really grumble too much!
Even if you shop around, you still have to confess to any problems. I gave up with my dog and just paid cash as the insurance company wouldn't cover the bits that needed coverage. Glad my vet was ok with a payment plan ( very understanding vet)
Best dog I ever had. 🙁
I'm fully aware that moving Insurer will mean I have to stand any treatment should it come back.
Could be worse, I saw a feature on Animal Frinds insurance who put the premium up for one of their customers, who had a dog requiring around £6K of treatment annually, from around £40 a month to £680 a month.
That's one way to get out of providing cover lifelong cover!
At those kinda rates (ie paying out what they pay in) it'd be worth going self-insured. Or at least talking to your Vet about the actual costs.
FWIW we've never paid any insurance for the animals (2 spaniels and 1-2 horses), and based on the premiums that I see are way better off.
For us, the reason we keep on paying is that we know there will be more scans and tests at some point in time, and while we are about even with the monthly costs, it is the extra costs of the tests that we are insuring against.
For any future dog we'll probably insure for the first year or so, and then pay money into a savings account to cover any possible future risks and self-insure after that.