dog insurance

[casalice18]

my new premium came in for my 2 dogs and the price hike is extortionate. 1 dog is a black labrador and the other we got from Assissi when she was 5 weeks old.
last year's premium was £220 per month for both dogs( they both have lifelong medical issues). This years went up to £345 per month. So rang Argos's pet insurance to see if i could get price down but because i said that Cassie( assissi dog) was a mixed breed instead of a cross breed they decided the premium should now be £507 per month!
i told my vet what they had done and he said he didn't realise there was a difference between a 'cross breed' and a 'mixed breed', and if there should be a difference surely it would be cheaper to insure a mixed breed.i.e.mongrel.
Argos' explanation is that a cross breed is 2 dogs and a mixed breed is more than 2 breeds. i told Argos i have no idea which one Cassie is as she was left at rescue centre's gates and they don't know either and the only way we would find out would be to do a DNA test! they will not back down and have said that the premium will be the £507. my pedigree lab is cheaper to insure that my wee mongrel! i now have the decision to make whether to rehome one of the dogs which would break my heart or stop insurance but then both of them are on expensive drugs and need blood tests every 4-6 months.
if any of you have any ideas about what i can do i would be very grateful. TIA

[BiteyShark]

How much do you pay for each of the dogs medication per year?

I am wondering whether getting a quote from a different company which will not cover preexisting conditions plus the cost of paying the medication and blood tests yourself is less than your renewal cost. That way you are still insured for new conditions.

The other option is look at the boughtbymany pet insurance which has a preexisting conditions policy. It doesn't pay out much for those pre existing conditions that you claim within a certain period but it might be better value overall for you.

[casalice18]

i have not calculated the yearly cost but an example would be for one dog which has to have an injection for skin complaint every 4-6 costs £179 per go. the other one needs medicine for an auto-immune disease and it is £188 per 30mls. so expensive doggies.
Boughtbymany states that you cannot have complained in previous 3 months before applying.So thats not an option unfortunately. No other insurance company will insure them. i have been on comparison websites all day and most of them are cheaper for mixed breed than cross breed but Argos is other way round.

[stucknoue]

I pay £300 a year despite have no preexisting conditions, it shot up at age 7. Mine classified my dog as a cross as he has a pedigree mum and a dad who "looked like" the breed but had no paperwork. Your original renewal was a bargain for dogs with health complications

[dementedpixie]

OP pays that amount per month, not per year. That's the problem once they have a pre existing condition, it ties you to that company

[BiteyShark]

That's a really tough one. Rehoming one is going to be hard because of their medical history.

Are there any other cheaper options for the treatments your dogs have. I know that currently you are having the optimum treatment but if you can't afford the insurance for both could you afford it for one dog and maybe look at other cheaper options treatment wise for the other?

[Strongecoffeeismydrug]

Petplan wanted to charge me £140 per month for my healthy 9 week old crossbreed !
Animal friends got my buisness with a more realistic price of £5.58 per month 😀.

[casalice18]

the thing that is really annoying me is the fact that argos are more expensive for mongrels than a dog like a labradoodle with 2 pedigree parents. my vet cannot understand this and Argos will not change their mind.
i have spoken to the practice manager and she is compiling a costing of all treatments my labrador needs and also for my poor wee mongrel.
my lab has hip dysplasia and a severe skin condition so you would think her premiums would be more expensive.
They need an answer by tuesday next week whether I am going to pay this amount or cancel insurance. the flamin' premiums are actually more than my mortgage per month!

[merryMuppet]

Is this something you could approach the financial ombudsman about? It just seems so unethical and wrong.

strongcoffeeismydrug - you may want to look up some independent insurance reviews as I have heard animal friends can be very bad at paying out.

[casalice18]

the only thing is Argos have always been great at paying for the treatments both dogs receive and even covered acupuncture and hydrotherapy sessions for my black lab. It really is unfair but I did make a complaint to consumer council but have to wait until Argos have finally said continue insurance and pay the £507 or cancel and then they might look at it then, but that's a bit late if I cancel the insurance as I won't be able to renew it then.
Why is it just when you things are going well in life something comes along and knocks you for six.

[florence11]

Argos are bastards. My dog was with them from a pup and had a health condition. By the time he was 7 they wanted £350 a month just for him.

I went across to Petplan knowing he would have exclusions and put the leftover money from the premium into another bank account so I had a float for the type of emergency he needs to be seen in that won't be covered.

Sorry this has happened to you too. Beware other insurance companies won't insure them past the age of 8, you have to start the policy before that age usually. This is why I bit the bullet when mine was 7. He was insured with both of them for about six months in the end, I got all the meds and tests I good on the old policy before I cancelled.

I wouldn't waste your time arguing with them. It's futile.

[user1468246318]

I would suspect that the £5.58 premium with Animal Friends is an accident only cover policy, and not one that would cover a pet who developed an illness and needed such treatment for the rest of their life, or has a very low cover limit. I work in insurance and would only ever choose a ‘lifetime’ policy with a high single claim amount - I always thought what if the dog was hit by a car and needed multiple operations and treatment so take a policy with a £10k single claim amount cover. Please please all read your policy documents as many pet policies have things like inner cover limits that limit the claim amount and a % that you have to contribute towards a claim when it reaches a certain age.

I agree with other posters that it may be best to take out a policy that does not cover pre-exiting conditions and pay yourself for the ongoing conditions as you will be doing that anyway with the premiums offered.

[casalice18]

I have tried other insurance companies but no one will insure them. My main complaint is why they insist that a mixed breed dog is different from a mixed breed and also why it is more expensive to insure with Argos. I have spent hours on comparison sites and 95% of them state mixed breeds are cheaper or no difference. I have even spoken to the shelter that Cassie came from and she is down as a cross breed as are all their non pedigree rescue dogs. my vet and another vet states that all their non pedigree dogs are cross breeds and find it absurd that there is a difference.
I am still waiting on a reply from Argos about all this but I am getting annoyed now that I am the one doing all the phoning and they aren't phoning me back when they said they would.