Pet insurance renewal up 45%

[mjdle]

Just had my co-op pet insurance renewal through and it's gone up 45% on my 12 year old chug. I appreciate he's old, but it's now £166 a month and becoming unaffordable. Has anyone successfully got premiums down or changed to another insurer? He does have a few things that he's had treatment for - nothing that he's on any permanent medication for or hasn't cleared up completely. We've had a few small claims - ear infections, an eye ulcer and two bigger ones one for tooth extraction and another for an ingrown nail but the total we've claimed in the 12 years is no more than £4k and both over 2 years ago with no ongoing issues. He's on a lifetime £5000 policy. Any suggestions or recommendations welcome 🙂

I've not changed insurers no but I have cancelled our insurance and move to a subscription only vet. I don't know if they have them in all areas though.

Can you afford to save a similar sum instead, and pay for treatment if it’s needed?

When we had an elderly pet we did this - premiums were ridiculous and most things weren’t covered.

3yr old dog gone from £20 to £35!

They said its cost of living... moved provider and it is now £18

2 grand a year?? That's mental. I had no idea pet insurance was so high

Yes £2k a year and it only covers £1k of treatment.

My 11yo dog is with petwise senior. I pay £28 a month for lifetime cover with 10k worth of cover per condition per year. We’ve never claimed which i think makes a difference 🤷‍♀️

@DanielaDressen

Mine is an ouch worthy £220 a month! But had £30k of claims over 4 years

Crazy isn't it! I'm worried if I move insurers they won't cover anything I've spoken to a vet about even if I haven't claimed. Heard some stories of this happening. He had seizures when he was younger and had an umbilical hernia, didn't need treatment for either, just a visit to the vets, but my luck I cancel or move and something happens. No idea what to do for the best, can't really afford £2k a year but wouldn't want him to go untreated. Considering cancelling and just putting it on an interest free credit card if something does happen. Honestly never thought it would get this high. I've had many dogs and cats, older than him, and never gone over £100.

I had a long chat to an insurance broker recently, mostly because I was aghast at our car premium. According to him, it is other costs feeding through.

And vet costs have gone up a lot in the past few years, due I suspect to big firms taking over small independent practices.

Just had my renewal through for my 15 year old chihuahua. One claim made in the last year and got £180 back.

New amount is £53.39 a month last year it was £56.41 but that was for 2 chihuahuas we lost one earlier this year aged 14. 😢

im starting to think about just saving £50 a month. My dog is 15 and I wouldn’t put her through any invasive tests or surgeries now.

If you change insurers every single thing you've seen the vet for will be classed as a pre-existing conditions and they will not be covered
I was paying £83 per month for my dogs insurance but she had a lifetime condition which was covered

It's unlikely you would find a cheaper insurer for an elderly pet, and if you did the cover would probably be massively reduced.

When my pets get to a certain age, usually around 11 or 12, I start to think about cancelling insurance and putting aside some money for future vet trips instead. As another poster said, after a certain age I wouldn't put them through invasive procedures anyway, so there is a limit to what sort of claims I'd be making.

I know insurance premiums have jumped a lot in the past couple of years, but it has always happened when pets get older, I can remember cancelling a premium for a 12 year old nearly 20 years ago.

Some insurers cover prexisting as long as they've not been treated for in the last 2 years, so worth looking at those.

Mine in 7 and already £160pm but that is for £15k a year cover. Last year it doubled and I suspect it may again next year. Not only that, when he's over 9, I have to pay 20% of all costs as excess.

I am considering changing insurers to cover anything not prexisting and then funding the difference myself. i.e. my dog has had frequent ear infections and hypothyroidism. I know what both of those are likely to cost me in the future so I will pay those costs myself out of the money saved by going to a cheaper insurer. I'll change insurers to cover new things only - especially accidents. I might not save much money that way, but at least I'll feel less like I've given it ALL to the insurers.

@ThePlumsOfWilfred pet plan have quoted £65 and do cover pre existing with some exclusions -just waiting to see what they are. Don't suppose you know the others that do as struggling b to find. Google says yes then when I click through to sites they say no 😩

I thought Petsure did. ManyPets do. Try Napo as well?

They almost certainly all have different criteria and financial limits on the cover...

As @EdithStourton says “And vet costs have gone up a lot in the past few years, due I suspect to big firms taking over small independent practices.”

has a huge amount to do with is…my vet who is independent turned down several millions from one of these firms to buy over his practice.

Im dreading my boy’s renewal coming in, he’s also just turned 12, but fortunately we’ve been so luck6 with him healthwise🤞🏼🤞🏼.

I had a horrific renewal price a couple of years ago and cut it by a third for the same cover with shopping about

We've chosen not to pay for insurance.
As DPet is quite long in the leg now, we've decided that if she's is so ill or badly injured that we can't afford the treatment, we'd PTS.

Thanks @ThePlumsOfWilfred and everyone else for replying. I'm possibly going to change to a cheaper insurer, probably per plan, for anything non pre-existing and accidents, so reducing the cover because as others have said there's only a certain amount of intervention I'd be prepared to put him through at his age. I wouldn't want to risk many procedures. Then I'll put some away for anything else which if as they have said it's only stiff in the last 2 years he's not covered for (per plan) then that's just skinfold infection and teeth (he's only got a couple left).

I'd shop around and if you can't get it cheap enough, save the money and cancel the insurance.
It's always a choice you have to weigh up with an older pet as to how invasive treatment you decide to pursue.
My old girl had various ailments in her golden years but the costs never exceeded the savings we had made on the policy. At one point the vet was suggesting some very expensive tests and we had pretty much decided not to have them done because they wouldn't have really led to a significant improvement in her condition.

Switched to Petplan, £100 less than my renewal price (£67 v £166). It's a lesser product (12 month/3k cap per condition) but at almost 13 my vet suggested this would probably be ok, as there's only so much intervention they would recommend. There's a few exclusions for anything he's had in the last 2 years that I can't claim for, but nothing too concerning and it's 12 or 24 months from last treatment so some of those will be lifted soon. It's minor things like ear infection and an eye ulcer that have cost £100 a £300 to treat in the past. I'll put a little extra away each month incase those come back as it's £60 less than my current premium.

Glad you found something cheaper. I do agree that dogs will come to an age where it’s not in their best interest for a lot of surgery or even treatment. I do know someone who stopped insurance at a certain age due to this, though I’m sure the increased premiums had something to do with it