John Lewis dog insurance has just gone up to £121 a month!!!
Discussion
Our spoodle is insured with John Lewis. She is 8 years old with some history of fitting.
Last summer we had to use an all-night vet for something that turned out to be nothing. The bill came to around £600 which we claimed back on the insurance.
Previous to that our claims have never been more than £200 or so, probably two claims every three years.
Last year the total premium with John Lewis was £761, a level at which I was already raising my eyebrows. Today I've had the renewal through quoting a new premium for 2018 of £1458. This is for Level 3 insurance with a limit of £7000 vet treatment fees and an excess of £75.
I feel that there is little point in insurance if all it is doing is covering the insurer's expenses. All the risk seems to be on my side.
Needless to say I'll be cancelling forthwith, but I just wondered if others on here have had similar experiences? And can anyone recommend an alternative insurer?
Last summer we had to use an all-night vet for something that turned out to be nothing. The bill came to around £600 which we claimed back on the insurance.
Previous to that our claims have never been more than £200 or so, probably two claims every three years.
Last year the total premium with John Lewis was £761, a level at which I was already raising my eyebrows. Today I've had the renewal through quoting a new premium for 2018 of £1458. This is for Level 3 insurance with a limit of £7000 vet treatment fees and an excess of £75.
I feel that there is little point in insurance if all it is doing is covering the insurer's expenses. All the risk seems to be on my side.
Needless to say I'll be cancelling forthwith, but I just wondered if others on here have had similar experiences? And can anyone recommend an alternative insurer?
sunbeam alpine said:
In fairness, if your car insurance history showed 2 claims in 3 years, your premium would probably also rise significantly. Maybe they're setting the price to "encourage" you to go elsewhere.
Well, if that is their plan it's certainly working. Given that I'm paying £75 excess on claims it feels to me like I may as well just put some money aside for eventualities. The JL operator that Mrs B has just spoken to was very apologetic (she advised him to get a nicer job!). He said that the only way they can reduce the premium is to increase the excess, ie £100 excess = £114 monthly premium, £125 excess = £108 monthly premium etc.
To get it down to £73 a month, which is still more than I'm paying now, the excess would be £575. Which is mad.
keirik said:
I gave up on pet insurance years ago and now put cash into a separate bank account in case I need it.
Yes I was on the point of doing that, and in isolation even £32 a month isn't cheap but compared to JL I was happy to take it for the peace of mind. Plus I'm rubbish at putting money aside 
Just to say that we've always taken great care with our spoodle's diet.
Re insurance, given the total absence of any sort of reward for customer loyalty in this industry, it's looking like the solution may well be chopping and changing every year between reputable companies to take advantage of the 'introductory discounts'. Which is a ridiculous plan really.
Re insurance, given the total absence of any sort of reward for customer loyalty in this industry, it's looking like the solution may well be chopping and changing every year between reputable companies to take advantage of the 'introductory discounts'. Which is a ridiculous plan really.
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