Stuck with the same pet insurer....so much for shopping around!

jomalone14

I have a 3 year old cross breed dog, I've had him insured since I got him at 6 months of age. I've claimed twice on his insurance for 2 necessary operations (intussuseption at 11 months and a snagged nail at 16 months). Neither condition is or will be reoccurring and he's been healthy ever since.

I got a second dog last week and rang around today to get her insured. Ideally, for convenience, I wanted both dogs on the one policy with the one insurer. One top insurer (not the one I'm currently with) wouldn't insure my first dog EVER because he has 2 claims against him.

It looks like I'm stuck with my current insurer FOREVER on my first dog because of 2 necessary claims against him. I'd understand if I had to wait a certain length of time following a claim before I could shop around again......

Anyone else have experience of this?

tk123

It may seem like a PITA now but if your dog is sick/injured further down the line your early start with the policy and being with the same insurer will pay off. My friend switched insurers against my advice and they wouldn't cover a big claim for her dog because he wasn't with them from the start. I have my two on separate policies with Allianz and don't find it much of an inconvenience - I pay online once a year, sign the form when needed in the vet and that's it. I had a claim for €2500 6 months ago - all covered and paid directly to the vets.

jomalone14

tk123

Good point. I'm happy with my current insurer, they pay directly to my vet, hassle free from a claims point of view.

I guess these days we're all conditioned to "shop around" each year when looking for house or car insurance. A claim for damage on a car might leave you stuck with the same insurer for a couple of years. I just thought it was a little harsh to find I will never have the option to shop around for my 4 legged boy!

boomerang

Usually if you want to switch insurers they just ask for the pet's clinical history from your vet, and they place exclusions on any existing conditions. So this one's a bit funny, eh? I had no problem switching from Allianz to <snip> but that was a while back, about three or four years ago.

jomalone14

It was Allianz that refused cover for my dog.....permanently! They wouldn't hear of me getting a clinical report from my vet....simply "we are not in a position to cover you ever".......

boomerang

Janey, that's surprising, OP!

I took out pet insurance with Allianz for our dog shortly after rescuing him. The day I rescued him I brought him into the vet to be checked out. He was walking with fleas so he got a Frontline. So when I contacted Allianz to insure him, they asked for his vet records. When they saw he'd had fleas, they wouldn't cover him for any skin conditions! Mad, eh? They lifted the exclusion after a year though.

tk123

What breed is the dog OP? Allianz have a list of breeds they won't insure.

jomalone14

He's a tibetan terrier cross breed. A super friendly dog, has never had problems apart from his 2 previous necessary ops as described above. He's had no lasting effects from either op and has no short or long term medical issues.

It's just as well I'm happy with my current insurer for now. They've had a price increase recently, which is to be expected on occasion, however, if it continues, it will be quite frustrating to not have the ability to shop around, as I do with all other types of insurance.