Pet Insurance: I'm shopping around

Beware Allianz Insurance for Pets! Avoid them.

I have 4 dogs and a cat and have insured them with Allianz for a number of years (more than 5 I think) and yes, the premium has crept up. However, last year we had the tragedy of my youngest dog developing a paralysing disability. Rather than put the dog through a series of operations on its neck with doubtful outcome we decided to put her down, thereby saving our friends in Allianz a lot of money and my dog a lot of pain. However, at renewal this year the premium jumped astronomically. They quoted €1,664! After some tooing and froing I finally determined that they had added €339 just for the fact I had made claims in the previous year. Granted the claims were nearly 3k BUT the dog they related with is dead and no longer therefore covered. There is no added risk under the policy therefore for theses claims! The illness was probably genetic and definitely non transferable!!! I quote the response from my friends in Allianz:
"Unfortunately, despite the fact that Mia is no longer insured, the policy will still be affected as all pets are covered under the same policy, so each claim will affect the premium of that policy. "

There's logic for you, and I thought health insurance was based on the individuals not a "policy". And surely the principle of health insurance is that once insured that should be all you pay. A claim under a health insurance policy should not affect the insurance cost going forward. If I am undergoing treatment for an illness longterm the insurer can't normally up the premiums to collect the cost of that treatment? Only if I change policy. Pet Insurance is structured like car or house insurance which seems unfair to me. Especially since in those cases its not a risk adjustment but a reversal of a no claims discount which raises the cost. I never got a no claims discount on my pet insurance to start with.

So BEWARE! Think hard before taking Allianz. If your pet has a serious illness you might find you pay for it in premiums anyway.

Does anyone know if this approach is even legal? :cool:

I am now with 123.ie. It cost me half the price and the risk of having to pay some vet bills for prior conditions or in the " waiting period". But even if it was not cheaper I would have done it anyway.

My King Charles insurance was €90 (5 years) and €77(7 years) cheaper. 1 year old Great dane €95 EURO CHEAPER. Overall I saved about €700 in changing. I did take the cat off the bill which saved about 130. As the lady who started this thread said the insurance is more for third party and accident than illness.

On a final note, my Vet was happy as he said Allianz was difficult to deal with and 123 much better (they also direct pay the vet). I rang my vet before I switched to check how the other company is viewed. Even the vet nurses were delighted not to have to deal with Allianz anymore.

They do not refuse to insure as they get older - it just costs more which it shouldn't if your dog has been insured since a puppy with them!! I am also disadvantaged as under the multiple policy the odds of illness are greater and therefore the odds of being charged relatively more are greater. But the 10% group discount does not compensate for the over 25% hike due to "claims history" aside from the already more expensive individual costs.

Also one of my dogs is 10 and he was insured but the price was higher with the new insurers than allianz. But that was before the extra for the illness claims for the dog who died. And the difference was only 44. He cost 269 in 123 and 225.42 in allianz both of which are cheaper than 24 per month (maybe its a pay monthly premium?) Other insurers won't touch animals over 7 on new policies. The 7 year old dog was actually cheaper in the new insurers.

There are policy differences, lower vet fees total, but cheaper excess. Also you co-pay for older animals (ie have to cover 15% of vet fees for illness).

It's worth shopping around. But with an older animal you may be better staying where you are simply because preexisting conditions may not be covered and it does not sound as if you had any serious illnesses unlike me where a major hike was added on the top. It begs the question if your animal was like my Mia and had serious vet bills would they charge the 370 "risk" premium on the one animal? Would you be paying 500+ for one dog?

It seems legally they cannot refuse to insure but they will force you out by price:mad: