I took Rosie to the vet for practice-visiting, and while I was there, I weighed her. I was delighted to see she's now 20.5kg. But she is insured (with John Lewis) as a 'medium' dog and they define 'medium' as under 20kg. So I thought I'd better let them know she's put on a little.
I was somewhat staggered to discover that a gain of measly .5 of a kilo means that her monthly insurance, already an eye-watering £34 a month, would shoot up to £59 a month! The person I spoke to discouraged me from doing this, rightly assuming that I would definitely switch insurers next year. She assured me that they would not quibble if she was injured and proved to be 0.5kg over the limit. I hope she's right! The Roo has no pre-existing conditions, so I think I shall have to shop around a little next year, assuming that she doesn't come down with anything in the interim.
I was somewhat staggered to discover that a gain of measly .5 of a kilo means that her monthly insurance, already an eye-watering £34 a month, would shoot up to £59 a month! The person I spoke to discouraged me from doing this, rightly assuming that I would definitely switch insurers next year. She assured me that they would not quibble if she was injured and proved to be 0.5kg over the limit. I hope she's right! The Roo has no pre-existing conditions, so I think I shall have to shop around a little next year, assuming that she doesn't come down with anything in the interim.
Comments
I assume they just think treating a bigger animal cost more.
If they did, then I'd be paying more for Brythen, who is 28.8kg and genuinely a moderately large dog, whereas in fact his cover (with a different company) is cheaper than Rosie's at the sub 20kg level.
Big dogs undeniably do cost more to treat: they need more drugs and lots of issues such as leg problems are more major with larger animals. But to double the price at an arbitrary point is surely just clumsy banding, and is not generic to the industry. They have 10-20kg weight band, and then a 20-80kg weight band!
I'm always surprised by the things that do and don't increase the premium. There is lots of science to suggest, for example, that unspayed bitches are at a very high risk of pyometra once they are above about 6 (not to mention the risks involved with seasons and pregnancy) yet I'm yet to come across an insurer that offers a spay discount.
I assume that they may try to spread the risk across the population of insured animals to some extent so that the owners of very large unspayed bitches can actually afford to get insurance at all.
I've been really lucky with these two so far, Brythen ran into a tree which could happen to any dog, and Rosie has had no claims at all. But its worth it for that one major condition or badly broken leg!