Whilst looking for dog insurance I investigated AXA as a number of people on here have recommended it.

I found the following on their website

New business pet insurance is no longer available from AXA. Existing customers, you can still receive the support you need until your policy expires.



Is this new thing or what?

Certainly is, I was on there last week and the quote thing was still there!  :-(

Well, that's what I thought Nikita as I got a quote from them last week too.

That is odd, they have just sent me a renewal. Hiked up by 33% on 5 yr old Golden with no claims to her name!

Needless to say I have looked elsewhere and she is going to be insured with Liverpool Victoria.

That's really put me off now, bestdogs.
I used Direct Line with my last two dogs and there was no problem with them paying out for long term and expensive pills for their last four years of life. Wondering whether to go back to them. Their quote is £23.80 pm for my Golden pup, including overseas travel. The other one I have my eye on is Petplan which is £32.24. Interestingly, LV was £12.19, the only thing I don't quite understand is that the dog would be covered for up to £7000 vet bills per year. Does that mean if the illness is ongoing, she will not be covered any more?

LV offer two levels- you can cover for ongoing conditions.

I have just spoken to Axa and they intend pulling out of pet insurance in Dec/Jan. Existing policy holders are currently still being offered renewals. If I had renewed mine, it would have been cancelled at the next one! For animals with existing conditions they are going to offer a policy they will arrange with another company, which would be subject to the terms and conditions of the new provider, which a client could accept or decline, in essence covering their legal obligations I presume.

I also presume the hike in premium is to 'lose' business by 'natural wastage!

Wow, glad I spotted that. Feel very sorry for those who could possibly lose out badly if they have pets being treated for a long term condition as there seems to be no guarantees that it will continue to be insured.

Makes you wonder who will be next and who will stay in pet insurance. Petplan for instance is underwritten by a German insurance company, so if they decided that pet insurance is not cost effective, it might be difficult to get 'taken on' by a British company. Direct Line has new owners, they might not continue or change terms and conditions radically. Oh what a to do!

I use John Lewis after Petplan started adding on 35% of the claim on to the excess when the dog reaches 6 for select breeds.

So far they have been brilliant, they have just changed underwriters to RSA which i have my house and contents with again no problems there.

The one thing i queried is the wording on the policy. I insist they used to use Life policy now they use the term long term, they have told me this is still the same but i am now thinking is this the wording most will start to use, as life cover can be argued as completely different to long term, how long is long term?

You do need to note that with LV their ongoing cover is for the same sum as their 12 month cover per condition, it just means you can carry the sum into further policy years, whereas their basic cover is per condition within a 12 month period.
It is far from the perfect policy, however, I think some insurance companies offer what at the outset appears wonderful and then a few years down the line withdraw from the market or hike prices. In my opinion LV are being realistic at  reasonable prices and have a good track record. I have no connection with the company -other than insuring with them! :)

bestdogs, who did you speak to?  I've just rung customer services, they are an intermediary company and knew absolutely nothing about this until it was put on the site and FB today!  They're waiting on info from HQ themselves.

Very worrying, Saffi has a few conditions that are costly and there's no way I can afford to pay for them if I lose her cover :-(

I rang them earlier, the girl on the help desk only knew what is on the website, I had a chat with her then she spoke to a supervisor who will find out more and ring me by end of this week (they usually DO ring back when they say this).
I did point out that when Halifax did this it ended up with a big multiple claim case going to the insurance ombudsman.
I will update as and when I get a phonecall.

I  spoke with a customer service advisor who appeared very well informed as to what was happening. Yes, they are an admin co that Axa uses. I also cited the Halifax case- I imagine this is why they intend to arrange an offer of alternative cover.

Just been trawling round getting other lifetime quotes for GSD 6yrs & 1 week
AXA - current -   £341.28 -7000 per year
KC - £861.24  - 5000 per year
Direct line -  £398.52-  6000 per year
John lewis -  £534.77 - 7500 per year
LV - £613.20 - 5000 per condition
Petplan would only quote for the basic - conditions only covered for 1 year then excluded because he is GSD over 5yrs

What's the problem with GSD's over 5 years?

Direct Line is coming out well, but still not sure what to do. Putting money aside for vet bills is one thing, but the other part of pet insurance is public liability. If my dog should run across the road in front of a car and cause a nasty accident with injured people, goodness knows what the resultant compensation payments could run to. I heard a story today of a dog who had killed two sheep and the farmer is sueing the owner for £2000!

What's the problem with GSD's over 5 years?

No idea, I rang the help no as it wouldn't give me a price for lifetime and got someone in a foreign call centre reading from a script

Just had a call from someone in KC ins. dept. (follow up on quote) She hadn't heard anything about AXA pulling out and was going off to investigate, I did refer her to CD and this thread :-D
She did agree there was no contest between their quote and some of the others

I have just this minute spoken to AXA as I have 2 with Petplan and 1 too old to move with AXA on a lifetime insurance. I explained that she is 10 now and too old to move to another lifetime policy. I was told that she would be covered until this policy runs out.
I said this is not acceptable as she is an age when insurance is essential. He spoke to a supervisor and said that the company policy will be that they will not take on new clients however those with lifetime will be covered for lifetime, and her policy will be renewed each year.

I am a little sceptical as I know they can change their mind on this easily, but I have no option but to continue and hold my breath with AXA.
My other two I moved to Petplan after the Halifax fiasco as I felt they would be safer with them, so it looks like I was right on that. They would only insure my oldie on a 12 month basis, when I asked whether if she had ongoing claims could they refuse to renew her 12 month policy, the said 'possibly' For this reason I left her with Axa.

I guess we will have to wait and see

It's beginning to sound like the Halifax fiasco all over again. Good luck with your oldie, sillysue.

I find it concerning that Axa are saying different things to different people!

those with lifetime will be covered for lifetime, and her policy will be renewed each year.

Trouble is what will the premiums go up by each year :-(

Trouble is what will the premiums go up by each year

I have the premiums for the past few years. If my renewal ( assuming they offer one ) is a ridiculous high price I will go straight to the ombudsman as her premiums have only gone up by a pound or two each year, so any more will be blatant profiteering to get rid of me and my policy.
I will shout and make so much noise they will regret trying this increase, the same goes if they will not renew the policy.  Hell hath no fury........if my dog is scorned.

I have cancelled all my insurance and start a savings policy and top loaded it with 5,000. Taken out membership of dogs trust which gives 1m public liability on all dogs owned by member = £25.00/ yr

K

good idea if you can do it KLB. i am with animal friends and more than. My 5 year old moggies premium has just gone up by £10 this time to 44 pounds per month. Unfortunately I cant change him as he had a serious break and dislocation of his hind leg  a few years ago and everyone else will exclude any future problems
Wonder who will be next to pullout

> I will shout and make so much noise they will regret trying this increase, the same goes if they will not renew the policy.  Hell hath no fury........if my dog is scorned.

I'll be joining you! I have 5 dogs insured with AXA, one has just been renewed and did go up a little more than the couple of quid I was expecting. I await developments......

Unfortunately I think we are going to see more companies putting prices up by large amounts or getting out of the pet insurance market altogether. The insurance companies need to make a profit or they can't continue. They are not charitable organisations.

With the advances in medical treatment for animals and the way vets use insured pets as a way to vastly increase their income, premiums have to rise to cover costs.

There is a reasonable increase ( to be expected due to costs as mentioned by newyork) but massive increases are not necessary, they are just a way to get rid of policy holders that they will no longer want. Reasonable I can cope with - massive is a no no.

It seems that as recently as yesterday they were still accepting new customers. As for trying to find out what will happen in the future, it depends on who you speak to when you ring them. This morning I was told they would continue to provide cover for existing customers until the customer cancelled the policy, whereas someone else who rang this morning was told they couldn't be sure that would be the case. I have 5 of my dogs insured with them, one of which has an ongoing condition, so it's quite a worry.

My sisters renewal for her Bichon, went up by an unbeleivable 130% from Axa. :0
She hadn't even claimed that much, just a cruciate injury that only required rest and Metacalm.

I'm Celli's sister and my premiums with AXA for my Bichon went up from approx £135 last year to £301 this year, the policy was renewed last week. My sheltie is also insured with them and his renewal was in April, I did have an increase but it wasn't to bad. I don't want to rock the boat by complaining about my Bichon's increase just in case, don't know in case of what but just in case lol. I've emailed AXA to ask them what's happening, the only email addy I have is the one for claims but I thought I'd give it a go.

On querying why AXA were still giving new insurance quotes last week in the knowledge that they were coming out of pet insurance, we had the following reply:

Thank you for your email. We are still honouring quotes already completed, but simply not allowing any further new quotes. Any quotes already created will be honoured for 30 days, and your policy would renew as normal until you no longer required the insurance. Apologies that the website is not clear on this, but feedback has been given and this will be amended.

If you have any further queries please feel free to contact us again.

Do you think that all the phone calls they've had this morning have made an impression on them.

Still have no inclination to take up their quote.

So does that mean that you will be insured with them for as long as you want to

I suspect it means yes, but only if you pay our increasingly high premiums. On the other hand I could be completely wrong.

Considering admin people are giving us all different versions of what is/will be happening, I would be extremely wary of renewing a policy with them at this time. I have covered mine with LV, however anyone with a dog who has an existing condition may be better off continuing, if what I was told about them arranging cover with another insurer is the case.

I have been in the position of those who can't move insurance co for an existing condition and it is a horrible
situation to be in. 

The thing is with any insurer they may well pull out of the pet insurance business in the future, so there are no guarantees whoever you go with. :(

I think probably the safest is Petplan as they insure every type of animal and have done for years. Our horses are with them ( they are cheaper to insure than the dogs - around £12 per month ) I think the insurers that offer, house, car, pet and other things may cut out any areas that do not make money. PP specialises in animal insurance so hopefully is a safer bet.

I think you are right, although the monthly premiums with PP for 6 dogs would be horrendous. :(

I think you are both right too, as you say there are no guarantees. I was insured with Petplan from 1978 for many years and couldn't fault them, however, as the number of dogs increased and the premiums went up, it was no longer an option for me to continue with them. For those who can afford Petplan, in my opinion they are without doubt the best bet.

I took out insurance in Feb with Petplan, but had been pricing round and was considering AXA. I had a few questions for them, as the information I wanted wasn't on their website. There was no option on their website to email about that, as pet insurance was not included in the drop down box on the contact page. So I sent them a PM on Facebook. I asked if they paid the vet directly, if dental work was included (knowing that most policies don't), and if they increase the yearly premiums based on claims (as Petplan told me they don't any more).

The team at AXA Facebook didn't know, and couldn't be bothered to find out. So they told me to email pressoffice.ins@axainsurance, ha I'm still waiting on the reply ;) As they couldn't be bothered to answer my questions, they didn't deserve my business so I went to Petplan. I thought if that's how Axa treat customers before they have your money, imagine how bad their customer service would be if there was a claim.

Not surprised at they get rated as one of the worst insurance compaines by Which, for both car and home insurance.

A forum friend rang them yesterday and has been told that is it ONLY new customers that are not being given insurance, existing ones' policies will continue for the life of the dog, not the policy year. 

What happens with the premiums remains to be seen, but if the above is true then it's some comfort at least - I can cope with higher premiums to a point for however long Saffi has left, but there's no way I could cope if I had to pay for her meds and tests myself.  So it's a start.

Made my decision over which insurance company and Petplan gets my money from now on. It was, by far, the most expensive, but appears to be a good company to deal with and pay out quickly. I also feel it will continue in pet insurance for the foreseeable future. My main concern is to have the best insurance I can afford that will cover the dog when she is ill or injured without giving me the runaround.
I do hope AXA honours those customers who have dogs with conditions making it virtually impossible to swap to another company.

To Pedlee,

I think we should both have married Vets, life would be so much easier.

It now says on their website: Pet insurance is no longer available to new customers from AXA. If you already hold AXA pet insurance, you can continue to receive the support you need from us.

So they have removed the "until your policy expires" bit... Sounds like they will honour existing policies for the life of the dog. :-)

> To Pedlee,<br /><br />I think we should both have married Vets, life would be so much easier.

You could well be right. Perhaps it's not too late! :)

If you want just public liability, you can join Dog Trust and get 3rd party liability insurance that way.  It is only about £25/yr:  http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/giving/membership/default.aspx#.UfQXcxZa_0c