Increase in pet insurance cost for “selected breeds”

24 July 2008

Big insurers double premiums because “selected breeds” cost more to treat

AXA, an insurance company which underwrites over half a million pet insurance policies, has this month introduced a “selected breeds” category and increased the premiums for these dogs because they cost more to treat at the vets.

The dogs which fall under the “selected breeds” category are:

Bulldogs
Estrela Mountain Dogs
German Shepherds (Alsatians)
Great Danes
Greyhounds
Irish Wolfhounds
Leonbergers
Newfoundlands
Old English Sheepdogs
Rottweilers
Pyrenean Mountain Dogs
St Bernards

According to AXA, these breeds of dogs are visiting the vets more frequently than others and, when they are being treated, they run up higher vets’ bills. AXA says this means they are proving too expensive to continue to provide them with pet insurance at the old, lower rates.

“The pets in the “selected breeds” category are animals on which we have experienced a high average claims cost and a high claims frequency, which together produces a high loss ratio,” said an AXA spokesman.

“For example, greyhounds average claims cost is 10% higher than the total AXA book of business, while frequency runs at 30% higher,” he added.

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