So, for example... if you took 2 different breeds of pedigree dogs. Both were the same sex, same age... and same price, but one would be more expensive to insure than the other? Are certain dogs down as more of a risk on insurance database?

Insurance companies work out their premiums on simple, non-emotional statistics. Pedigree dog owners are more likely to claim on their insurance than non-pedigree dogs, therefore pedigree dogs have a higher premium. Some breeds are also more likely to have more claims than others, therefore their premiums are higher than others.
It actually has nothing whatever to do with whether or not pedigrees are more valuable, more or less healthy than crossbreeds/mongrels - simply statistics.
I think that the single reason most responsible for the difference in premiums is simply that owners of crossbreeds are (a) less likely to insure their dogs (and therefore represent a smaller proportion of insured dogs overall - hence a lower "risk" for the insurers); and (b) are less likely to take their dogs to the vets for treatment - again a lower "risk" for the insurer.

As an example - in our little cul-de-sac, there are 8 families. 6 of these 8 families have dogs. Only one family (us) have pedigree dogs - the rest have a variety of staffy/terrier crosses. To my knowledge, we are the only family who ever takes our dogs to the vet for any reason whatever. Even when the other families' dogs are really, life-threateningly sick, they usually come to us for advice rather than to the vet. If the dog is really sick, they usually get it to the PDSA (if they can find someone in their family or friends who are on benefits and who will pretend that the dog is theirs.)

Mick

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DREAMCATCHER SIBERIAN HUSKIES
Siberian Husky Welfare Association (UK)
"For I am a raindog too!" - Tom Waits
"Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see" - Benjamin Franklin
"As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities" - Voltaire

I would expect that the insurance companies consider that mongrals don't come with all the health issues that can be associated with the various breeds coupled with the interbreeding issue.

whether it's right of wrong - who knows - also they know they are not going to have to pay out around £600 should the dog die,
regards
sue

I know you're not generalising to all crossbreed owners but I'd just like to say no way in hell would I sit at home while my dog was ill, I'd be straight to the vet!

Of course not! But you and I (and probably the vast majority of people on this and other dog forums) are the exceptions that prove the rule. We have had crossbreeds in the past which have been every bit as pampered as our pedigrees but for the insurance companies, it's all about cold statistics.

Mick

__________________
DREAMCATCHER SIBERIAN HUSKIES
Siberian Husky Welfare Association (UK)
"For I am a raindog too!" - Tom Waits
"Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see" - Benjamin Franklin
"As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities" - Voltaire

Are you not tempted to call the rspca on them some times?
I guess alot of dogs that are cross breeds come from the rspca etc and they do help with vet bill and have seen lots of dogs in the vets paying by pdsa what really got my back up was a big fat smelly man moaning because he had to pay for yearly vacs to be able to clame wanted them to pay!!! They are doing it to help people with sick animals that have no money, what next he'll expect them to feed his dogs too!

Think we have got a good idea now on why lets just push them to make it cheaper and for horse insurance you do need a vet cert to say its in good health if the value is over £3000 for most companies and everyone wants in for loss of use cover which i think is a good idea.
Pet companies only go on what we tell them

Maybe we should call up the insurance companies and ask? Lol

We asked them why cobi was more expensive than maya and they said because Gsd have more hip problems, so thats were I assume it goes by the health risks.

I dont know if this explain things or if it is of any use but i just browsed and found this and thought i would post it here even the thread is a bit older now
Its an american link though

Pet Insurance - Aggressive Breeding

Well with Pet Plan it cost more to insure Amber, than it does to insure our Mercedes.

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Sorry about any wrong spelling, but I'm feed up of looking things up in the dictionary