Fetch Pet Insurance Review (2026)

Fetch used to be called Petplan. Fetch Insurance Services, LLC runs the program. AXIS Insurance Company (NAIC 37273, part of AXIS Capital) underwrites the policies in California and Florida. AXIS has filed the program in California since 2020 (CDI file 20-3323). California approved the latest rate filing, 25-2417, on 12 March 2026: rates rose +12.9% overall.

How it works everywhere

The pricing rules come from the program rate manual PRM(CA) 2025.1.1 and its California exception page CA SEP 2025.1.2. Both are in California filing 25-2417. We have not read Fetch’s rate pages for any other state. The policy terms come from the California form GPTM 050 CA 0325 A in the same filing and from the Florida sample policy GPTM 050 FL 1125 A. We note where Florida differs.

Price

• The premium is an annual base rate, times the factors for the options you choose, times a breed-group-by-age table. The table has 32 dog groups. Each renewal uses the pet’s current age.
• How fast the price climbs with age depends on the breed group. In filing 25-2417 the French Bulldog (group 25) factor is 1.975 under age 1, 13.943 at 12 and 22.095 at 15 and older. From puppy to age 12 it grows 7.1 times. In the cheapest group, group 1 (Chihuahua, Shih Tzu and Yorkshire Terrier mixes), it grows from 0.667 to 3.650 by age 12, or 5.5 times.
• A second factor depends on the age at enrollment and on how many years the policy has run (the age-at-inception factor). Pets enrolled before their first birthday get 1.00 every year: no first-year discount and nothing to wear off. Pets enrolled at 1–2 or at 7 and older start at 0.85; pets enrolled at 3–6 start at 0.80. The discount shrinks by 3 or 4 points at each renewal and is gone from the sixth year. For these pets it works as a tenure surcharge (a price rise for staying insured) of about 3–5% a year for five renewals.
• A prior-claims factor applies at every renewal. Filing 25-2417 brought it in to replace the old healthy-pet credit and claims surcharge. It adds up paid claims from the last three years and counts each claim at no more than $500. If the total is $500 or less, the factor is 0.95 in year 2, 0.90 in year 3 and 0.85 from year 4. Above $500 it is 1.15 ($500–1,000), 1.30 ($1,000–1,500), 1.45 ($1,500–2,000) and so on up to 2.20 (above $5,000 in years 2–3, above $7,500 from year 4).
• Because of the $500 cap, one paid claim of any size keeps the lowest factor. But if counted claims over three years top $500 — two paid claims of $300, for example — the factor becomes 1.15 or more.
• The rate manual offers two deductibles: per policy year (factor 1.136) or per condition (1.000). The declarations page template also offers “Annual or Per Condition”. The policy form describes only the annual deductible. It does not say how a per-condition deductible works.
• Your co-pay (the share of the bill you pay) comes off first, then the deductible (policy section IV). With a $10,000 bill, a 10% co-pay and a $1,000 deductible, Fetch pays $8,000.
• Fees in filing 25-2417: $4.50 for each monthly or quarterly card payment (free with Apple Pay or Google Pay) and a $15 administrative fee for new policies only.
• All discounts together are capped at 10%. Discounts exist for shelter adoption or shelter staff, an employer group plan, a medical service pet, a strategic partner, the military and veterinary staff. The manual has no multi-pet discount.
• The base manual has a trend factor of 1.10^(m/12), where m is the number of months since the base rate took effect. It adds up to 10% a year between rate filings. The California exception page does not allow this rule in California.

Coverage

• Sick-visit exam fees, dental illness, prescriptions and supplements are in the base policy. In California (filing 25-2417) you can drop each one with an optional endorsement (a policy add-on) to pay less. The factor is 0.90 without exam fees, 0.97 without dental, 0.80 without prescriptions and 0.985 without complementary and physical therapy.
• Prescription food is not covered.
• At a Fetch preferred pharmacy you pay no co-pay, but the deductible still applies.
• Accidents have no waiting period. Illness and injury from normal activity wait 15 days; a full vet exam in the first 15 days removes the wait. Orthopedic conditions wait 30 days in Florida. In California, orthopedic conditions that appear in the first 180 days are excluded for life. There are two exceptions: knees a vet clears within 180 days, and accidents.
• A first vet exam is required, within 12 months before or 30 days after the start date. Anything the vet notes at that exam is not covered.
• A curable condition seen in the year before enrollment is excluded for 365 days. After that it is covered if it has not come back and the pet has had its annual exam. The exclusions section allows a second 365-day period after a relapse. The definition in the same form says a relapse makes the exclusion lifelong.
• Medical records go to Fetch when the policy is first written (rate manual, administrative fee rule).
• You can raise the limit or lower the deductible or co-pay only at renewal, and only if you have filed no claims.
• At renewal the insurer may change the premium, the limit, the co-pay, the deductible and the terms.
• If Fetch pays more than 50 claims for one pet (in Florida, within one policy year), it may remove promotional discounts and offer less coverage.
• Removing a swallowed object under anesthesia is covered only once per policy year.

Pros

• Exam fees, dental illness and prescriptions are in the base policy. You do not pay extra for them.
• California has an unlimited annual limit on file (factor 1.476, against 1.000 for $15,000).
• The California underwriting rules set no upper age for enrollment. The pet must be older than six weeks.
• If counted claims over the last three years come to $500 or less, you get up to 15% off from the fourth year. One paid claim of any size counts as $500.
• No co-pay on prescriptions filled at a Fetch preferred pharmacy.

Cons

• The renewal price depends on claims. The prior-claims factor reaches 2.20. Only pets with $500 or less of counted claims get the claim-free discount.
• A tenure surcharge hides in the age-at-inception factor. If the pet was enrolled at age 1 or older, the price rises another 3–5% a year for five renewals, on top of the rise for age.
• The price climbs steeply with age: from puppy to age 12 the factor grows 7.1 times for the French Bulldog and 5.5 times in the cheapest group.
• $4.50 for each card installment and $15 to start a new policy.
• No multi-pet discount in the California manual.
• Prescription food is not covered.
• Illness waits 15 days. In California, orthopedic problems that start in the first 180 days are excluded for life.
• In the year to 30 June 2025, Fetch’s California losses plus defense and cost-containment expense (legal and claim-control costs) came to 55.2% of earned premium, before loss development — the allowance for claims from that year still to be paid (ratemaking data, 25-2417, p. 128). The filing multiplies that year’s losses by a development factor of 1.126 and the defense and cost-containment expense by 1.000, which gives 61.8%. The year to 30 June 2024 was 63.6%; the year to 30 June 2023 was 65.4%. The California Department of Insurance rate template restates premium at current rates and adds development and trend (p. 129). That gives 74.5%, 71.8% and 74.8%. The template allowed a change between -11.8% and +12.9%. The Department asked for three years of data instead of six, and Fetch cut its request from +13.4% to the +12.9% maximum (pp. 33, 400). That increase was approved.

What we could not verify

• Florida rates. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved AXIS rate filing 26-025000 on 10 August 2026. We have not read its documents, so we do not know the Florida rate change, factors or fees. Nor do we know whether Florida uses the 10% a year trend factor.
• Whether Florida sells an unlimited limit, and whether Florida has an upper enrollment age. The Florida sample policy points to the declarations page for limits.
• The new Florida form GPTM 050 PML FL 0326 (filing 26-029242). It applies to new policies from 15 January 2027 and to renewals from 31 March 2027.
• Which curable-condition rule Fetch actually applies, since the definition and the exclusion in its form contradict each other.