pet insurance help needed

zagubov

If you haven't put money down yet, have a look at Argos Platinum. It's the cheapest of the for-life ones (well for for terriers), so you get treatment for the same condition for year-on-year. About £15 per month compared to about £25 for petplan (fine if you're rich!)

Googling about the web I found lots of good feedback for Argos Platinum compared with the other companies so have a look. The other Argos policies are cheaper but are yearly ones, a false economy.

zaksmum

I was quoted £9 a month with Animal Friends which seemed too good to be true...the dog's nearly 8.

However, the annual policy is up for renewal in May so I'll look at it again then. Currently the policy costs £22 a month, with Direct Line.

Flibertigibit

Just taken out a "for life" policy with Animal Friends for well under a tenner a month for the "silver"- seemed like good value, liked their approach and the fact they help animal charities, and they pay the vet directly.

dizziblonde

Ours is with Sainsburys - not the cheapest by any stretch but the higher level of cover with the "for life"s rather than the lower level "for a year" version. Just easier since the cat is already insured with them and getting too old to switch really easily so we may as well use their discount for multiple pets. Never ever had to claim though yet (touch wood). We also chose to pay slightly more for a smaller excess since we can shell out a couple of quid more a month easily but another £50 per vet claim would start to hurt - not the most moneysaving but works better in how we run our finances.

becky4131

Animal friends insurance is not good at paying out, in fact they only pay out 60% of the time. Be careful at insurance companies increasing premium once a claim has been made. Petplan do not increase premium (only with inflation), i have claimed 3 times over 3 years and my premium is still the same (10 pound a month for a cat). It is entirely up to you but personally i would go with no one but petplan.

Flibertigibit

becky4131 wrote: »

Animal friends insurance is not good at paying out, in fact they only pay out 60% of the time.

How do Animal Friends avoid paying our on claims then? I didn't want to pay much for insurance for my cat as he's indoors only, so no opportunity for accidents outside, fights, picking up diseases from other animals etc. and all he really needed insurance for was if he personally developed a medical condition, which at 9 months is not probable, though still possible.

becky4131

They will try to get out of paying by any way or means. I am a vet nurse and submit alot of insurance claims, animal friends are the main company we have problems with. Clients have had claims refused due to animals not been up to date with flea/worming treatments!

Vets will not do direct claims for clients with animal friends insurance because sometimes it takes them 7-8 months to pay out if they do pay out. If you have the funds to pay for treatment and claim back expenses yourself then animal friends may be ok but i couldn't afford to wait 7 months to be paid.

That is why i use petplan, pay excess to vets then don't have to worry because vets will claim rest back to themselves.

It is up to you but something to bear in mind is that if you claim with a company then any previous claims will not be covered if you decide to move insurance companies. That is why it is important to get a company you are happy with from the start.

GRM

Kinski wrote: »

I'm with AXA, just about to have my first claim.

I'm with AXA too, I'm just ahead of you. Got our puppy in September, diagnosed with Lungworm recently. Total treatment cost was £550ish, filled in the one page claim form, handed it in to the vet, cheque arrived in the post a couple of weeks later.

Kinski

GRM wrote: »

I'm with AXA too, I'm just ahead of you. Got our puppy in September, diagnosed with Lungworm recently. Total treatment cost was £550ish, filled in the one page claim form, handed it in to the vet, cheque arrived in the post a couple of weeks later.

I'm a couple of weeks in and heard nothing from them, I'm waiting till Monday and I'll give them a ring. I'm claiming for food and as they will only pay part of it I thought they would be in touch to ask how much it normally costs to feed her a week so they can deduct that from the claim.

hethmar

Im a little bit concerned that people seem to think Sainsburys is for life? As far as I could see there is a limit of £7k per condition.(Have confirmed it isnt "for life" but only per condition.


Meanwhile, I found this site which looks very useful. Never seen it before, may be its new, certainly less complicated and misleading than other comparison sites. Remember to tick the "for life" option in the search box though! Be aware the site may be getting kick back off some of the insurers, so read every one of them, not just those bunged up the top of the list

http://www.money.co.uk/pet-insurance/lifetime-pet-insurance.htm