Making a claim

dou_jyr

Hi
Am in the unfortunate position of having to make a claim on pet insurance for the first time. The vet has said I have to pay them (the vet) up front then claim back from the insurers. Or they can arrange to make the claim for me and so not have to pay the vet but will charge me £40 for doing so.

Is this normal??? Seems weird to me.
Thanks

elsien

There’s normally a fee nowadays whichever way you do it, to cover the admin.
I pay up front then submit the claim to be reimbursed but my vet then charges a £12 admin fee to confirm the details of the claim with the insurer. 
The admin fee is not reclaimable from the insurer. 

They didn’t used to charge but now feel they need to to cover their costs. 

KxMx

My local Vet didn't charge a fee to deal with Pet Plan direct (no upfront payment) but specialist Small Animal Hospital did £25, for the same arrangement. That wasn't reclaimable. 

dou_jyr

So it is normal then. Still seems weird to me. If you don't have the money to pay up front, you're trapped into paying their non-refundable admin fee. Imagine if it were like that with cars? I think a lot of crashed cars would just be ditched!

I will check out Pet Plan Direct! (Currently with Animal Friends)

elsien

It’s up to the vet, not the insurer.
I’m with petplan. 

dou_jyr

Oh really, ok. Thanks for clarifying.

sheramber

Your vet may also be taking into account the fact that there will be a delay in getting his money,
Instead of you paying at the time he has to wait until the insurance company assess the claim and process the payment.
We paid the vet on a credit card and used the insurance money to pay off the credit card.

ladyholly

One of our dogs is with direct line the other 2 are petplan. Our vet charges a fee to complete the forms but will only deal with Petplan for direct payments. We have to pay upfront for the direct line dog. (I know it sound odd to deal with 2 companies but there are good reason we have it that way.