"Cheep" Pet Insurance

WilliamJohnston

I would be wary of cheap pet insurance. The essential thing is that the insurers pay up when needed. Saving money on premiums is a total waste if the insurers will not cover the bills - or make it so difficult to claim that you might as well not have bothered.

My personal recommendation is for M&S. They most certainly are not cheap. But the experience I had when my dog was hit by a truck and needed £3,500 in operations (this was twelve years ago) was exemplary. They paid up, promptly and without making a fuss. There was only one occasion when they reduced the amount; and that was simply because the vet had included something on the claim that simply should not have been there. The thing is though that, rather than demanding that the claim be resubmitted, they simply deducted the errant amount and paid the (rather substantial) rest of the bill.

Furthermore, there was an occasion when two vets were involved and I ended up being overpaid. I contacted them - on an 0800 number - with a view to making a repayment which I reckoned was going to happen eventually anyway. I got straight through to someone who could deal with the issue. His response was: "Well it's our mistake, so we're not going to claim the money back."

All subsequent communications with them have been equally simple and straightforward.

I cannot speak too highly of them

SaverRate

M&S are underwritten by Royal Sun Alliance. 

Tesco Bank have the same underwriters but slightly different cover which included Dental Cover providing you have a yearly dental check up. We have been with them for 2 years now. Luckily never had to claim. 

More Than and John Lewis also use Royal Sun Alliance as their underwriters for Pet Insurance. 

Lavendyr

Totally agree with the sentiment. For me, Petplan (underwritten, I believe, by Allianz) have been amazing. One of my cats has been extremely poorly the last year and they have paid out without a quibble, up to the policy level. It's about £30 a month now for this boy but I have claimed around £11k in the last two policy years.