Pet insurance

[baky]

Hello
I have been googling but not sure I understand everything.
My cat was limping so I took her to the vet. It was £112. I have insurance and my excess is £60. They told me to pay them directly and not go through insurance because they thought my excess was £100 and I'd only get £12 back.
Should I go through insurance. I presume that if I do my premium will increase. Do I need to tell the insurance company I was at the vet?
Thanks

I think it depends on the insurance company you're with. Our cats are with Petplan. The youngest got injured twice (at night of course, so had to take him to the out of hours vet hospital). The hospital filled out the form both times, so I didn't pay them anything, they claimed from insurer. Bills were nearly £1k each time but paid the excess ourselves. The premiums are a bit higher than other insurers but didn't go up that much, on renewal.
The older cat shows signs of kidney issues - drinking water a lot, lately. In this situation, I'll go to the vet and pay him direct and then fill out a claim form with Petplan. I should get the money back, minus the excess.
Premiums are not meant to go up too much, with Petplan, after a claim.

Thanks, that sounds awful. We thought she had been hit but vet said more likely a fight. we are with tesco. I don't think I have to inform them she was at the vet.

I'm with petplan. I pay the excess on the first claim, then my vet always just submits the claim to the insurer and I don't pay anything else. So I just leave it all with the vet to deal with. Claiming hasn't impacted on my premiums that much, and I've claimed thousands across a couple of my cats in just 2 years.

You only have to inform them if you want to make a claim.
I used to be with MoreThan who did hike up premiums if you claimed - so I probably wouldn't have bothered for £50.
I'm now with Bought By Many on a Fixed for Life policy (the premiums start off higher but never increase) so I claim without worrying about it (good job, too, as AwkwardPup was very ill and ran up nearly £9k of vet bills last year...)

I'm with Tesco for 1 of my dogs. I only contact them if I am claiming for a condition. I don't think it is like car insurance where all incidents have to be reported.

I have a similar excess, and decided to claim as it is an ongoing condition. Check the terms, as I think you have either 6 or 12 months to submit a claim, so you might want to wait to make a more informed decision.

To be fair, I put a few things through on the same condition (several hundred pounds) and the premium barely rose on the next renewal. He is currently 2 years old, but I anticipate the next renewal will see a big hike as we've probably claimed more than we've paid in premiums.

Thanks to everyone for your replies. That's very helpful. I'm too embarrassed to ring the vet and ask these questions! I was absolutely frantic and crying because the cat was so distressed and I really thought she had been hit by a car.
Bought by many sounds great, something to consider at next renewal.
Yes I wasn't sure if it was like car insurance where you should report anyway. Thanks for answering that.
It's a bit of a gamble whether to put it through or not, so I'll hold off, she is much better.