Insurance recommendations please

[DoreenCorkhill]

Just that really
who do you use and how easy is it to claim etc ?
We used animal friends previously but horrendously expensive and ended up really confused as to what was covered and what wasn’t .
Also our vets had to claim the costs back and they needed constant reminding to progress claims .
So recommendations please insurance for pedigree kitten ( house cat) .

I use ManyPets

I use petplan because my dog is already on it. I haven't used them much because my dog hasn't ever had anything seriously wrong and the cat hasn't ever needed them but when I have, they've been swift to pay the vet. Expensive though.

Petplan here because my vet accepts direct payment from them and none of the others. Check with your vet incase this is the case with yours too. It means I only ever have to find the £60 consultation fee and then the vets deal with Petplan directly. I know some vets do accept direct payments from other insurers but we live rurally and so it makes sense to go with Petplan as the next nearest vets is miles away. Our cat is 6 years old, no existing long term medical issues and costs £40 a month in insurance for £12k lifetime cover.

I had my cat insured with Waggel when she was 7. I cancelled as I moved abroad, now I'm back and I just signed up with them again as although its 3 years later, there's barely any difference in the price. I also double-checked with them to make sure I wasn't going to get any "surprises" as she tips over into becoming a "senior" and they said nope - lifetime policy. Its cheaper than Petplan and IMO more transparent. When i was with them three years ago I had no issues with claiming.
Here's a link if youre interested, it gets you the first month free (and a voucher for me 😁)

https://www.waggel.co.uk/wawtj4

Just a warning not to use Sainsbury's.

Another one with Many Pets here for the last few years. I have a senior pedigree cat needing a monthly injection at the vet and I then claim direct online. It's quick and easy and they pay quite quickly. I know some have had problems with Many Pets but they've been fine for me. Their yearly premium hasn't jumped up massively either, despite my cat's ongoing medication needs - just by a small amount the last two years.

Many Pets have taken an absolute age to reimburse claims in my recent experience.

My dog had 2 ongoing claims, and every single invoice was referred back to the vet for more information. (My vets didn't delay with their responses, as they emailed me each time to confirm.)

This included a very detailed invoice for follow up xrays, for surgery that they had approved and paid for. Also, ongoing repeat medication that they had previously approved.

They took from minimum 8 weeks to 14 weeks to reimburse. The above surgery the vets directly claimed for payment took about 4 weeks for them to pay. All other claims I had paid myself and then submitted the paid, detailed invoices for reimbursement.

In contrast, Tesco almost always send reimbursement by the following day and have a really easy claims process, at least for ongoing claims.

Petplan have surprised me. They paid out for a drug that hadn’t even been liscenced in the UK yet, and in full. Never despised a claim and always paid promptly.

We use Petplan for our Siamese , they pay quickly , have never quibbled over anything and it’s easy to start a claim online .

Tesco