Frank Insurance

[Maggiethecat]

We have Petplan essential cover for our 7.5 yr old cat, £220 pa/£85 excess, and are looking to renew. Thinking of getting life cover because of her age, with Petplan would be £260pa/£85 excess. Additional 20% per claim doesn't kick in until age 10.
Looking at Frank insurance and similar cover now would be about £160pa/159 excess. Fixed excess of £200 over the age of 8.
The Frank cover sound goods but wonder if almost too good to be true. Wonder what it might cost at renewal though.
Does anyone have experience of them?
(Should add that cat is indoor and has no pre-existings at the moment)

Having indoor only cats with no pre existing conditions didn't make any difference at all when I was getting quotes in the past. Not even for the boy, who was a shade more expensive than the girl "because they tend to get into more fights with other cats" - which he would never meet being indoors only!

Might be worth checking with your vet too. One of the advantages of insurers like PetPlan and Tesco is that they pay the vet directly once you start a claim if you want (and if your vet is OK with that). The vet can tell you how good they are at paying up and whether they quibble about every cost if they've had experience of them.

Called the vets and the person who deals with claims wasn’t there.
Will probably take a chance with them.
It doesn’t seem to have all the bells and whistles of Pet Plan, eg advice line etc but really just need adequate cover.

You say there are no pre existing issues but if she’s ever been to the vets for anything, ever - it will be listed on her notes and the insurer will use it as an excuse not to pay.

Only been for check ups

@Allergictoironing my dopey indoor cat got into a fight with a cat in her garden. 🤣🤣

Stick with Petplan (life cover) - they are great when you need them!

Yeah I’m really pissed off with petplan at the moment. I’ve realised if I’d just have saved her premiums in an account I’d have more than enough to cover the current bill - only claim we’ve made and they’ve declined it.

I wouldn't go with anyone but PetPlan. I've tried cheaper insurers in the past and not only do they wriggle out of claims every time but I have to pay out of pocket and hope to get it back. I'd have been fucked this year when my cat (who'd never been for anything but check ups) needed a £4k op. All I had to do was give my account number to the vet and I never heard another word about costs.

I've never had a PP claim denied.

What happened?

She needs a dental extraction due an abscess. They have refused the claim for this urgent op because we decided not to have a dental clean more than a year ago. Decided against because she was well and it seemed wrong to put her through GA. Vet agrees there is no guarantee at all that would have prevented this. Anyway they are saying because we didn’t have it then they won’t pay. Vet has emailed them pointing out this is a different situation. We will see.

Yeah that’s pretty standard unfortunately. Ours won’t pay for dental issues either if we don’t follow advice to get their teeth cleaned - we’re with Tesco.

Dental seems to be a sticking point in cat insurance. I think all insurers are the same in requiring that vet recommendations are followed up in order to be able to claim later for a related issue.

AFAIK PetPlan is the only insurer that will cover dental issues, but only if their teeth have been checked every year and recommended action taken. Seems fair enough to me. I make sure my vet records a tooth check in their notes each year.

Tesco also cover dental issues with the same clause in place.

Well I have to take it back - they have reconsidered and are paying. I completely agree that if the vet sees a problem and you don’t act then it’s not covered but that wasn’t the situation last year. We agreed with the vet it wasn’t worth going forwards or risk/reward basis but this year is different. And pet plan have agreed.

That's useful to know, thanks.