Whats the best cat insurance?

[Millys Mum]

CC, you get 5% discount with M&S for multi pet policies. You also get 5% for doing online. I insured one of mine online, waited for the papers so i had his ref number and then did the other 3 online to get the 5% off. I cant be bothering with phone calls, too impatient!
No excess is an extra few pounds a year, i like that!

Susanne, i get what you mean about

I'm afraid I just don't trust the no excess option

but i think M&S are winning because they will get more custom, lots of insured pets dont get ill so they will make money. Tesco sell cheap goods but in large quantites, a small profit many times over is better than a larger profit on half the amount. I think 

[Desley (booktigger)]

IF there was no diagnosis, you dont have to claim it, as long as you have a nice vet, and haven't claimed for it with PetPlan. I wouldn't have any cat over the age of 10 with such a high excess, as you will have to pay the majority of claims?

IT came to £94 for sedation, 2 x-rays and anti-biotics, so if your vet had a similar charge, something as simple as that would require you to pay the full amount - for £6!! Admittedly hers was part of a longer claim

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I did consider changing Jaffa when his policy was up for renewal last summer, but ended up staying with petplan because I was concerned about pre-existing conditions.  Although Jaffa doesn't have any major illnesses he has had high urea and creatinine levels in the past for which further investigation was recommended (a subsequent blood test).  Although he doesn't have CRF and has never been diagnosed with tha, if he did develop it in the future I would worry that they would refuse to pay out as they exclude anything that's been "examined or treated by a vet" so they could claim that a potential problem had been flagged up.  There's also his vomiting problem at the moment - nothing serious right now and vet doesn't know cause but he has seen the vet about it so if that turns into anything needing treatment they could well consider it a pre-existing condition.  I've just been and got a quote for him from M&S and it's lower than the quote I got last summer for him.  I don't remember exactly how much it was last year but it worked out at about £9 a month whereas the one I've just got was something like £87 a year.  I might look into it again when his policy is up for renewal in August.

Why would you not have been able to claim for the xrays and meds for Pebbles if you'd been with petplan?

[Desley (booktigger)]

Susanne - I would seriously consider changing for Jaffa - mine are all with Sainsbury's, and the excess is £50 up to a claim of £350, then it is 15% of the total claim - can still make it quite high, but a lot less than PetPlan, and while we can budget for the small claims, I think having a £100 excess is excessive - esp as other companies can get away with it cheaper. I spent over £1k on PEbbles last year, and they paid out every single claim - 2 claim years though, but they did reimburse me over half of that - if I had been with PetPlan, some of the claims I had wouldn't be included - like the £94 for her x-rays and meds. I think £6500 per condition for oldies is fine, I would be questioning things if I was getting close to that amount on one cat.

[CurlyCatz]

yes i feel exactly the same but having said that if they totally price themselves out of the market they just wont get the business so perhaps its not such a bum deal for us customers.  Petplan i think is excellent and i have dealt with them manys a time through my work when they really had the stronghold in the maket.  however like you the excess is my biggest complain and i feel is just purely greed, of course these companies are only their for our money not for the love of our pets.

if m & s can quote me simaler per month with no excess and provide the same level of cover and no exclusions if an injury or illness has been made etc i will go to them. the only thing i am not sure about is where petplan will cover you say up to 6 k per year vets bills and each year is the same even for an existing condition some companys only offer x k PER CONDITION which i dont like.

Bupas excess for us by the way is 100 flat rate !

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

i am seriously thinking about changing mine when it comes for renewal and liked the sound of m&s no excess option..pet plan excess is around 65 quid i think and i did contact them ages ago to say that was an outrage with common complaints such as catbite abcess etc would cost around that to treat there for many people would not be able to use the insurance for things like that.

But that's the idea isn't it?  I'm afraid I just don't trust the no excess option as the companies that offer it are going to end up paying out a lot more just because people will claim for small things.  And since all insurers exist to make a profit they will just have to get more money off their customers somehow to pay for the extra going out.  To me insurance is for the big, unexpected bills and I'm "happy" to budget for smaller bills.  I do agree with petplan having a high excess though.  I think Mosi's is £60 which is fine but Jaffa's will go up to £100 plus a percentage when he's 10. 

[CurlyCatz]

i am seriously thinking about changing mine when it comes for renewal and liked the sound of m&s no excess option..pet plan excess is around 65 quid i think and i did contact them ages ago to say that was an outrage with common complaints such as catbite abcess etc would cost around that to treat there for many people would not be able to use the insurance for things like that.

i am around 9.50 per month only for cody.

cc all insurance companies will insure multiple animals and i know the likes of petplan do a discount for 3 or more pets.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

M&S and Petplan are usually well thought of.  A lot of peeps on here have M&S which has a no excess option.  I'm with petplan and happy with that.  The price you pay will vary depending not just on where you live but on the cat - pedigrees cost more than moggies for example.  I pay about £10 per month each for my 2 - Jaffa is nearly 10 and his premium was about £4 when he was a kitten 10 years ago and is now about £10.  Mosi's is that high as a youngster because he's a pedigree.  Best thing is to get quotes from a few different companies and compare them with each other, rather than with what other people are paying as not all policies are the same.

edit - I've never had to give bank details to get a quote - what company was that?

[ccmacey]

Just had a look at 1 there, which seemed very good, although it was £18 on silver cover. I dont know if this is for 1 cat or the 4? I didnt go any further because it wanted bank details and I only want a quote, surely there must be cheeper 1's that that?

[Ela]

Kittybabe you took the word right out of my mouth, I just clicked off to see where to post the word insurance.

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

Hi Cc

If you click on the home button at the top, and then in the search box type "Insurance" it will pick up a few threads where this type of question has been asked. Some peeps have put some really good advice on there.

[ccmacey]

Hi folks, I'm looking at getting my cats insured and although I know the places to get if from, I don't know which would be the best, and also I would like 1 that does deals for insuring multiple cats, I have 4 cats you see.

I looked out over the back last night and saw what I thought was a pigeon on a nearby roof. No it was Harry, he had climbed up onto the conservatory and then onto the roof, little begger, I need to get the insured.

Which insurance companies do you find the best?