Animal Friends Pet Insurance | Specialist Cover for your dog or cat

Yes, we are fully regulated by the FSA and our FSA Registration Number is 307858

No. Our policies have been specially crafted exclusively for AFI, in particular Animal Friends’ range of Lifetime Pet Insurance policies.

Red Sands Insurance Company (Europe) Limited

For the full protection of UK insurance customers RSL are members of the ABI, The Financial Ombudsman Scheme and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so consumers are protected on all fronts.  RSL were Licensed by the Gibraltar Financial Service Commission in January 2004.

We offer either option. We can pay directly into your bank account by BACS or directly to your vet. We have our own dedicated claims service which we operate from our Wiltshire offices. Many claims will be settled immediatly as we aim to offer the very best claims service. Full details of the Claims Line number will be found in your policy documents.

There is no such thing as a ‘typical vet bill’ but treating a kidney infection may cost some £400 and a serious injury such as a fracture or hip replacement, for example, could be £1,500 or more. We do find that vet’s bills for the same kind of operation can vary widely across the country.

Yes we will insure the pet but we will exclude the pre-existing condition from the cover. Most insurers will do the same.

Older pet premiums aren’t much greater than for younger animals as you will see by following the links on this site to our pages for older animals’ pet insurance. With our senior plans you will pay the first £49 (or £99 if you have chosen the higher excess) of any claim as you would with our younger pet policies but you will also pay the first 35% of a claim. In this way we can keep our premiums at low levels to benefit those clients who do not have to make a claim whilst offering valuable cover for the larger contingencies that may occur once a pet gets into old age.

If you like you can pay the premium all at once by a credit or debit card or by a personal cheque.

Yes and at no extra cost! We offer an interest free Direct Debit option.

No! Some of our well-known competitors do.

We have only applied very small increases in recent years. In 2003 prices went up just 5%; in 2004 prices rose by only 4.5%. Some customers have told us that other companies have put up prices much more steeply once they have got their business.

Some illnesses can require treatment for many years, for example diabetes needs annual treatment for the rest of a pet's life, as does arthritis and many other conditions. We call these “Ongoing Conditions”. Our Lifetime Policy Options (Superior, Superior Plus and Prestige options) will cover that treatment for as long as it takes, even if it takes several years subject only to the overall condition limit which for our Prestige Policy for example is a huge £40,000. 

Many policies you will be offered will only pay out for the first 12 months for an ongoing condition – or even less if the claim is made towards the end of the policy year. Do check this when you are ringing around to compare pet insurances.

In order to try and be fair to all we try to give eveyone the best rates. To do so our rates have to be higher in London as vets fees are so much more expensive there but we then reduce our rates for areas where vets fees are cheaper. In the same way our rates  will be lower for cross breeds than for pedigees or large dogs to reflect the difference in risk.

To further help with your premiums we offer excess options to give you some choice as to how much premium you pay. 

Dog and Cat insurance; but watch our website for the launch of Animal Friends’ price-beating range of Horse Insurance policies.

No, we will take on a new pet at any age. We have insured both dogs and cats for the first time when they have been 18 years old!

So you have the comfort to know that, if you take out pet insurance with Animal Friends, then we will continue to insure your pet for his or her life as long as you continue to pay the premiums.