Asda Pet Insurance Review

You must reside in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man permanently for at least nine months of the year.

Your pet must be older then 8 weeks and in good health.

You must be the owner of the pet and it must live with you.

Asda Pet Insurance have six pet policies to choose from

Accident Only - Vets fees up to a maximum of £2,500 covering accidents with no time limit.

Time Limited - Vets fees up to a maximum of either £2,000 or £5,000 per condition, limited to 12 months.

Lifetime -  Vets fees up to a maximum of either £2,000 or £4,000 per condition that is reinstated annually, or

Lifetime - Vets fees up to a maximum of £10,000 per year in total, that is reinstated annually.

A list of important exclusions. Asda Pet Insurance does not cover:

1. Cosmetic, routine, elective or preventative treatment;
2. Routine vaccinations, spaying, castration, retained testes;
3. Grooming, nail clipping, bathing, dematting;
4. killing and controlling fleas or worms;
5. kittening and giving birth;
6. Treatment of false pregnancy if your pet has had two or more occurrences;
7. Any costs relating to breeding (more than one accidental pregnancy is classed as breeding);
8. Treatment for behavioural problems unless as result of an insured incident;
9. House or out of hours calls, unless the vet confirms that it was essential and would have worsened any condition;
10. Routine or investigative laboratory tests;
11. The cost of pheromone products;
12. The cost of cages, baskets or bedding and any health enhancers;
13. Any claim arising from sexually transmitted disease, rabies or notifiable disease;
14. The cost of organ transplants or experimental surgical procedures; artificial body parts (except hip, elbow or knee joints);
15. Claims if your pet has been used in any trade, profession or business, including breeding (other than show dogs);
16. Gundogs, used in connection with shooting, or hunting of any kind;
17. Your pet straying, escaping, damaging property or attacking if they have done it before;
18. The following breeds Japanese Tosa / Tosa Inus, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro,African Crested Dog, Inuit Dog, American Bandogge, Irish Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Mancon, Argentinian Mastiff, Korean Jindo, American Pit Bull Terrier, Laika, American Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Libyan Desert Dog, Australian Dingo, Northern Inuit Dog, Bandogge Mastiff, Perro de Presa Canarios, Boerboel, Pit Bull Mastiff, Bully Kutta, Pit Bull Terrier, Canary Dog, Presa Canarios, Canadian Inuit Dog, Racing Greyhound, Cane Corso, Sarloos Wolfhound, Cão Fila, Shar Pei, Chinese Shar Pei, Tamaskan Dog;
19. If your pet has shown previous adverse or aggressive behaviour, or worries livestock;
20. The death of, or loss by theft or straying of your pet if aged 8 years and over.

Any dog on a public highway must be kept on a collar and lead. The collar contain your contact details.

Reasonable steps must be taken to ensure your dog does not stray.

You must take care of your pet and arrange for any treatment that has been recommended.

You must ensure your dog is vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis and when entering a boarding kennel or show,
parvovirus and kennel cough. Your cat is vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, enteritis, leukaemia and cat flu. Vaccinations must be kept up to date.

You must ensure that your pet is wormed and treated for fleas on a regular basis.

Complementary medicine is covered under Asda Pet Insurance. The limit of cover varies according to the policy but is included in the overall vet fee limit and not separate;

Accident only and Time Limited £2,000 policies - £500

Time limited £5,000  - £750

Lifetime £2,000 - £1,000

Lifetime £4,000 and £10,000 - £1,500

Treatments such as Physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractic, homeopathic, herbal medicines or
laser treatment are covered providing they are administered by a suitably qualified practitioner following a recommendation from a qualified vet.

Prescription food is covered subject to the following terms and conditions;

Accident only - no cover, Time Limited £2,000 - £100, Time Limited £5,000 - £150, Lifetime £2,000 - £200, Lifetime £4,000 and £10,000 - £250.

Food must be prescribed by your vet, can only be purchased from a veterinary surgery or online pharmacy and only for the purpose of dissolving bladder stones or crystals in Urine. Asda will deduct 53p per tin and £1.00 per kilo to take into account your normal feeding costs. The maximum time limit is 60 days.

Policies cover dentistry treatment only as a direct result of an accident and or injury to your pet.

Note that the cover is included in the overall vet fee limit and not separate;

Asda Pet Insurance policies cover both CT/MRI Scans and Cruciate Ligament Damage

Accident Only, Time Limited £2,000 & £5,000 and Life time £2,000 policies - CT/MRI Scans up to £1,250 - Cruciate Ligament Claims up to £1,250.

Lifetime £4,000 & £10,000 policies - CT/MRI Scans up to £1,500 - Cruciate Ligament claims up to £1,500.

It should be noted that these are not separate benefits but included in the overall vet fees limits. The level of benefit are lower in all cases than the market average.

Asda cover the cost of your pet being put to sleep, provided it is to prevent incurable and inhumane suffering and was recommended by your vet. If your pet dies or is put to sleep Asda will pay the costs of a pet funeral or cremation.

Pet Funeral/Cremation costs are not covered if your pet is aged 8 or older. The cost of Memorial Plaques, headstones or any commemorative signs are also excluded.

Insure more than one pet cat, dog or combination, under the same Asda pet policy and receive a 10% discount.

Your pets pre-existing medical condtions would not be covered under a new Asda pet policy. This includes any condition or sympton, investigated or known about by you or your vet, prior to taking out a policy.

Costs relating to Pregnancy, Breeding or giving birth are specifically excluded.

If you take your pet abroad, Asda will extend veterinary fees to cover you in any country part of the "Pets" scheme. Cover is available for a maximum of 30 days made up of no more than 2 holidays per year.

As well as emergency vet fees, you are also covered against holiday delay and cancellation, emergency repatriation, Quarantine costs and loss of your pet passport.

All Asda pet insurance policies are classed as annual policies and run for 12 months.

21 days before the end of your policy, Asda will contact you with renewal terms for the next 12 months.

If you pay your insurance by direct debit, your policy will automatically continue.

If you paid your policy by debit or credit card, you will need to contact Asda to make payment for the next 12 months policy.

Should you not wish to renew, you must contact Asda before the renewal date.

You may cancel the policy within the first 14 days. If you have not made a claim, Asda will refund the period of unused cover.

If you cancel outside the 14 days period and have not made a claim, Asda will charge you for the period that you have been on cover.

If you cancel and have made a claim there will be no refund of premium, except for claims relating to death, loss, straying or theft.

You must notify Asda of any claim within 90 days. You can phone the claims line on  0370 405 0007, email, or download a claim form from the website.

No other information is provided on the claims process or the speed of settlement.

Every claim will be reviewed by an internal pet claims assessor and compared to charges for the same or similar treatment.

Cover is excluded in respect of costs relating to illness (including claims for death) within the first 14 days of your policy.

You are required to pay the first amount of any claim (known as the excess)

Asda Accident only, Time Limited £5,000, Lifetime £4,000 and £10,000 policies £75 per claim.

Asda Time Limited £2,000 and Lifetime £2,000 policies £99 per claim.

In respect of Dog liability claims the excess is £250.0

When your pet reaches the age of 5, Asda Lifetime policies require an additional 10% contribution per claim, in addition to the standard excess.

For example if your claim was for £1,000, the amount you would required to pay is £75 plus 10% of the balance £92.50 Total £167.50.

The accident only and Time Limited policies do not require any additional contribution.

Although Asda money's pet insurance section is part of a larger website offering various insurance and financial service deals, it was easy to find.

The site delivers a brief overview of policy cover, allowing comparison of cover types, but not all in one go.

Access to policy documents are provided and a small number of FAQ's answered initial queries, but there is no live chat or email address contact and a freephone helpline number wasn't disclosed until after the quotation stage.

The quotation system is easy to use and quotes showed a comprehensive breakdown of features and benefits, together with price allowing comparison of the different types of cover.

The Asda pet insurance policy is the same for cats and dogs.

Although there are separate wordings for the three different types of policy, they do not provide a summary of cover to allow detailed comparison.

Useful phone numbers and helplines are included in the front, followed by an index of contents and policy definitions. Each section of cover is colour coded, green for whats covered and red for whats not covered.

The policy text had a reading score of 44.5 (out of 100) and classed as difficult to read.

The text had an average reading age of 17 - 18 years. This means that a person with a reading age of 17-18 years should be able to understand the policy.

Asda Pet policies are listed on Go Compare, Money Supermarket, Confused and Compare the Market.

The cover, sums insured and premiums are the same as you can find direct on the Insurers website.

Asda policyholders have access to a 24 hour vet help line, staffed by veterinary experts, who can provide support and advice when you are unable to get hold of your own vet.

We were unable to find enough reviews on any of the sites to give a meaningful indication of customer service.

Asda display their own customer reviews of which there are 19 and they have a rating of 4.8/5.

There is no mention of administration charges in the policy booklet or on the website, so assume that there are none.

There are no current special discounts or promotions.

Asda pet insurance offer a range of good value policies at reasonable prices.

We gave the Lifetime £4,000 and £10,000 products a 4 star rating.

The fact that the co-insurance payment kicks in once your pet turn 5, means that you will be paying more for claims sooner than some other companies. Whilst this age is lower than many on the market (applies to lifetime policies only) on a positive note, there is no upper age limit for pets.

The inner limits on CT/MRI Scans and Cruciate Ligament claims are lower than the market average and in comparison to other similarly rated policies.

Our Research indicates that Asda policies are competitively priced for younger pets, but become less competitive for pets over the age of 5.