Co-operative Pet Insurance Review

You must be a new customer (A new customer is someone who has not had a Pet Insurance policy with Co-op Insurance or Co-op Insurance Services in the last 12 months.)

You must be the owner of the pet and you must live, together with your pet at an address in the UK, Isle of Man or Channel Islands.

Your pet must be older than 6 weeks (or 8 weeks if sold by a licensed breeder) and under the age of 8 for dogs and 10 for cats (under 5 for the following breeds Bernese Mountain Dog, Bulldog, Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Deerhound, Estrela Mountain Dog, Great Dane, Irish Wolfhound, Leonberger, all Mastiff breeds, Newfoundland, Old English Sheep Dog, Dogue de Bordeaux, Rottweiler, St Bernard, Beauceron, Shar Pei)

Co-operative Insurance offer two Pet policies;

Classic - A policy limited to 12 months, covering vet fees up to a maximum of £2,000.

Select Plus - A lifetime policy covering vets fees up to a maximum of £5,000 which is re-instated every year, provided there is no break in cover.

This is a breakdown of important policy exclusions.

Co-op Pet Insurance does not cover:

1. The cost of any preventative, diagnostic or unnecessary treatment.
2. The cost of killing and controlling fleas and or general health improvers
3. Any treatment in connection with breeding, pregnancy or giving birth.
4. Transplant surgery, the cost of artificial body parts, with the exception of hip, knee and elbow joint replacements.
5. House visits and out of hours treatment, unless confirmed by your vet that your pet was suffering a life threatening injury or illness, or that moving your pet would have worsened the situation.
6. Neutering, Spaying, retained testicles (unless your pet was aged under 12 weeks when cover started)
7. The cost of any vaccinations.
8. Bathing, Grooming or Dematting.
9. The cost of Pheromone products, unless they are used as part of a structured behaviour modification programme.
10. The cost of equipment or machinery.
11. Your dog if used for security, guarding, track racing or coursing.
12. Your dog it is is crossed with a Pit Bull Terrier, Dogo Argentino, Japanese Tosa, Fila Brasileiro, Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, Saarloos Wolfhound/Wolfdog or any wolf hybrid, or is required to be registered under the dangerous dogs act.

You are required to maintain your pets health and provide a secure environment, so as to prevent injury, illness, theft or straying.

Maintain control of your pet, to prevent injury or damage to a third party (person or animal),or property.

You must carry out any vet recommendations, including regular worming and flea treatments.

Your pet must be vaccinated against:

For dogs - distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis and parvovirus.
For cats - feline infectious enteritis, feline leukaemia and cat flu.

The Classic policy excludes cover for any complementary treatment.

The Select Plus policy covers complementary treatments, but only up to £750, which is lower than the industry average.

The following treatments are covered; Acupuncture, Chiropractic manipulation, Osteopathy, Herbal medicine, Homeopathy, Hydrotherapy (hydrotherapy up to a maximum of 10). They must be recommended by a vet and carried out by a suitably qualified person.

The select plus policy also covers the cost of treating a behavioural illness, which is described as a change to your pet’s normal behaviour that is caused by a mental or emotional disorder. The Co-op will not cover any behavioural illness which could have been prevented by training and/or neutering. House calls by a vet are covered if it is in connection with the treatment of behavioural problems.

Co-op Pet Insurance covers prescription food under the following circumstances.

1. To dissolve bladder stones or crystals in urine, up to 40% of the overall cost for a maximum of 6 months
2. Your pet requires liquid food, whilst hospitalised, providing your vet confirms it is essential to keep your pet alive.

Co-op Pet Insurance covers dental costs as a result of injury or illness, provided your pet had a dental exam within 12 months of the condition and any treatment was carried out within 3 months.

Both policies cover the cost of MRT/CT scans and Curciate Ligament claims up to the vet fees limit.

Neither policy covers the cost of having your pet put to sleep, burial or cremation.

You are able to insure multiple pets under the same policy, dog or cats and benefit from a 5% multi pet discount.

You cannot cover a pet's pre-existing medical conditions under the co-op policy. Medical conditions are described as any injury or illness, that first showed clinical signs before cover started.

The policy excludes any treatment in connection with breeding, pregnancy or giving birth.

Both policies include cover for Pets Abroad as an optional extra. This section covers your pet whilst abroad for a maximum of 90 days per year. The Government Pets scheme allows you to travel to certain European Countries without the need for quarantine.

Both policies extend emergency vet fees, as well as emergency repatriation, additional quarantine, and loss of your pet's passport

Co-op Pet Insurance is in force for twelve months, as long as you continue to pay your premium. At the end of the twelve months you need to renew the contract to continue with the cover.

Co-op will contact you before the renewal date with full details of the new premium together with any changes to terms and conditions, excess etc.

If you paid by direct debit, the policy will automatically be renewed and your premium debited. If you do not want to review, you should contact the Co-op to advise them of this before the renewal date.

If you cancel the policy within the first 14 days, your will receive a full refund of premium.

If you cancel at any other time, you will receive a refund of any amount paid for cover after the cancellation date.

You have up to 12 months to notify the co-op of any claim.

The policy wording contains a fairly comprehensive explanation of the claims process and the supporting documentation required, depending on the type of claim you are making.

Co-op uses Vet Envoy, to which over 2000 vets are signed up to. The benefit of this scheme is that any claim can be send electronically and you need only complete the electronic vet envoy authorisation.

Alternatively claim forms can be downloaded from the website.

You are covered in the event of an accident or injury to your pet from the inception of the policy. There is no cover for any illness that showed signs or manifested within the first 14 days of the inception of the policy.

The excess is the first amount that you must pay of any claim you make. In this case the excess is £99 for dogs and cats.

In addition to the standard excess, when your pet turns 10 (7 for some dog breeds), you will be required to pay an additional monetary contribution of 20%. 

For example if your claim is for £1,000, you will be required to pay £99 excess plus 20% of the balance £180.20, total £279.20.

Even though the Co-op website deals with other insurances, the section on pet is easy to find.

The layout is good and Co-op provide plenty of information on the policy, the types of cover, eligibility criteria and choosing cover.

The quotation software is also easy to use and understand.

There is no live chat or email available for queries. The only option is phone their call centre.

The Co-operative policy wording is ok, but there is a lot of information to read and digest. Blue headings divide up the sections, although there is no summary of cover, or index to help find your way around.

A box encloses each section describing what is covered.

The policy wording text had a reading score of between 56.2 and 62.2 (out of 100), classed as somewhere between standard and fairly difficult to read.

The text had an average reading age of 14 - 15 years. This means that a person with a reading age of 14-15 years should be able to understand the policy.

Co-operative Pet Insurance is not listed on Comparison Websites. For a quote go direct to their site.

The policy includes a legal helpline.

We were unable to find any customer reviews specifically relating to pet insurance.

We could find no mention of administration charges, so assume that they don't charge any.

You receive a 20% discount on your premium if you purchase online.

We have awarded both policies 3 stars, having market average levels of cover.

The website is good and provides plenty of information, to help you make an informed decision.

One point to note is that unlike most Pet Insurers, you are unable to get a quote based on a mongrel dog. You will need to know the exact breed of your dog for the system to provide an accurate quotation.

Co-op will only quote for dogs under the age of 8 and cats under the age of 10. During testing we found once you added in the optional extras, which are standard on many policies, premiums weren't as competitive.