Marks & Spencer Pet Insurance Review

You must be the owner and keeper of the pet and they must be older than 8 weeks and live with you either in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man or Channel Islands.

You agree to carry out any treatment your vet recommends to prevent injury or illness and to have your dog vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis and parvovirus; have your cat vaccinated against infectious enteritis, cat flu and feline leukaemia.

You agree to provide proper care and attention to your pet at all times.

M&S Pet Insurance have three levels of cover;

Essential covers vet fees up to £3,000 per condition for a maximum of 12 months
Standard covers vet fees up to £4,000 in total with a maximum limit of £1,000 per condition, which can be reinstated each year
Premier covers vet fees up to £7,000 in total with no individual limit, which can be reinstated each year

This is a list of important exclusions M&S Pet Insurance does not cover;

1. Routine Examinations or vaccinations.
2. Killing or controlling fleas, worming or wormer products.
3. Nail clipping, the removal of dew claws (unless as a result of an injury) grooming, spaying, castration or retained testicles.
4. Bathing or de-matting your pet unless a vet confirms this is necessary to treat a condition.
5. Health enhancers unless to treat a condition and or pheromone products.
6. Any treatment related to pregnancy, giving birth or rearing puppies or kittens.
7. Our of Hours or house calls except where a vet considers your pet cannot wait until normal surgery hours.
8. The cost of a cage, bedding or other medical equipment.
9. The cost of transplant surgery, including pre and post operative care.
10. The cost of prosthesis, including any vet treatment needed to fit the prosthesis, other than the cost of hip, knee and/or elbow replacement(s).
11. Any claim as a result of a notifiable disease including rabies.
12. Dogs that have been trained to attack, or used as a commercial guard or security purposes, or for any form of racing, commercial or monetary gain, or any cat that is used for commercial breeding or monetary gain.
13. Dogs that should be registered under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 including the Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino, Fila Braziliero, Wolf hybrids and American Bulldogs.
14. Dogs that worry livestock
15. Death benefit from illness if your pet is aged 9 years and over.

M&S pet policies cover Complementary treatment up to £500 in respect of the essential and standard policies and up to £1,000 in respect of the Premier policy.

Treatment is described as chiropractic manipulation, hydrotherapy, osteopathy and physiotherapy carried out on the
recommendation of the treating vet. Policies exclude any herbal medicine not prescribed by a vet.

The Premier policy also includes cover of up to £250 for the treatment of behavioural, mental or emotional disorders.

The Essential and Standard policies do not cover food of any description.

The Premier policy covers food up to £200 used to treat a condition and recommended by a vet.

The Essential policy covers dental treatment as a result of an injury only.

The Standard and Premier policies cover dental treatment as a result of illness or injury. You pet must have had it's teeth checked within the last 12 months and any recommended work carried out.

All policies cover MRI/CT Scans and cruciate ligament claims up to the vet fees limit, depending on which policy you choose.

All three policies cover the cost of Euthanasia and help with burial and cremation costs. The essential and standard policies cover up to £100 and the Premier policy up to £200.

M&S pet offer a 5% multi discount for each additional pet insured under the same policy (cat or dog).

M&S pet do not cover any illness, injury or change in your pet's normal healthy state that you or your vet notice prior to the start of the policy.

M&S pet do not cover any vet treatment caused by pregnancy, giving birth or rearing puppies or kittens.

The M&S Pet Essential and Standard policies do not cover taking your pet abroad.

The Premier policy will cover taking your pet abroad 3 times a year for up to 60 days per trip.

In addition to the extension of emergency vet fees, the policy also covers, loss of healthcare certificate, repeat tapeworm treatment, quarantine costs and emergency repatriation.

You are unable to claim for any illness to your pet for the first 14 days of the policy.

The standard policy excess for cats and dogs is £100. This can be reduced to £50 (by paying a higher premium) or increased to £150 (and paying a lower premium)

The standard excess for third party liability claims is £250.

Unlike many pet insurance policies M&S do not charge an additional co-payment when your pet reaches a certain age. Instead they increase the fixed excess. When your pet reaches the age of 9, the standard excess increases to £200. This can be reduced to £150 (by paying a higher premium) or increased to £250 (and paying a lower premium).

The M&S Financial Website deals with a lot of products, not just insurance but credit cards, current accounts, loans etc.

The Pet Insurance section was easy to find and is functional in it's layout if uninspiring. There is plenty of information provided on the products they offer, including policy wording, product information documents and a side by side comparison of cover.

M&S do offer live chat, but sadly won't deal with Insurance related queries as we found out. The quote system is easy to use and relevant information is provided, before you make any decision.

The policy wording is 28 pages long and deals with all three policies. There is a useful summary of cover and an index of contents. Headings are colour coded and each section of cover is split helpfully into what is and what isn't covered.

The only issue is that each of the three policies have slightly different terms and conditions (some areas are covered by one policy and not the other) Each section of cover is therefore dealt with separately for each policy. All three policies have the same colour coded headings and it was time consuming scrolling up and down remembering which policy the section of cover was talking about.

In our reading test, the policy wording scored an average of 65.5 out of 100 and was classed as average reading, with a reading age of between 12 - 14 years of age required to be able to understand the terminology.

M&S Pet Insurance is listed on MoneySupermarket, Confused.com and CompareTheMarket.

All three comparison sites charged different premiums for exactly the same cover and criteria.

All policyholders have free access to VetFone a 24 hour freephone pet health helpline

We were unable to find enough reviews on M&S Pet Insurance to make any meaningful comments. A few complaints related to large increases at renewal.

There are no administration charges.

You can obtain a 15% discount if you purchase online through the M&S website.

We awarded the Premier policy 5 stars for the comprehensive levels of cover that it provides. Premiums are about average for the levels of cover provided. The Essential and Standard policies also have good levels of cover, and are slightly below average when compared to similar policies.

A big bonus for all three policies is that as your pet gets older, there is no percentage contribution to make in the event of a claim and the standard excess is flexible.  On larger claims this could end up saving you a lot of money.

Note you only have 60 days to report any claim, for it to be considered.