Tesco Pet Insurance Review

Your pet must be at least 8 weeks old at the start of the policy and live with you at your home address.
You must be the owner and keeper of the pet and you both must reside in the UK, Isle of Man or Channel Islands.
Pets must be at least eight weeks old when cover starts.
You must never have had an insurance policy cancelled, or declared void by an Insurer.
Your dog must not have been the cause of any complaints, legal, action or accident or be trained to attack.
As owner of your pet, you must manage your pet's weight and take steps to prevent your pet becoming overweight or underweight.
You must take care of your pet at all times and pay for any recommended treatments to prevent injury or illness.

Tesco Pet Insurance offer four levels of cover;

Accident Only - Vet fees covering accidents only up to £3,000 per incident. Cover is for a maximum of 12 months from the date of treatment, or until the limit is reached.
Standard Cover - Vet fees covering accidents or illnesses up to £3,000 per incident. Cover is for a maximum of 12 months from the date of treatment, or until the limit is reached.
Extra Cover - Vet fees covering accidents or illnesses. Choose a benefit of either £4,000 or £7,000 per incident until the limit is reached.
Premier Cover - Vet fees covering accidents or illnesses. Choose an annual benefit of either £2,000 £4,000 £7,500 or £10,000. Benefits are reinstated annually, provided your policy is renewed.

Tesco treat cruciate ligaments in each leg, individual disc problems and any other health issue that caused your pet to suffer multiple conditions, as one health issue, treated under one single vet fee limit.

Many pet insurance issues arise when a customer finds out that a particular claim is not covered. In many cases this is because the customer just wasn't aware of a particular exclusion.

It is absolutely essential that you read the policy wording carefully to make sure you are fully understand the policy you are buying. You may find our comprehensive guide to pet insurance helpful, in the meantime we have highlighted important exclusions that we think you should know about below.

Tesco Pet Insurance does not cover;

1. Routine Examinations or check ups, including annual vaccinations or homeopathic vaccinations.
2. Flea, Tick or Worming Treatments.
3. Nail Clipping, bathing or dematting.
4. Preventative, or cosmetic treatments, tests or procedures.
5. Spaying or Castration.
6. Home, or out of hours visits, unless your vet confirms that it is essential to the well being of your pet.
7. Annual Dental Check ups.
8. Supplements and probiotics, and or medication products not recommended by your vet or purchased without a prescription.
9. Any diseases preventable by vaccine, where your pet hasn't had up to date vaccinations.
10. Pets used for commercial breeding (this means used for breeding more than 2 times in the pet’s lifetime) or as a business or to make money or earn an income.
11. No dog that is a pedigree, cross or mixed breed of any of the following: Pit Bull, Pit Bull type, Japanese Tosa, Fila Brazileiro, Dogo Argentino, American Bulldog, Wolf or Wolf hybrid.
12. Any pet that is not the breed you thought and it is no longer correctly described on your schedule.
13. Any pet used for racing, or that has had complaints made about its behaviour (aggression, biting or attacking), or has been the cause of an accident or legal action.
14. Any pet that has been trained to attack, used for security purposes, for fighting or as a guard dog.
15. Malicious or wilful injury or gross negligence to your pet which is caused by you or members of your family.
16. Any claim as a result of your pet worrying livestock.
17. Any claim for any pet which suffers from a notifiable disease as named in the Animal Health Act 1981.

Provided treatment has been recommended by your vet, you are covered for complementary treatments such as physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractic care, hydrotherapy, acupuncture or homeopathy up to £500 as standard (Extra and Premier policies £1,000).

The Standard and Extra cover policies cover teeth or gums if they are damaged in an accident, if an underlying illness causes tooth decay or gum disease, or for the removal of the first teeth of pet’s insured with us before they were 16 weeks old if their
first teeth have not fallen out naturally.

Premier Cover policies cover the above, but also tooth decay or gum disease, provided your pet has a dental check up every 12 months and any necessary work carried out.

Tesco Pet Insurance does not cover food (even when prescribed by a vet).

MRI/CT Scans and Cruciate Ligament claims are covered up to the relevant vet fees limit.

Tesco Pet Insurance covers £200 towards the cost of putting your pet to sleep and cremation or burial.

You are able to insure a maximum of three pets under the same policy.

Tesco Pet Insurance do not cover your pet's pre-existing medical conditions. These are described as

• signs or symptoms of diagnosed or undiagnosed injuries or illnesses;
• existing illnesses or injuries;
• existing physical abnormalities;
• existing illnesses, injuries or physical abnormalities which lead to other health issues or injuries;
• illnesses or injuries which are medically linked to existing illnesses, injuries or physical abnormalities.

Tesco also consider the following to be pre-existing conditions:
• treatment of cruciate ligaments in the second leg if one leg has shown signs, been diagnosed or
been treated for cruciate ligaments before you took out the policy;
• treatment of spinal disc problems if any disc has shown signs, been diagnosed or been treated for
spinal disc problems before you took out the policy.

Tesco do not cover any claim connected to or with your pet being pregnant, giving birth or rearing puppies or kittens.

Now that we have left the European Union, Pet Passports are no longer valid. Instead they have been replaced with an Animal Health Certificate.

Tesco Standard, Extra and Premier policies extend vet fees cover whilst your pet is abroad for 3 journeys of up to 30 days each journey in any one period of insurance.

In addition they also cover quarantine costs, loss of your pets health certificate, emergency expenses abroad and repeat worming, as well as holiday cancellation.

Tesco Pet Insurance do not cover illnesses which you or your vet were aware of within the first 14 days of your policy first starting, or any illness that develops from them are not covered.

In addition cruciate problems which you or your vet were aware of in the first 14 days of your policy first starting however caused, or any arthritis, illness or injury that develops from them are not covered.

The accident policy has an exclusion period of 5 days in respect of any accident claim.

The standard policy excess is £120, although you can choose a lower excess of £60 in exchange for a higher premium, or an excess of £200 in exchange for a lower premium.

If your pet needs to be treated by a referral vet, your usual vet will let you know which referral vet from Tesco's preferred referral vet network is closest to you. If you choose a referral vet from outside the network, you will need to pay £200 of the referral vet bill yourself. This amount is in addition to your policy excess, unless your pet needs emergency treatment, in which case it will be waived.

In respect of dog insurance third-party liability claims on property damage, you’ll be required to pay the first £250 of any claim.​

Unlike many Pet Insurers, there are no additional percentage contributions required when your pet reaches a certain age.

Instead Tesco operates a fixed excess payment so you’ll know exactly what you have to pay if you make a claim.

The website is comprehensive and provides a good explanation of the types of cover available. You can see at a glance what is available with a side by side comparison of benefits. There is easy access to policy documentation. Between this information and the frequently asked questions section most of your questions should be answered.

Tesco do not operate live chat but you can phone or email for more information or to get a quote if you do not want to do it online.(Remember you would lose out on the 20% introductory discount)

The quotation software is easy to use, but you have to choose the type of policy before receiving a quote. You are presented with an excellent breakdown of the cover, excess details and policy documentation.

The policy wording is 28 pages long and includes a useful summary of cover and a helpful contents page. All relevant how to get in touch details are helpfully displayed in one place.

Tesco divide what is covered into sections explaining "when they can help you" and "when they can't help you". In tests text readability scored 67.4 out of 100 with a classification of standard reading text and with a reading age of between 13 - 15 years of age.

You can find Tesco pet insurance on GoCompare, MoneySupermarket and Comparethemarket, as well as going direct to Tesco's own website.

Vetfone is a pet health helpline provided by Vetsdirect Ltd and free to all Tesco pet Insurance policyholders.

We were unable to find enough meaningful customer reviews regarding Tesco pet insurance.

There are no administration charges.

If you're a new customer and buy online, you can get 20% off, subject to a minimum premium.

Tesco will settle claims up to 12 months old and you can download a claim form and track claims through the online claim portal.

Tesco pet Insurance policies are at the higher end of the scale cost wise, although the Extra and Premier policies do provide excellent levels of cover. Remember after the first year, premiums will increase by at least 20%, due to the removal of the introductory discount.

Tesco do not charge an additional contribution when your pet reaches a certain age, so this could result in quite a saving compared to other policies, if you have to make a large claim.