Tesco Pet Insurance

noirist

Does anyone use Tesco Pet Insurance? Preferably looking for answers for those with dogs. If so, would you recommend them?

My partner and I are looking into getting a Pug and I'm looking into costs...

Also I'm quite new here, so, um hi!

ali-t

I used them for my dogs for the last few years but the premiums have increased quite a bit so I changed them both to AXA who have provided consistently low premiums.

Tesco have been quick to pay out with no questions asked but with an excess of £90 (I think) I didn't claim very often as most things were under the claiming threshold.

noirist

Thanks for the swift reply, Ali. Good to know. Actually I've just been browsing the pet forum and have been coming across Axa quite a few times. Will look into them...

krlyr

You will find that supermarket type policies usually offer low initial policies with good discounts (2 months free, 10% off, etc.) to entice new customers but give a sharp increase in the following year(s). Fine if you haven't had to claim, but if your dog develops an ongoing condition then you're stuck paying the higher premiums to keep them covered.
It can sometimes pay to go for a policy that costs a little more but isn't so likely to raise prices in the future. Petplan have been known to generally only increase it by a few pounds. There's no real guarantee that one company will raise prices and one won't though, but it's worth bearing in mind.

Hillbilly1

I would avoid like the plague for a Pug. I think their 2 policies offered currently are £2.5k per condition for 12 months or £4k for the lif of the pet.

With a pug you could be looking at ongoing eye and breathing problems, as well as skin, stifles etc. All would require either medication or surgery or both!

You really need at least £5k PER YEAR for life cover - try Pet Plan/Kennel Club/Pet Protect

Kinski

I'm with AXA and I had to claim this year for my bridge baby, they took ages to pay out but they did pay, apart from the wait I've got no problems with them.

dontone

We had Petplan for about 18 months who prompty cancelled our claim after we claimed for our dog and they said that we had lied over his condition. He had to have tests on his bladder due to weeing blood, which came to about £500 and because we had took him in for his anal glands cleaning once before, and not claimed anything (it was £25 and our excess was for £60) they cancelled our insurance. The two incidents were completely seperate, even the vet told them that, but they actually refused to pay our claim, which we contested. It was when they paid out they kicked us off.
We have had Tesco for about 2 years now and never had any problems with claiming, it's very promptly sorted, the excess for us is about £60. Can't remember how much my dog is actually covered for (think it's around £5k) and he is a Basset Hound. (the cutest ever, but I'm biased :rotfl:)
We did a lot of shopping around until we settled for Tesco. HTH

david39

We had a dog insured with Pet Plan.
As the dog gets older, they increase the excess - it started at £30 and, after 6 years ours had reached £90.
After that, they wanted the £90 plus 10% of the balance of the claim. So on a £300 bill they would pay out £190.

Our dog was a regular at the vets, having serious skin allergies.
Unfortunately, when the excess reaches £50, most normal visits result in bills of around that level so there is no pay-out from the policy.
I kept all of our bills for that dog and, when he finally passed away, I totalled them up and compared them with the premiums and the excesses we had paid. I found that I would have been better off not insuring him but just paying the vet bills myself.

Pet insurance seems to work to the pet owner's advantage only when they are involved in large individual incidents or long-term, expensive medication. You should really consider that this type of example is what you are insuring against, and not for everyday common illnesses.

Having said that, Pet Plan always paid out quickly and we never had a claim questioned. There are other threads on this forum that tell of pet owners whose insurance policies have been cancelled because the provider has pulled out of the pet insurance market - One such company is Halifax - this leaves the owners of older dogs in a position where they find it impossible to re-insure elsewhere because of the age or pre-existing illnesses.

Croatoan

david39 wrote: »

We had a dog insured with Pet Plan.
As the dog gets older, they increase the excess - it started at £30 and, after 6 years ours had reached £90.
After that, they wanted the £90 plus 10% of the balance of the claim. So on a £300 bill they would pay out £190.

Our dog was a regular at the vets, having serious skin allergies.
Unfortunately, when the excess reaches £50, most normal visits result in bills of around that level so there is no pay-out from the policy.
I kept all of our bills for that dog and, when he finally passed away, I totalled them up and compared them with the premiums and the excesses we had paid. I found that I would have been better off not insuring him but just paying the vet bills myself.

Pet insurance seems to work to the pet owner's advantage only when they are involved in large individual incidents or long-term, expensive medication. You should really consider that this type of example is what you are insuring against, and not for everyday common illnesses.
.

You are of course correct, but then that tends to be the case for all insurances. I've paid thousands on my car and home insurance and never claimed (touch wood).
And yes people will often find that over the life of a pet they pay more in premiums than they would have done on vet bills - which is why insurers can afford to pay for treatment of those whose pets who aren't so lucky and need expensive treatment.
Whether to insure or not is a personal choice and I make no judgement on those who choose not to. I just know that in my own case having a pet who had to be pts simply because I couldn't afford the vet bills would be very difficult assuming I could afford insurance. By insuring I've at least given the pet a chance, even if it's only 4 or 7k's worth of treatment. I'd feel no better were a pet pts because treatment came to more than that, but I would at least know I'd done as much as I could afford to do.

Hillbilly1

I process about 50 claims every week for a vets and have NO problems with Pet Plan for accidents or illness.

Tesco however regularly have to have appeal letters written. They seem to reject at least half of claims over £1000 as routine.

I am therefore surprised at the OP experience of them.

If yo buy a pug from a good breeder they should come with 4 weeks free cover (usually Kennel Club or Pet Plan). It does give you immediate cover and a little time to choose who to go with.

Over all the advice with the current state of the pet insurance market I would only go with those who do insurance/pet insurance.

If Lloyds/Halifax are pulling their financial products other high street operators will too - you are more likely to claim on pet ins than any other and that doesnt make much money!

krlyr

david39 wrote: »

Pet insurance seems to work to the pet owner's advantage only when they are involved in large individual incidents or long-term, expensive medication. You should really consider that this type of example is what you are insuring against, and not for everyday common illnesses.

Well, that's kind of the point of insurance. You wouldn't get car insurance to cover the small knocks and bumps that you could get fixed yourself for £50, or house insurance and claim for every little thing - it's the peace of mind that if something major goes wrong, you don't have to find thousands of pounds at short notice. Ditto with pet insurance, I don't get it to cover a tummy bug or an infected wound, it's for the RTA or the heart disease that needs an expensive MRI. I know I won't have to say "Sorry, I can't afford that, you'll have to put him/her to sleep" because money is too tight.
My last dog cost more in vet bills than insurance premiums in the 2-3 years we were claiming with something fairly minor - it was hip dysplasia but she wasn't a candidate for surgery, but the few hundred pounds for diagnosis, medication and treatment like corticosteroid injections into her hips overan what I paid in insurance premiums for the whole period.