On my trip to Tesco this week they shoved a load of leaflets in my hand and one in particular caught my eye, The Tesco Pet Insurance.
Now I have 3 cats and 4 dogs and used to have them insured but when things got tough we had to cancel, We did this but felt naked as they had always been covered even though we had never claimed on it.
The leaflet --------------- The Tesco Pet Insurance is a 3 folded piece of paper and on the front it half in red and half in white. It states if you do it on line you get 5% off. In large white writing it states it is the Pet Insurance and has a picture of a brown dogs head thinking about him and a cat on the cover.
It also says it is great for cats and dogs, but is it? On this I will test the product out and tell you all about it.
At the bottom of the leaflets it states Tesco Personal Finance and the website www.tesco.com.
The leaflet throughout is animated with owners and cats and dogs and the set out is in large writing so it is very easy to read.
You can also use and pay with clubcard vouchers.
The policy -------------- Tesco Dog Crossbreed Purebreed £7.90 £11.88
Moggy Purebred £3.91 £7.56
It does a comparison table against More Than and
Pet Plan and Sainsburys and is the cheapest so here already you are saving money.
This is what they cover :-
Vet Frees - the treatment for injury or illness for up to 12 months up to £2500 per condition.
Third Party Liability - if your dog for instance bites someone you are covered or if they damage properly, covered up to 1 million.
Lost or Stolen - Advertising or fees incurred with them been lost up to £500.
Holiday Cancellation - If you pet is ill and you have to cut short your holiday or if your pet needs life saving treatment, they will fork out £1000.
Death of a Pet - They will refund the price you paid for it if they died through accidental injury or if they are not found after been lost or stolen.
Pets abroad - They cover pets who like an occasional holiday in the sun and you can contact them regarding the governments pet travel scheme.
This is basically what their policy entails.
Other things they offer ------------------------------- Legal advice for issues on your pets.
Vet Emergency Helpline if you vet cannot be contacted.
Helpline for support when a pet has died.
Experienced claim advisors.
Monthly payment schemes.
They then have an array of customers saying how wonderful the product is but then again every company has these.
They are definatley after your business now when you turn over onto the last page , it says you can save your quote for 90 days and download policy documents and answers you most frequently asked question and gives you helpful tips on exercising your pets and an A-Z of dogs to choose the right one.! Discrimination here what about cats!. Now this is where it gets really sad, horoscopes for your pet, please! This is all on their website.
The back of the leaflet is just an ad for tescos finance regarding all the other insurances....
Another thing is that they will pay for your animals condition for 12 months after that you are on your own. Search for other insurances that provide cover all the way.
Now the cost from me ------------------------------- ANIMAL AGE MONTHLY COST
Caffery the Collie 8 7.90 Lottie's the Heeler 7 7.90 Pudsey the Collie 6 11.88 Milly the Collie 4 7.90
James the moggy 14 3.91 Samantha the moggy 14 3.91 Smitts (devil cat) 4 3.91 -----------------------
Monthly total 37.31
Ps, I refer to the cats been called moggys as this is what Tesco calls them and not me.
Not bad to cover all the boys and girls in my house or so I thought. BUT!
I then start to read through the small print and here is just what I have found out.
You can start your cover if your pet is between 8 weeks and 8 years old, In some instances they are 6 for dogs. Once covered they will cover you for life, however if your animal if over the age, they do not want to know you.
So Basically with my troop I could probably get two dogs covered just and maybe Smits.
In the very small print there is a clause, duly at the bottom of the back page of the leaflet telling you about the excess as though as they are trying to hide it. £40 for cats and £50 for dogs. It also states that if you want cheaper bills then increase your excess limit. Oh and by the way it is sorted out by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
So there you go, not really as good as it first seems and you need a magnifying glass to read some of the small print.
When we stopped the cover, we decided to put the money into our credit union just in case there was any problems. This was a few years ago, well 6 when we first got Pudsey as Insurances were very expensive at the time. We put a bit away each month.
This money has gone up and up and I get interest on it every year and so far it has gone over the £2,000 mark. Now I would have carried on with the pet insurance and I would recommend it if you have one or two pets, but it starts coming costly when you have more.
They do not offer multiple discounts like other companies do.
My pets are covered no matter what as they have got their money in the bank and not with an insurer.
I would have paid extra to have all my pets included on one policy but i cannot be bothered registering some here and some there. There are other companies who will take on pets of any age and I feel that by excluding pets of a certain age, is pure discrimination. At the end of they day they are there to make money and an ageing pet is a risk, so why not introduce a premium for older animals.
Would I recommend it? -------------------------------- Yes if you have one pet, no if you have multiple pets as you can search around and there are companies who give good discounts depending on what pets you have. Also there are ones who will insure your pets no matter what ages they are.
Well after all, during the years if I had put away I would have had thousands instead of giving it out to insurers but I am not trashing them because if an emergency does crop up and the fees are large then this is where they come into their own. Now my eldest pet is 14 and the youngest is 4 and they have never required the vets and this is why I decided to put the money away in a bank. There is enough money there in any emergency.
I would say to anyone embarking on taking it out, look into everything first.
Oh and just another thing, Tesco my small furry friends are cats, not moggys! This how they refer to you cat! Could you have not been polite and called them another name I was always told this was disresepectful.
As I said earlier on in the op, the insurance only covers for 12 months of an condition, this is not very good if you pet has something that is going to be ongoing for the rest of its life. Search for companies as there are ones that cover no matter what. This could be how they keep their prices down.
Having gone through the leaflet there is nothing that makes me want to pick up the phone and ring them, sorry, but this is only my opinion.
Also while I am on about this, it only covers cats and dogs, what happened to other pets, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, no they only do things where there is big money to be made! I would rather deal with a company that specialises in all pet covers and not just selected ones.
Karen :0)
Pictures of Tesco Pet Insurance
Lottie who is 7
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Both of my cats are covered by Tesco. Mynti has just had a lump removed from her shoulder which they are paying for (histology awaited) and when Monza ate a rubber toy (yes, ate it) they paid the £700 bill. I agree that if you have loads of money, then it is probably best just to put the money in the bank. Thye do move the goal posts. When i first took out the policy, the excess was £25 and limit for treatment was £3,000. Good review though. Dx
LittleFeathers2 05.12.2003 13:58
Good op, I have been considering pet insurance but they would be no good as I have a rabbit and a dog. Aww cute pictures, I haven't figured out how to add those yet hmm. Glo xxx
Advantages: 5% discount for online quotes, easy to apply, competitive premiums, helpful staff Disadvantages: need to get letter for NCD proof, (not available in R.O.I or Northern Ireland)
Connoisseur_Haggler 01.08.2001 (27.05.2003)
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Dec 4th, 2003
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