Pet Insurance

Monetary limits, excesses and exclusions apply. Please see the policy documents for details.

Excesses will apply to your policy, which will affect the amount of premium you pay and how much you have to pay towards your pet's treatment.

An overage excess will apply to your policy when your pet turns a certain age (5 or 8 years old for a dog, depending on the breed, and 10 for a cat). After that, you'll have to pay 20% of any claim you make.

You have to choose a set excess when you take out your policy. You can also choose a percentage excess, which can help to reduce the bill.

For full details of cover and excesses, please see the policy documents.

As pets get older, they’re more likely to get ill. So your renewal price will go up each year.

Please also note, an overage excess will apply to your policy when your pet turns a certain age:

After that, you'll have to pay 20% of any claim you make.

When we pay a claim for a pet, there’s more chance of a claim for that pet in the future. So a claim could cause your renewal price to go up.

The increase will depend on your pet’s breed, age and health. That means there's no limit to how much your renewal price can go up over time.

No, unless the problems are unrelated. For example, if your dog cut their leg before your policy start date and this healed, and then your dog was unfortunate enough to cut their leg again, this would be classed as a new injury and would be covered under the terms of the policy (subject to the limits, excesses and exclusions that apply).

However, if the original cut did not heal properly and your pet needed further treatment, this would not be covered as it would be considered a pre-existing condition.

Symptoms exhibited before the policy start date that are diagnosed later are not covered either.

If your pet is ill or injured and you are concerned whether this will be covered by your Tesco Pet Insurance policy, please refer to your policy documents, including your Tesco Pet Insurance Policy Document, Insurance Product Information Document and Certificate of Insurance.

Conditions your pet has suffered in the past are considered as a pre-existing condition. Pre-existing conditions are not covered by the policy. Accidents that happen within the first 3 days or illness within the first 14 days of taking out the policy may not be covered. Policy exclusions will apply.

Pre-existing illnesses and injuries that your pet(s) may have at the time of taking out the insurance are not covered.

Your policy will also not cover the costs of treating an illness that first showed clinical signs within the first 14 days of your policy start date.

If you have an accident or injury policy, your policy will not cover any accident or injury that happened in the first 5 days of your policy start date. Illness is not covered unless caused by an accident or injury.

If you are still in doubt, you can get in touch and one of the team will be happy to help.

If you renewed your policy after 1 January 2025 or took out a policy on or after 21 January 2025, you can get in touch through the 'Contact us' page of the Pet Portal. If you don't have access to the Pet Portal, our contact details can be found on our contact information page.

If you took out a policy before 21 January 2025 and are yet to renew, our contact details can be found on our contact information page.

If your pet needs treatment, we can pay either you or the treating vet, you just need to make sure your vet accepts direct payments. All you need to do is tick a box on the claim form.

Please note that the way you need to submit a claim may be different depending on when you took out or renewed your policy. Before you submit your claim, please make sure you are submitting it correctly.

For customers who renewed their policy after the 1st January 2025 or took out a policy on or after the 21st January 2025, your vet can now submit claims for you via Vet Pawtal. Vet Pawtal is the quickest way to submit and process claims.

We recommend you submit claims in our claim's platform, Vet Pawtal.

Click here to log in to Vet Pawtal.

If your vet isn’t registered for Vet Pawtal, you can submit claims through the Pet Portal. Sign in, complete a claim form, and as long as we have all the details we need, we'll take it from there.

Once our assessors have reviewed your claim, it takes around 5 days to assess it; we'll let you know the outcome.

As soon as your claim’s been submitted, you'll be able to monitor its progress in the Pet Portal’s claims tracker. If you signed up, we will also keep you updated via email and text messages.

For customers who receive their documents in the post, the way we keep you updated will depend on how your claim was submitted. For claims submitted via Vet Pawtal, we will update you via email and text messages as the claims process is so quick. This won’t affect your preferences for all other communications. For Pet Portal and paper claim forms, we will keep you updated via letter.

If you don't have access to the Pet Portal, please call 0344 543 1132* and we will send you a claim form.

Calls may be recorded. *This number may be included as part of any inclusive call minutes provided by your phone operator.

Check that Tesco Pet Insurance is right for you

Please read the policy documents to make sure your policy and cover level meet your needs.

The Policy Booklet also gives you information about your right to cancel.

For policies starting on or after 21 January 2025

​For policies renewing on or after 1 January 2025

For policies starting on or after 21 January 2025

For policies renewing on or after 1 January 2025

It's important to budget for increases to your policy as your pet gets older. Your premiums are likely to go up each year - there's no limit to how much they can go up, and the increase could be significant for you each year and over the policy's lifetime.

​Sadly, as cats and dogs get older, they're more likely to get ill. That's why:

How much your premium goes up depends a number of things, including your pet's breed, age and health. And there's no limit to how much your renewal price can go up over time. If a claim's paid out on your policy, your premium could more than double at renewal.

Multi pet discount is a minimum of £24 when insuring more than one pet as this is worked out at £1 per pet per month. Pets can have different cover levels. Discount deducted separately from any other offer.

Tesco Pet Insurance is arranged, administered and underwritten by Pinnacle Insurance Ltd. Tesco Personal Finance Ltd acts as an introducer to Pinnacle Insurance Ltd which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (register number 110866). Registered Office: 4th Floor, Limelight, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, WD6 1JH. Tesco Personal Finance Ltd and Pinnacle Insurance Ltd are not part of the same corporate group.

Vetfone is provided by Vetsdirect Ltd.

Tesco Insurance is a trading name of Tesco Personal Finance Ltd, Registered Office: 2 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9FQ (registered in Scotland, no SC173199) which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (register no. 186022).

We do not provide personal recommendations to customers.

We'll search our records for your Tesco Clubcard number. If you have a Clubcard, we may access and use information from it (including your name, address and details about your transactions). This'll help us, and your insurer, to assess your premium - but don't worry, it'll only be used to make a positive impact on your premium.

Tesco Personal Finance Ltd takes the security of your data seriously. You can find detailed information about how we collect and process your data, and your rights under data protection law, in our Privacy Policy.​

We collect data when you browse our website (for example, your IP address), request a quote, partially complete a quote, don't purchase a policy or provide data indirectly via a price comparison website. We keep quote data for up to 7 years and may use this information if you apply for one of our products again in the future.​

We'll use your data to give you quotes, provide our services to you, carry out eligibility checks, work out insurance risk, manage debt, protect you and us against fraud and financial crime, and manage and develop our business. Automated decisions may be taken to detect crime.​

We use data such as your name and address to find any Clubcards that are linked to your address. That might be your Clubcard, the Clubcard of other family members, or the Clubcard of house or flat mates. We may use this information to tailor our communications to you, and to try to bring you better terms, deals or offers, which may include profiling on an on-going basis. We may also award Clubcard points.​

Data may be obtained from and shared with the wider Tesco Group and fraud prevention agencies (FPAs). The FPAs will use it to prevent fraud and money-laundering and to verify your identity. If fraud is detected, this may be shared with other organisations and you could be refused certain services, finance or employment.​

By proceeding with your application you acknowledge that we can use your data in this way.​

Please note the following, which apply to all policies:

​We won't offer you cover if:

Pre-existing conditions that won't be covered include:

Our policies do not cover pre-existing conditions. It's important we know of any conditions and/or symptoms your pet's suffering from or has suffered from in the past before you take out a policy. Failure to tell us about any pre-existing conditions may affect future claims and your policy.

If your pet goes missing, all our pet insurance policies will cover your local advertising and reward costs up to £1,000. If the worst happens, and your cat or dog isn't found within 30 days, we’ll also cover the amount you paid or donated for your pet when you bought them, up to a value of £1,500.

Conditions and exclusions apply, so it's best to check the policy documents to find out exactly what you're covered for.

All of our policies provide cover for repeat or emergency treatment when travelling with your pet abroad, as long as you're travelling in line with government guidelines.​

You should check the latest government advice on taking your pet abroad before you plan your trip.

Monetary limits, excesses and exclusions apply.​