Agria Review

Agria started pet insurance over 125 years ago in Sweden, they’re the pioneers of health cover for animals and since then have been setting a high standard of protection for dogs, cats and rabbits. They’ve got a great reputation from both insurance awards and from their own customers. 

They provide a great level of cover focused purely on lifetime protection – the most comprehensive offered. Whilst Agria won’t be the cheapest pet insurance you’ll find on the market, due to the level of cover it is one of the best value plans available. 

Let’s drill down into the detail of Agria’s policies to find out why they’re seen as so good. 

Pet insurance from Agria comes in the form of 8 policies, all of which are lifetime policies. Lifetime policies are the most comprehensive cover that you can find, providing you with cover per year up to an annual limit of £12,500. These policies allow you to claim for ongoing conditions year after year. Find out more about how lifetime pet insurance works.

Of the 8 lifetime policies that Agria offer they are broken down by the annual cover limit and optional cover. The full list of policies are:

Cover name	Maximum Vet Fees Per Condition in 12 Months	Total Vet Fees Payable in a 12 Month Period	Maximum Vet Fees Per Condition For Life of Pet
Home Cat Lifetime – All Options	£6,500	£6,500	Unlimited
Home Cat Lifetime – No Options	£6,500	£6,500	Unlimited
Home Cat Lifetime Plus – All Options	£12,500	£12,500	Unlimited
Home Cat Lifetime Plus – No Options	£12,500	£12,500	Unlimited
Lifetime – All Options	£6,500	£6,500	Unlimited
Lifetime – No Options	£6,500	£6,500	Unlimited
Lifetime Plus – All Options	£12,500	£12,500	Unlimited
Lifetime Plus – No Options	£12,500	£12,500	Unlimited

As explained above Agria only deals with lifetime pet insurance policies, and as such the annual limit is reinstated at the renewal. Just beware of a few inner limits to specific conditions that you may need to claim under. Let’s review those in detail now.

Dental Cover

35 providers offer dental cover for both accidents and illnesses. This represents around 50% of the current providers of UK pet insurance.

Agria is a leading provider of dental cover, and their Lifetime Plus policies provide the 4th highest limit for accident and illness dental cover available. The full list of dental cover by policy type can be seen in the table below.

Cover name	Dental cover limit	Cover for
Home Cat Lifetime – All Options	£6,500	Accident & Illness
Home Cat Lifetime – No Options	£6,500	Accident & Illness
Home Cat Lifetime Plus – All Options	£12,500	Accident & Illness
Home Cat Lifetime Plus – No Options	£12,500	Accident & Illness
Lifetime – All Options	£6,500	Accident & Illness
Lifetime – No Options	£6,500	Accident & Illness
Lifetime Plus – All Options	£12,500	Accident & Illness
Lifetime Plus – No Options	£12,500	Accident & Illness

 

Dental cover, doesn’t have specific limits as it does with other providers, and is instead included within the standard vet fee limits on the policy. Generally speaking there aren’t many exclusions or restrictions that are hidden within the policy wording.

The only thing to be aware of is that Agria won’t consider any claims to treatment of teeth or gums if you fail to keep up regular dental checks (every 12 months) for your pet and received treatment needed as a result of missed dental checks.

It’s also worth noting that any treatment needs to be completed within 3 months of the vet’s recommendation in order to be classed as a valid claim.

Importantly, you won’t be covered for the cost of the dental check itself or any cosmetic oral treatment for your pet.

Behavioural treatment

This section of cover helps your to recoup the costs when your pet needs treatment to overcome destructive behaviours such as clawing, scratching, biting whilst also helping with conditions such as anxiety.

Behavioural treatment is covered as standard on all of Agria’s policies, with each policy offering cover up to £750 worth of treatment to deal with any change to your pet’s normal behaviour that is caused by a mental or emotional disorder.

To make a valid claim you’ll need to ensure that the behavioural therapy that your pet receives is recommended by your vet and provided by a certified practitioner in clinical animal behaviour and a member of an organisation governed by the Animal Behaviour and Training Council (ABTC), Canine and Feline Behaviour Association (CFBA), or the UK Dog Behaviour and Training Charter.

Treatment can also be given by a person who is accredited in behavioural training under the Kennel Club Accredited Instructors Scheme (KCAI Scheme), but who is not a vet.

Find out more about how behavioural treatment works.

Complementary Treatment Cover

Agria will provide you access to and cover for complementary treatments for your pet which your vet has recommended. You are able to claim for; Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Physiotherapy, Hydrotherapy, Osteopathy, Chiropractic treatment and Laser Treatment. Treatment is able to be provided by your vet, and you will be able to claim for consultant fees and well as the treatment cost itself.

Each of Agria’s cover levels include all complementary treatments mentioned above. You’ll be covered for the amount shown in your policy documentation, but a couple of things to consider are:

• You can claim up to the amount specified in your policy documents for each separate illness or injury.
• You may only claim for up to 20 sessions of hydrotherapy for each separate illness or injury.
• If your pet requires Platelet Rich Plasma therapy, then the claims limit is up to £750 for each separate illness or injury.
• You can only claim up to these limits once per illness or injury during the whole time your pet is with us. To get more of an idea about how this works see our explainer on maximum benefit pet insurance.

Accidental Damage Cover

Accidental damage protection can cover you in the event that your pet causes damage to your, or someone else’s, property.

This is the only area we can see where Agria’s cover falls a little short. They do not offer cover for accidental damage for your own possessions or for somebody elses property. This isn’t necessarily uncommon as many providers do not offer cover for your own possessions, but around half will cover accidental damage to property belonging to a third party.

Whilst this isn’t likely to be a key determinant of whether you cover your cat, dog or rabbit with Agria, be careful as what you might expect to be covered under your home insurance isn’t always the case. Find out more by reading our guide to accidental damage cover.

Third-Party Liability

Agria include third party liability cover on all their plans except the Home Cat Lifetime and Home Cat Lifetime Plus plans. With a maximum cover limit of £3 million pounds on Lifetime Plus plans.

Cover only applies to dogs and can be used to cover you in the event that your canine friend:

• Injures or accidentally kills someone
• Accidentally damages or destroys someone’s property and a court finds you legally responsible

Claiming under this section of the policy will incur an increased excess of £250.

Pre-Existing Condition Cover

Agria do not cover pre-existing conditions under any of their policies. Pre-existing conditions are those that your pet suffers from before your pet insurance policy starts, but each provider has their own specific definition. Agria’s definition is:

• An injury that happened, or an illness or behavioural disorder that first showed clinical signs before your policy started; or,
• An injury or illness that is the same as, or has the same diagnosis or clinical signs as an injury, illness or clinical sign your pet had before your policy started; or,
• An injury or illness that is caused by, relates to, or results from, an injury, illness or clinical sign your pet had before your policy started; no matter where the injury, illness or clinical sign(s) are
  noticed or happen in, or on, your pet’s body.

For more information on pre-existing conditions and how they work, take a look at our pre-existing conditions pet insurance guide.

Overseas Travel Cover

Another optional section that you can apply is cover for overseas travel. If you select it then all your policy limits are extended to apply for up to 120 days holiday over the course of your policy year.

The cover applies to countries that are part of the PETS Travel Scheme. Let’s look a little more in depth as to the specific benefits when selecting cover for overseas travel.

Explore more on overseas travel cover. 

Quarantine costs

Agria will pay if your the quarantine time if your pet’s microchip fails or they have an illness that means they are not allowed back into the UK. So long as you adhere to the PETS Travel Scheme, you’ve not exceeded the 120 days out of the country, your pet’s microchip was working in the 2 weeks before you departed on holiday and any illness was not present before you left for you holiday then you should be able to make a successful claim.

There is a generous limit of up to £2,000 cover for quarantine costs. This is the second best limit currently available.

Repeat Worming Treatment

If your carrier delays your return to the UK and in that time your pet’s worming treatment is no longer valid, then you can claim for the cost of bringing your pet’s worming treatment back up to date.

Just make sure that initial worming treatment was given in accordance with the PETS Travel Scheme and you should be fine to make a successful claim.

Loss of Animal Travel Documents

Agria will pay to provide replacement travel documents for your pet if your existing documents are lost or stolen whilst you’re away on your trip. You can submit claims up to £250 for replacement documents and for quarantine for your pet whilst the new documents arrive.

So long as your travel documents are not lost or stolen before your trip and that you report the documents as lost or stole within 24 hours of it happening then you should have a claim accepted.

Emergency Expenses Abroad

Agria will also provide additional support if your pet needs emergency vet treatment for an injury or illness whilst you are away on holiday resulting in you missing your scheduled return travel to the UK. In this case, you can recoup costs for:

• Accommodation for you and your pet until you are able to make the return trip.
• Extra accommodation and transport costs if your pet goes missing or is stolen whilst you are abroad.
• Accommodation while you wait for replacement animal documents and travel costs back to the UK
• Accommodation costs if your carrier delays your return to the UK and you need repeat worming treatment.

Overseas Third Party Liability

Selecting the Overseas Travel Cover also extends the cover for Third Party Liability to be eligible in European Union countries.

The same restrictions that apply to Third Party Liability in the UK, also apply here, but there are a few additional restrictions which apply to overseas travel specifically, including:

• You won’t be covered for any compensation, costs and expenses for property that is the responsibility of, or owned by anyone on holiday with you.
• Cover does not apply if a person is accidentally injured or accidentally killed is on holiday with you.
• No cover applies where compensation, costs and expenses result from legal proceedings in a country or territory outside of the European Union.

Death & Loss

When purchasing a policy with Agria you can choose add cover for death and loss of your pet. If your dog strays, is lost, stolen or dies from illness or injury, then you can claim up to £2,500 on Lifetime Plus policies.

This cover option does not apply to Home Cat Lifetime or Home Cat Lifetime Plus policies.

Death of your pet

If your pet dies from an accident or illness or is put to sleep by a vet, then Agria will pay the amount you paid for your pet up to £2,500 on Lifetime Plus plans and £1,500 on Lifetime plans when this option is selected and you have a receipt of purchase.

If you don’t have a receipt of purchase for your pet then Agria will offer the market value – or adoption cost – of your pet up to the limit.

Lost and stolen

If your pet is lost and stolen then insurers can help you to recover your pet by helping with advertising costs up to £1,500 on Lifetime Plus (£1,000 for other cover levels where the option is selected)

They will also help you to offer a reward if your pet is found and returned to you, this is a £250 reward payment across all plans when selected.

If you cannot recover your pet then you can also get a payment similar to the death benefit depending upon whether you have the receipt of purchase for your pet.

When making a claim under this section of the policy then you’ll need to ensure that you inform the police in the event that your pet is stolen, and have a receipt showing the full name and address of the person who located your pet, plus the microchip number of your dog. More exclusions or requirements make sure to check the policy wording carefully and read our guide to lost and found cover.

Excess

When you take out a policy with Agria, they give you the option of which fixed excess you’d like to select. The two options are £105 or £170.

If you choose the higher fixed excess then your monthly premium payment will decrease.

Like other providers there is an increased excess of £250 per claim payable for third party liability claims. 

Interestingly, excess payments do not increase when your pet becomes are senior cat or senior dog, which is sometimes the case with other providers. However, there is an increased coinsurance that does apply, we’ll go into this in a little more detail below. This is particularly pertinent as the threshold for older pets applies from 5 years old for dogs, and 7 years old for cats, which is much lower than other providers. 

Excess payments are charged per claim per policy year, meaning that you’ll pay the excess on each new claim you make in the policy year and, should you need to continue claiming for a condition across multiple policy years then the excess payment will be taken for the first claim in each new policy year as well.

Find out more about how pet insurance excess works.

 

Coinsurance

Agria add a minimum 10% co-insurance payment to your policy as standard when you purchase a policy. So alongside your chosen excess, you’ll also need to pay 10% of the value of any claim.  

Adding a co-insurance will bring down your monthly premiums and could be a good idea for pets while they are younger and healthier.

After your cat reaches 7 years old or your dog reaches 5 years old then the compulsory coinsurance will be increased to 20%, and will be paid alongside the fixed excess that you chose.

Interestingly, as you go through the online quote journey Agria display a message saying that there may be some level of flexibility for coinsurance payments if you call them. So if you are looking to change the amount of coinsurance then it may be worth seeing what they can do by contacting the UK based customer service team. 

Find out more about how pet insurance coinsurance works.

Agria have one of the best claims statistics of any provider in the country. They offer you the ability to submit claims either manually via a claims form that you can download from the website, or you can also choose to submit your claim online. 

As of November 2021, Agria pay 97% of claims submitted to them, and currently they are settling those claims within 14 days of the claim arriving with them. 

Like most providers in the market, Agria can work directly with your vet to pay them directly. Taking the stress out of the process and ensuring pet owners are not left out of pocket. Find out which other pet insurers can pay vets directly.

In some cases, there are pet insurers that charge you to set up, change, cancel and even renew your policy.

This is to cover administrative costs and to protect themselves in cases where the risk of you claiming may increase or the cost of a claim may increase by the change you wish to make – when you move house for example. 

Agria’s fees and charges are shown below:

• Cancellation fee: £0
• Adjustment fee: £0
• Replacement policy documents fee: £0
• Set up fee: £0
• Renewal fee: £0

As well as the specific exclusions detailed in the sections above there are also general exclusions that apply to Agria policies. These tend to be typical for most insurers but double check these to make sure you don’t come unstuck. 

Policyholder Requirements

To hold an eligible policy with Agria, as the policyholder you must:

• Be at least 18 years old
• Live in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.
• Be the owner and keeper of the pet.
• Have the pet living with you at your address.

Age Limits

Your pet must be at least 8 weeks old at the start of the policy.

Pre-existing conditions 

Agria do not offer cover for pre-existing conditions so any costs resulting from a pre-existing illness or injury will not be covered.

Waiting period

You will not be covered for costs resulting from an illness that occurs or develops in the first 10 days of your policy. Accidents will be covered immediately.

Excluded pets

Cover will not be applicable to:

• Any dog which should be registered under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 or the Dangerous Dogs Act (Northern Ireland).
• Any dogs that have been used for guarding, security or racing.
• Agria will not cover the following breeds:
  • Dogs: African Boerboel, Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog, American Bull Terrier, American Bulldog, American Bully, American Pitbull Terrier, Bully
    Kutta, Cane Corso, Caucasian Shepherd, Czechoslovakian Wolfdog, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro, Japanese Tosa, Perro De Presa Canario
    (Canary Dog), Saarloos Wolfdog, Thai Ridgeback, any wolf hybrid and any cross with the preceding breeds.
    Cats: Munchkin, any cat that you require a wild animal licence to keep, any breed of wild cat and any cross with the preceding breeds.

Routine and preventative care

• You will not be covered for illnesses that arise in your cat or dog which could have been prevented by routine vaccinations.
• Routine examinations, tests and treatment for your pet’s general well-being and tests to investigate the general health of your pet will not be covered.
• Castration and spaying procedures themselves won’t be covered, however they will cover any complications that arise from these.
• The cost of vaccinations.
• Grooming and de-matting costs will not be covered.
• Cover for regular fleas and worming treatment will not be provided.
• Behavioural disorders that you can prevent by normal puppy training and socialisation cannot be covered.

Pregnancy

Issues arising from breeding and pregnancy are not covered under the policy, this includes preventive veterinary treatment, including spaying to prevent false pregnancy, mammary tumours and vaginal prolapse. It also excludes any costs resulting from anything covered under Agria’s  breeding cover, or false pregnancy if there have already been 2 incidences of false pregnancy.

Bi-lateral conditions

Bi-lateral conditions are those that affect parts of your pets body which exist on both sides of your pet’s body, such as knees, eyes, ears, front legs, hind legs, hips and elbows – plus many more. If you claim for one of these conditions then the limit applies to both body parts rather than a separate limit for each.

Claims

Any claims that fall beyond 6 months from the treatment starting or the end of the policy. 

Vet Treatment and Costs

If you incur any of the following costs then your cover will not pay out:

• Cost of filling in and sending a claim form.
• Referring your pet to another veterinary practice.
• Admitting your pet to a veterinary practice.
• Posting, packaging, importing medication and using a courier.
• Obtaining urgent laboratory tests when your pet is not immediately at risk from a life-threatening illness.
• Vet’s administration costs and other charges a vet makes for things that do not directly involve the vet’s expertise in treating an illness or injury.

We’ve taken an in-depth look at Agria’s policies above, but alongside that it’s great to get a view of how actual policyholders feel about their cover. Verified reviews from Trustpilot (4.7/5) paint a very positive picture of their policies, the key benefits highlighted are the supportive and knowledgeable customer service team, products that are easy to understand and use, plain English in the policy wording and the comprehensiveness of cover.

Below we’ve taken the latest 4 reviews from Trustpilot. These were created on 1st November 2021.