Agria have a long history of protecting our furry friends, having started protecting pets in 1890 in Sweden where they started. They joined the UK market in 2009 and since then they’ve picked up numerous awards, most recently being named ‘Most Trusted Pet Insurance Provider’ by Fairer Finance based on customer experience ratings.
In this review of Agria, we look at how they stack up in the following areas:
If there’s anything else you think we can add to improve this review, please contact us on hello@gathercover.co.uk.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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:
Claiming under this section of the policy will incur an increased excess of £250.
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:
For more information on pre-existing conditions and how they work, take a look at our pre-existing conditions pet insurance guide.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
To hold an eligible policy with Agria, as the policyholder you must:
Your pet must be at least 8 weeks old at the start of the policy.
Agria do not offer cover for pre-existing conditions so any costs resulting from a pre-existing illness or injury will not be covered.
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. Find out more about pet insurance waiting periods.
Cover will not be applicable to:
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 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.
Any claims that fall beyond 6 months from the treatment starting or the end of the policy.
If you incur any of the following costs then your cover will not pay out:
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.
We’re launching a new approach to pet insurance for millions of cat and dog owners.
It’s flexible, simple and rewarding cover with you in control.
Well laid out website and quick and efficient communication. It’s still early days, but so far, I’ve found Agria very easy to deal with.
Very good telephone service,I had to phone back 3 times due to other things happening, but they went through everything again with no problems. I also got a £50.00 voucher to spend at my Vets for insuring my 2nd dog and I had one for my first as well. Good company.
Excellent customer service. Really good policy.
I had a fantastic conversation with a staff member at Agria. They were very helpful & he carefully talked me through my pet cover for my Ragdolls. Very happy with the service
Phone
03330 30 10 00 (Customer services)
03330 30 83 76 (Claiming)
Post
Agria
PO Box 506
Manchester
M28 8EN