Agria Pet Insurance

There is no one “best” pet insurance—the best for you will depend on factors like price points and features that you might find valuable. Please use the information in this review to help you learn about pet insurance and narrow down your choices.

Agria Pet Insurance Review

Agria is a Pet Insurance specialist with 125 years of experience, a UK-based staff and industry partnerships—and one of our favourite pet insurers. Compared to the dozens of insurers we’ve researched, we think Agria provides the kind of cover you’d want for a beloved pet—their terms and conditions seem very sensible, plus while their prices are not cheap, they are competitive for what you get.

Agria only insures pets using Lifetime cover—arguably the best type of pet insurance. Agria’s Lifetime plans are just about the most comprehensive in the market, and include the following features as standard:

• dental illness AND injury
• a 24-hour vet line advice
• euthanasia
• farewell cover
• EU travel

• prescription food
• advertising & reward
• travel expenses to see a referral vet
• third party liability

A number of features are available as optional add ons, which means pet owners who don’t want these features don’t have to pay for them and can get a cheaper premium. Optional features include Death and Loss, Travel, Boarding and Holiday Cancellation.

In addition to offering solid cover to help pay the vet fees when your pet is injured or falls ill, we found that, generally speaking, Agria’s exclusions are less restrictive than some other insurers. For instance, take the situation where your pet falls ill late at night outside of your vet’s normal hours but you’re worried enough to take him/her to a 24-hour vet. Agria’s terms & conditions basically state that they’ll cover this scenario (details below), versus many insurers that state out-of-hours treatment is only covered if your pet falls ill with a life-threatening condition. When your pet falls ill at 11 p.m. you shouldn’t have to wonder if your insurance will cover for veterinary treatment.

While of course there are exclusions, there is nothing highly unusual that we noticed relative to other pet insurers. It’s always a good idea to read through the terms & conditions yourself, however, to pinpoint any exclusions that may apply to you and your pet. Like most pet insurers, Agria will pay your vet directly, provided your vet is in agreement.

Why Agria Might Not Be For You

One of the primary reasons that Agria might not suite some people is the 10% copay that’s payable by pet owners in addition to the fixed excess as standard. Apparently you can call to negotiate a 0% or 20% variable excess instead, which would serve to raise or lower the premium, respectively. There are two choices of fixed excess, as you can see below, both of which incorporate a copay element:

The 10% copay amount is calculated after the fixed amount has been deducted. Here is an example:

If you’re trying to decide which fixed excess amount is more suitable, consider how many times you expect to claim a year and the amount you’ll save in premium by choosing the higher £160 excess amount. Generally speaking, we’ve found that if you’ll claim once per year (or not at all) then it ends up cheaper to go for the higher fixed excess/lower premium option; if you’ll claim 2 or more times per year then you’ll save more with the lower excess/higher premium option.

Agria Pet Insurance Key Facts

• Occasional Promotion: 50% off first two months
• Choice of two Lifetime plans: £6,500 or £12,500 of vet cover
• 97% of claims paid (direct to vet possible)
• Can pay direct to vet

• 6+ months to submit claims (the latter of 6 months and the end of your policy year)
• A copay/variable excess (standard is 10% but you can also choose 0% or 20% by calling) taken after fixed excess of £95 or £160
• 24-hour Pet Health Helpline

Customer Reviews and Ratings

Agria is rated highly be existing customers, 2,000 of whom have rated their pet insurance with 4.7 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot. 80% of customers rated Agria as “Excellent” and only 4% have rated Agria as “bad”—these are very good metrics compared to other pet insurance companies.

Complaints range from prices increasing at renewal (this is common across the industry because pets tend to have more health problems as the get older) or customer being unhappy with the excess. Here are some real customer comments:

“Agria provided a very good range of different life time covers at very competitive prices and I understand they have a very solid pet insurance background.”

“Had to make claim last year dealt with friendliness and very quickly.”

“Used this company for my previous two dogs so they were the obvious choice this time.”

“Fabulous Insurance cover at very reasonable prices.”

“Try as I might I can not stop all the messages and emails I keep getting.”

“Check out the small print (regarding) the excess…”

“Agria is one of those insurance companies that will delve into your pet’s medical history…”

Agria Price Comparison

We’ve researched prices from dozens of pet insurance policies, and found that Agria policies offer very good value for money. Here are some sample prices for Lifetime cover for a young, healthy cat and dog for Agria’s two Lifetime plans and the market average, for comparison purposes.

Keep in mind that Agria’s standard 10% copay means you’ll pay more out of pocket towards any reimbursable claims. So while Agria premiums are lower than the average cost of pet insurance for the level of cover for both dogs and cats, Agria will contribute less towards vet fees. It’s a trade off that may or may not work for you.

Agria prices are lower than average for the level of cover

If Agria plans are outside of your budget, there are many cheap Lifetime pet insurance options available in the UK that you may find more suitable.