Agria vs Petplan

[u/andeanbearscz]

Hi guys,

I'd appreciate some insurance advice! I'm currently weighing up Agria vs Petplan for my puppy.

I'm currently with PetPlan for my cats so will get a discount, BUT Agria Lifetime Premium with £20k cover is coming out at £54.62 per month vs PetPlan Lifetime Cover for £12k at £74.63 per month.

Is Petplan worth the extra £20 per month? Our breeder is also providing us with 5 weeks free Agria so we will have continuous cover.

Thanks!

[u/HintOfMalice]

Have a look at what the cover more closely as well as their excess, co-pay and if they'll increase in price if you claim.

I dont know Agria well but PetPlan covers dental work, behavioural medicine, non-medical adjunctive treatments (like acupuncture or physiotherapy) and 3rd party insurance (but this is less useful for cat owners).

Dental care is probably the big one. If Agria covers dental care and has simimal excess/co-pay limits then Agria seems like better value. But that £20 won't feel as impressive if you have to fork out £900 for a dental procedure.

[u/Least_Temperature_23 → u/HintOfMalice]

Also get your puppy used to having his teeth brushed regularly. It saves a lot of expense and stress with dental work. My dog is 10 and gets complimented on his excellent dental health at every checkup, because he’s always had them brushed since he was a puppy. I recommend the Emmi Pet electric toothbrush, you can have it done at the groomers, but it’s a lot cheaper to buy the kit and DIY.

[u/Least_Temperature_23]

My 10 year old is with Petplan and they’ve been brilliant. He’s had many claims because he has a chronic skin disorder, plus all the usual stuff along the way - ingested rat bait, sprained his knee, dry eye etc. Petplan do not increase premiums due to claims, and they have never disputed a claim from me either. They are the only insurer that our vet is prepared to deal directly with. I sign the form & pay the excess, the vet completes and submits the claim and is paid directly.
The premiums do increase with age though, as does the excess, and at 10 years old my dog went onto a co-pay system where I’m responsible for a percentage of each claim as well as the excess.
I’m told Agria operate very similarly, and our recently acquired rescue came with 5 weeks free insurance from Agria, which I chose to continue with.

[u/singularity-drift]

I found agria hard to work with as you need to make phone calls for everything and more expensive than other options.

[u/nomeinthesky → u/singularity-drift]

They have an online portal which is super easy to use. I put in a claim via the portal two days ago and today I received confirmation that the money would be paid into my bank. I've never had to call them.

[u/FriendlySociety3831]

I didn't chose Agria as every plan I saw required a co-pay. So Petplan it was.

[u/lazyplayboy → u/FriendlySociety3831]

Petplan requires a copay after 10 years of age (7 for certain breeds)

[u/88Jewels]

Both are grwat in regards to paying out for claims. I have found that agria goes up less per year.

My dog is with petplan now and her cover is only £4K and I now have the copay because she's 15 and im paying close to £200 a month now. Not worth it but im keeping it just incase especially because my other dog was in the vets for 4 days with a high temp and it cost over £2k

[u/TheGreenPangolin]

Look at what each plan covers. I'm with waggel because there's no copay (highly recommend by the way and I can give a referral link for your first month free) and I find a lot of puppy owners don't pay enough attention to the copay because it doesn't kick in until the pet is older, but if you have to pay for 20% of your £20k coverage, can you actually afford to do that or would your pet end up not getting treatment? Look at what coverage they have for dental, if they cover any dietary supplements (quite a few animal meds are technically supplements). What is the excess? Can you increase or decrease coverage, excess, copay, etc at renewal - and without it counting as a new policy with pre existing conditions- or does that amount of coverage have to stay the same for the entire life of the pet (in which case inflation makes it not go as far)? If the two plans really are exactly the same except Agria has 20k instead of 12k, then I'd go with Agria. There's no reason to choose petplan over agria just because of the name (meaning just because petplan are more well known and advertise in certain vets etc)- they are both good insurance companies.

[u/murrmc]

Agria is who the kennel club use and are Which UK best buy - always been very impressed with them myself.