Pet Metrics: Consumer Approaches to Pet Insurance in Australia

Finaccord's report titled Pet Metrics: Consumer Approaches to Pet Insurance in Australia offers detailed and up-to-date insights into the behaviour of pet owners in the context of pet insurance in Australia. Based on a primary survey of over 1,000 consumers in Australia carried out in the third quarter of 2017, and with results compared against those of a previous survey undertaken in 2014 in order to illustrate trends over time, the research provides valuable data describing the extent to which owners of cats, dogs and other animals take out insurance for their pets.

In addition to calculating the percentage of Australian pet owners that buys pet insurance, the investigation also analyses the types of policy that they buy (i.e. stand-alone policies or cover packaged within household insurance or personal liability insurance), whether they hold cover for veterinary expenses or only for less likely / costly risks such as pet liability, which distribution channel and interface they use to take out stand-alone pet insurance, whether they buy cover within a week or a month of acquiring their pet or at a later stage, and whether they acquire pet insurance as a result of any particular prompt (e.g. e-mail or mobile advertising).

Finally, the report measures the degree to which insured pet owners have used their cover to file a claim in the 12 months leading up to the survey and, if so, the reason for making the claim and whether the claim was accepted or not.

Indeed, key features of this report include:

• analyses showing the percentage of cat owners, dog owners and owners of different types of pet that acquire pet insurance in Australia and how this varies not only by type and age of pet but also by gender, age group and annual household income of pet owner;

• data describing the percentage of pet owners covered for expenses associated with veterinary treatment (in the event or accident or illness) and other broader pet-related risks in addition to pet liability;

• survey results illustrating the extent to which alternative distribution channels, such as aggregators, banks, cashback websites, charities, pet owners' clubs, pet shops, supermarkets and vets, are eroding the share of conventional insurance distributors, including direct sales by pet insurance underwriters;

• figures depicting whether pet owners prefer to buy pet insurance online, by phone or by post, as opposed to in person on a face-to-face basis, and how these distribution interfaces cross-tabulate with the aforementioned distribution channels;

• insights into claims frequency and claims acceptance rates for pet insurance in Australia, segmented by both type and age of pet.