Another BL**DY insurance company rant

[Marquire]

I had my renewal document through yesterday and my premium has gone up £137 per year!!!!!!!


Now I have had NO claims in the last 12 months, I have NO additional activities to add and my horse has had NO injuries.

Why has the premium gone up so much!!!!!!!!!


I phoned them and apparently the increase in claims over the last year has FORCED them to put up the premiums.

Needlesstosay I am now phoning around for quotes from other companies. I hate to think what would have happened if I had made a claim in the last year!

Marie

 

[katelarge]

WTF!!!!

OK, now the mad thing is that I DID make a claim, as you can see on my thread - but my premium stayed the same! So go figure! BTW just talked to Carriage House who seem good, though for horses over £3k they want a purchaser's vet's cert, which I dont have...

 

[katelarge]

Sorry - I lie - premium went up £76...

 

[airedale]

It's the few litigation happy idiots that are caning the rest of us
this is similar effect to that on riding schools that are forcing them to close or become livery yards

it's also that mirvahedy (sp?) case where the driver won mega damages when horses got out of secure field. All the insurance comps. are loading premiums specifically due to that ruling (and I bet if the liability issue gets changed due to the recent early day motion - the premiums won't go back down again !!)

 

[harvgj19]

Its ridiculous. This happened to me, and when I looked at their advert in a magazine, it showed the premium being 100 pounds cheaper. When I rang them to discuss this, they said "oh, that is only for new policies". WTF!

What they were basically telling me was it was cheaper for new clients who could claim who knows what, than it was for me, who had been with them a year and claimed nothing! So I didn't renew and got a new policy with another company. GRrrrrrrrr!

 

[Christmas_Kate]

I thoroughly recommend carriage house, competitive quotes, easy to deal with. I paid 136 all inclusive for a year, which is fab!

 

[Vey]

Me too - I'm with Carriage House - what is more when a car killed my beloved horse and I had to claim, and had the car driver claim against me, they were fabulous, and in the end choked him off.

 

[star]

my premium has gone up every year since ive had my horse despite the fact he's getting older and they've been decreasing his value automatically and reducing his cover. still, it's definitely been worth it. i've paid £1500 in premiums over the last 5yrs and so far claimed £3500 and if my horse has this op tomorrow that'll be another £2000, making total of £5500. dont blaim them for putting their premiums up really! and i dont have 3rd party liability on my policy (get it with my BD membership separately) so the increase in my premium has nothing to do with these 3rd party liability claims and i have only made 1 other claim 4 yrs ago until last month. hate to think what sort of figure they would have had to pay out if i had an accident prone horse - 2 injuries in 5yrs aint too bad - just a shame they've been expensive ones!

 

[LauraBR]

[ QUOTE ]
apparently the increase in claims over the last year has FORCED them to put up the premiums

[/ QUOTE ]

Your insurer is quite correct. Horse insurance makes a loss, insurers who cover horses only make money by selling you other more profitable policies- and no, I don't mean car insurance- that makes a loss too.

Sorry, this evening have gone into work mode...

 

[Rosyryan]

Anyone have any experience with E& L? "thay pay up at their leisure and it's entertaining". The old man who used to run our yard really hated them and would try and persuade any new people coming in to change insurers...i find NFU are good however some people have had problems with them

 

[coco1]

Have had my cob one year now, he's just a plodd about happy hacker with the odd local show (showing) now and again and he's with NFU and costing me £350 a year! More than my car insurance and I do a lot more miles in my car!

I live near London so wonder if the premiums are more round here? Also I have been told that if I live within the M25 which I do by about half a mile the premium is based on where I am and not the horse, he's stabled outside the M25 so in theory If I lived near the yard my insurance would be cheaper?? Does that make any sense?? I don't think so. Suppose insurance is a necessary evil but like others I have not made a claim in the last year and the premium has gone up.

My dog had to go to the vet a few weeks ago as an evening emergency, as it was after 9pm it was £90 just to walk in the door, after they took xrays, sedation, antibiotics etc etc, they never found out what was wrong with him, he was suddenly lame, has been fine ever since but the bill was £425!!! and he was there 3 hours and most of that time was waiting while they stitched up a cat.

Maybe it's also the vets chagring a fortune when they know the animal is insured, ever watched 'supervets' and the procedures they use now on animals is like private medicine for humans.

Just one more point re racking prices up for insurance claims. I had a car a few years ago which I backed into a wall, I did a very small amount of damage to the bumper, I was working next to a crash repair place so popped in one day and asked what it would cost to sort it out, first question was 'is it an insurance claim' I said no so he said £200, when I took it to the dealership and said I would claim on the insurance it went up to £600!!! OH what a surprise, maybe the insurance companies should check what the vets/repairers etc are charging and sort it out with them not the customer who has to pay larger premiums while they all rake it in from us!!!!! aaarrrgghhh

 

[star]

sorry, but that's rubbish newcob. i am a vet and we are not raking it in at all. if you lived in america and had to pay your own health care you'd know how much it costs. the trouble with people in England is that they are used to "free" health care on the NHS and have absolutely no clue what it costs. For a start i have just studied for 5yrs on the toughest degree course in the country and yet people expect me to work for less than a plumber. Try calling out one of them or a locksmith out of hours and see how much you get charged and they didn't train for half as long. Also, medicine are expensive, equipment is expensive, vet practices cost a lot to run and vets deserve a half decent wage (and we dont rake it in - my wage is pathetic compared to most professionals). Your average GP earns 60-90k a year - a vet doesn't get near that, even as a partner. Healthcare costs a lot and vets have every right to charge for it.