E&L horse insurance- how are they?

sidesaddlegirl

sidesaddlegirl

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11 November 2007
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Location
Wigston, Leicestershire
www.sidesaddlegirl.co.uk
Been shopping around to see how much insurance will be for my potential ned and NFU, KBIS and Petplan have all been around the £24- £29 mark for me.

E&L came about at £14 something and Horse-insurance.co.uk came out a little higher (even though they are underwritten by E&L).

All I need is vets fees as I have 3rd party liability with my BHS membership.

Sooo, I'm tempted to go with E&L but am wondering what they are like to deal with, especially if you have to put in a claim!
 
Might as well stick with BHS membership and save the money...

Numerous vet practices round here have notices stuck up in reception stating that clients insured with E&L will be treated as uninsured.

NFU and Petplan are considered good to deal with.
 
Don't touch them, my one and only experience with them was bloody awful. We had a tack room break in and were wiped out, they refused to pay out a penny as I didn't have original receipts (most of my gear was bought years ago so I didn't have them), one advisor said that if I could get quotes from 2 established saddlers then they would pay out. I did this, even providing photgraphic evidence of my horses wearing the tack and was told I had no proof that the tack or even the horses were mine!!! I lost out to the tune of £6k
 
I was with E&L for years and never had a problem with them but then I never had to claim. They did have a tendency to increase my monthly payments without consulting me first which annoyed me and is the reason I changed. I am now with Julie Andrews and have found them really good to deal with
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E&L have a terrible reputation and I had trouble when I needed to claim loss of use on my old horse. I also worked at an equine vets processing insurance claims and E&L gave more trouble than any of the other companies put together.

I can totally recommend KBIS who were brilliant with my boy's veteran policy and paid up no problem.
 
Totally agree with the others - avoid like the plague.

Took them about a year to pay out after the death of my horse
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She was fully insured and was PTS with grass sickness. They made me get valuations from 2 instructors and kept stalling for ages until threatened with a lawyer.

Wish I had used forums back then so I could have asked too!
 
I always wonder how they are still going?! (I do find it unbelievable) thought everyone knew about them. See people need to be kept in the loop!!!
 
Another warning against E&L from me - they thought of every excuse in the book not to pay out for the death of my horse. My vet insisted on upfront payment as they knew they wouldn't get anything from E&L.
 
You been sleeping far too long sideaddlegirl!!!

Just one word from me - bargepole
 
Categorically never never never - various mags have threatened to do a Cook report on them but their ad revenue is too valuable!!!!
Pet Plan for me - altho pricey, they were outstanding when madam had a long and expensive illness - even paid for various dodgy supplements the vets recommended to put her on the road to recovery!!!
 
Thank goodness for this forum!!! My husband did a search for them tonight and founds loads of stuff about them too so def a no go for me now.

It makes you wonder how they keep going but I suppose it's alot of the first time horse owners (never needed to insure Sen as she isn't mine and I had the BHS insurance) that fall victim to them. You also see all the ads for them in the magazines and think that they are ok too!
 
I have to say that I have just done a claim with E & L and they took forever to pay up, however they did pay up in full and never questioned anything, its just they drove me insane with how long it took. Just had a friend who was with AIMS and they have refused to pay a claim on something very claimable.
I have a horse insured with NFU and they are great.
 
Their leaflet for insurance was the first thing I'd bin when I got a horsey mag! They took a year to pay up on my daughter's first pony who was euthanised on recommendation of the vet - who also called the knackerman for me when I was in bits! They actually contacted the pony's former owner for proof that she had sold it to me! How many short fat hairy grey ponies are there with no distinguishing marks! All for £100 - never again - was with Petplan who were very good but now with NFU on recommendation of a friend.
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Don't touch them, my one and only experience with them was bloody awful. We had a tack room break in and were wiped out, they refused to pay out a penny as I didn't have original receipts (most of my gear was bought years ago so I didn't have them), one advisor said that if I could get quotes from 2 established saddlers then they would pay out. I did this, even providing photgraphic evidence of my horses wearing the tack and was told I had no proof that the tack or even the horses were mine!!! I lost out to the tune of £6k

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See my post above....we had a very similar situation, our yard was broken into, all of my tack was stolen. I didn't have any receipts but gave them 1 quote from the tack shop where I brought most of my stuff from and they paid out, without question and within 7 days. I'm insured with NFU
 
Another no no no for E&L - they are cheap for a reason!

Petplan were the best we could ask for when we lost our boy. We had left E&L after a month because of the bad word of mouth (this was EIGHT years ago) and they gave us that much grief over cancelling the policy, thank god we weren't with them when our vets bill came to over £5k!
 
Equestrian Direct are good, they paid approx 2k in vets bills and 5k loss of use with no quibbles. NFU also very good, they paid out 1.5k - again no quibbles. Would thoroughly recommend either of them.
 
Just to weigh in here (and no I'm not an E&L rep!!!), my super accident prone TB was insured with them, and they always paid out, even when he developed mystery headshaking they paid out on all his treatment, including having his teeth done, which the vet said was almost unheard of.... However, just about to insure my new boy, and think I might steer clear now!!!! Think it sounds like I was v v lucky!
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