E&L insurance

[sally87]

sorry cant work out how to change the title of my last thread but...

I have heard some good things & some bad things about E&L so was wondering what peoples experiences were as their quote is quite a lot lower than the others i have received. are they definate avoids or not?

thanks

Sally

 

[kittykatcat]

Like everyone else, I had heard only bad things...but when i got my 'project' horse i thought it would be fine to insure just for a few months. Anyway, a year down the line, fallen in love with project (im no dealer, who was i trying to kid!) and all i can say is i am EXTREMElY IMPRESSED with e&l. I'm actually with horse-insurance.co.uk who are underwritten by e&l. They have paid out for 2 sarcoid treatments and i got the cheque through within a week. cant speak highly enough of them!

 

[MrsMozart]

Don't get me started!!!!!!!

Thought they were improving, but now, when the bill is in from the vets, suddenly they want things they hadn't asked for before! And they're saying they've needed it all along, but it's not been mentioned in any of the communications.

 

[Holly Hocks]

No personal experience of them, but i've only heard bad things so therefore I would never consider insuring with them or anyone who has them as the underwriters.

 

[SuperSonicMare]

No personal experience, but my vet told me to steer clear as they/their clients have often had trouble getting money out of them.

 

[china]

vets dont like them. i didnt have great dealings with them, claimed for a simple £700 operation and after many letters and phonecalls they eventually paid out around 6 months later! they made life very difficult! but i have know people who have had them pay out straight away, funnily enough kittykatcat, i know of two people who have claimed for a grands worth of sarcoid treatment for them no problem!
im currently with NFU and have a claim going for over 3 grand and still rising and the only thing im finding is they are being extremely slow! i sent a 2 grand invoice to them for my tb's horspital stay over 2 months ago and have been recieving letters from horspital wanting their money and rang NFU today and they said it had been recieved but was still awaiting attention? its been sat there for 2 months and still awaiting attention? BUT they have always paid! no fuss.

 

[paulineh]

Some 30 years ago I had a pony on loan for a few months before I bought the said pony. He was insured by E&L so I left it like that. A few months after buying the pony and having the insurance transferred to me I made a claim. Months down the line I had not received the cheque so I contacted them. I was put off with some excuse and then again more excuses. I never did get any money.

I changed my insurance company and would never never go back to E&L
I have never heard a good word about them.

My vets would never deal with them at all.

I am now with NFU and have never had a problem, I have 4 horses my dog and my Land Rover insured with them, in fact I have an ongoing claim with my dog and they have been so good. My dog has arthritis in his elbow and they have in the last 2 years paid out for all his x rays, blood tests, a MRI, all his drugs and ongoing hydrotherapy and Rehab plus they pay for me to take him to and from the specialized center. I can not speak too highly of NFU.

 

[Tinseltoes]

I recently put a claim in for reccurring Sarcoid,claim was processed within 3 days and I recieved my cheque within 2 weeks. They are VERY quick at processing claims and paying out. Better than last year.Apparently new computer system.
Im staying with them. No problems.

 

[Tinseltoes]

vets dont like them. i didnt have great dealings with them, claimed for a simple £700 operation and after many letters and phonecalls they eventually paid out around 6 months later! they made life very difficult! but i have know people who have had them pay out straight away, funnily enough kittykatcat, i know of two people who have claimed for a grands worth of sarcoid treatment for them no problem!
im currently with NFU and have a claim going for over 3 grand and still rising and the only thing im finding is they are being extremely slow! i sent a 2 grand invoice to them for my tb's horspital stay over 2 months ago and have been recieving letters from horspital wanting their money and rang NFU today and they said it had been recieved but was still awaiting attention? its been sat there for 2 months and still awaiting attention? BUT they have always paid! no fuss.

When was that because my claim was processed within 3 DAYS and I got my payment cheque WITHIN 2 weeks and this was september this year.

 

[china]

if you are reffering to my e&l claim, about 4 years ago.
i am thinking of insuring my new mare with them as NFU are expensive but i dont know wether to trust them or not having not had a good experience with them before.

 

[moandben]

Been great for me too. Been claiming for 10 months for my cat. Lots and lots. Have paid out very quickly with no probs. Normally pay out within 10 days of getting claim form.
Have 1 cat, 4 horses and trailer all with them.

Very very good

 

[orionstar]

My vets practise wouldnt treat my horse until I'd changed from E&L. The reason they gave is they havent been paid for a single treatment from any claim so urged me to change asap.

 

[nativetyponies]

be aware of "you only get what you pay for"...

 

[joeanne]

E&L are a waste of blooming time!
Friend had insured her mare thinking she had £5k of vet cover.....which she did but was limited to 1k per incident.
She found that out at her cost!
They also didnt pay out for ages (and only after I called pretending to be her and getting seriously cross).
Her vets will no longer deal "direct" with E&L.
NFU all the way. Bit more costly, but you do get what you pay for and in all the years I have used them, they have been fab!

 

[lannerch]

Agree you get what you pay for!

Have been stung have learnt mistake never to be repeated!

 

[horseandshoes77]

they were the cheapest quote i had (i have 3 horses) but after reading lots of bad reviews i didnt go with them, i have since found that had i my vet would nt have dealt with them because of past experiences ! also have a friend who was insured with them and didnt get a thiong back when she had a fire and lost tack insured with them

 

[LauraElise]

I have never claimed from them and am no longer insured with them so can't comment on their service re paying out. But a word of warning NONE of the vets in my area will deal with E&L and all require payment upfront in full if insured with E&L. So potentially if you were faced with a 2 or 3k bill you may be in difficuties if don't have that sort of money to pay out upfront. Also it is then your hassle to ensure you are paid out.

 

[BuBbleMooJim]

I did insuremyhorse, accepted the quote, only to find it was E&L, my mum-in-law is insured with them, tack room got burgled, they paid out no messing about, but I am going to change, they take the payments on the wrong day, or forget to take it at all, then take two payments at once, I have yet to receive my policy documents,(six months on O-o) and everyone i speak to says don't use them! and on that note, i think I will go search for another insurer!

 

[Sanolly]

My dogs half brother was insured with them, when he ate a champagne cork and had a £2000 vets bill for his op it took 10 months for my friend to get her money back from them.
Personally I put money in a savings account rather than insure.

 

[elliebellie21]

Well I am a current customer of horse insurance.co.uk (e&l) and I totally rate them. They have given me no hassle at all and have paid out in excess of £4k for my mare in the last 2 yrs with no hassle at all.Even when my policy was less than 2 weeks old when my first claim was put in !

 

[Happy Horse]

Lots of current reviews here http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews57547.html

It doesn't sound like they have improved much since my nightmares with them 12 years ago!

 

[Ashgrove]

I insured my first horse (23 years ago) with them because they were the cheapest.
She was put to sleep with colic within 12 months of me owning her, which in itself was very stressful.
But the hassle and grief I got from thaty company was unbelieveable!
Never again.

What is cheap in the short term is often expensive long term.

 

[Spit That Out]

I have been with E&L and every time i claimed they paid out but it did take a few months before i got my cheque or before they paid the vets but apart from that i found them cheap and ok to deal with.
Seems to be allot of paperwork to fill in when making a claim and they do drag their feet with getting back to you but if you want a cheap as chips insurance then i would use them again.

They paid out for a fractured knee, death of horse (twice...not the same horse!!!) and a huge laminitis claim which was over £2000!!!

HOWEVER...I changed my vets and he refused to deal with E&L so i had to change to Petplan. As of yet (touch wood) i haven't had to use them but I've also heard of good and bad things about Petplan...at the end of the day i think all insurance companies are the same and it's just a case of, do you trust them to pay out if you need them to?

It's easier to rant and rave about grievances with a company than it is to praise them. Your more likely to write a complaint letter before you send a letter of thanks. So like any company, for every complaint there is happy customer somewhere else.

 

[PC Steele]

if you are reffering to my e&l claim, about 4 years ago.
i am thinking of insuring my new mare with them as NFU are expensive but i dont know wether to trust them or not having not had a good experience with them before.

Hate to say but you get what you pay for!!!!!!!!!! Had to have my pony put down and had a nightmare getting money out of them, very traumatic experience anyway without them making it worse!! Im with NFU now and they are worth the extra

 

[ladyt25]

just a note whoever mentioned insuremyhorse - they are nothing to do with E&L. I worked in horse insurance and would never insure my horses with E&L (we did many many years ago, had the same probs everyone has re claims) so I would never go back. One of my collegues used to work for E&L and, at that time they actually had people employed to answer the claims phones to initially turn down claims (you can imagine they had a high turnover of staff!!!).

However, they, like everyone else are regulated by the FSA etc so, provided you FULLY read the policy wording T&Cs etc and ensure you claim inline with them you shouldn't theoretically have any issues and, these days they have a heck of a lot of competitors so cannot operate like they used to (ie badly) otherwise they will die a death. They have recently got a new claims manager so maybe things will turn round but, once they actually start paying claims I think they will realise they canno longer provide cheap cover. Horse insurance just doesn't make companies enough money!

 

[Tinseltoes]

if you are reffering to my e&l claim, about 4 years ago.
i am thinking of insuring my new mare with them as NFU are expensive but i dont know wether to trust them or not having not had a good experience with them before.

Yes lol They tend to deal with claims within 3 days of recieving them,Ive had no problems to date.

 

[SNORKEY]

When my man got kicked very badly and needed treatment, the first thing the vet said to me is 'your not with E&L are you?' which im not, im with KBIS. They have been very good, and although id love to save £10 a month by swaping to e&l, there is no point giving them a penny if they dont pay out.
Id stay clear choose someone else with a good reputation.

 

[Tinseltoes]

When my man got kicked very badly and needed treatment, the first thing the vet said to me is 'your not with E&L are you?' which im not, im with KBIS. They have been very good, and although id love to save £10 a month by swaping to e&l, there is no point giving them a penny if they dont pay out.
Id stay clear choose someone else with a good reputation.

They do pay oput,as I claimed in september and got my cheque.

 

[Stinkywellies]

I had a very bad experience with them a few yrs ago. It took a threat of court action for them to pay out! This was months and months after the claims went in. Never ever again would I use them.

I am now with amtrust and they are brilliant. I have sent them a card of thanks after they dealt with me having to have my mare pts. They pay up quickly and are lovely to deal with. They are more expensive but it is worth every penny!

 

[laura_nash]

I had my old mare insured with E&L (about 10 yrs ago). I will never go near them again.

When she went lame (ended in PTS) they refused to pay out anything as I hadn't had her vetted so couldn't 'prove' she hadn't always been lame. There was nothing in the paperwork saying she needed to be vetted, she wasn't because I'd been riding her for a year before I bought her. At the time I didn't have the time / money / mental strength etc to fight it so never got a penny.