Equine and livestock (E&L) insurance

michellev123

michellev123

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 January 2010
Messages
586
Location
Suffolk
Visit site
Hey
Insurance is up for renewal again! I just got a shock when renewal quote came thro the post!!

Anyways I have always been warned to avoid E&L but in the last year my mum (whos dogs are insured with them; i didnt know this!) Anyways one of the dogs have been poorly and E&L have paid out nearly £4000! No fuss she cant sing there praises enough!

I just wondered what everyones most recent experiances have been with them as I am considering them for Oscar's insurance (£25 a month instead of £37!)

Thanks in advance!
Michelle
 
I believe you will get both good and bad responses... I think the first thing you should always do when renewing insurance is ask your own vet if they would accept that insurance company as a guarantee of payment.
One of our local vets is happy to carry out investigations with some insurance companies, but will not do extensive investigations if the owner is insured with a certain insurance group (which I believe have let the veterinary group down in the past).

HTH
 
When my filly needed to be attended to by the vet, the vet didnt even ask for the name of my insurer, and when i got hold of E&L they paid the vet directly no problems, have been with them for over 1 year and i am quite happy.
 
Hi, I've had 4 dogs & 3 horses insured with E&L, made a few claims (although all £100s rather than £1000s) and had no problems, although apparently they can take a while to pay up. Just make sure you are covered for what you need (as with any policy).
 
Oh yes - and be aware they do try and 'add to your benefits' (ie. increase your premiums) by sending you info through the post which you then have to opt out of to keep premiums the same - but I've always opted out and not had any problems.
 
Friend insured her horse with them...turned out to be the biggest mistake she ever made.
Horse blew a check ligament, vet came, asked who she was insured with. On hearing it was E&L vet said you will have to pay the bill yourself and claim it back from them.
To be paid out (and then they quibbled, dragged their heels and "lost vital bits of the claim" it took her over a year to get her money back.
Moral of the story.....use a decent insurer.
SEIB are very good!
 
I've used E&L for two of my previous horses and E&L paid out with no issues except they did take a while.
1st cast i had had my mare insured for 3 weeks when she broke her leg. They paid out the full value of my mare but it took about 6 months.
2nd case i had run up a bill of over 3k due to laminitis. Used 2 different vets, farrier bills and claimed for disposal and they paid it all in full, but again took nearly 5 months.

i would just say that if your not in a hurry for the payout and your vet accepts E&L then go for it.

The end of the day you hear good and bad stories about all insurance companies. There are always posts on her moaning about NFU and Petplan but to be honest you hardly ever see anyone moaning about E&L until you get a thread like this asking about them...then all of a sudden everyone has a horror story about them.
 
They are cheap for a reason. Ask yourself why and how they manage to be so much cheaper than any other quote you will get.
 
i personally don't know anyone insured with them, but was told by my vet the best company for horse insurance is NFU or Petplan, and NOT to go with E and L.
 
I've always insured with them, made 2 claims, never had a problem. Insure my 4 horses with them and i have riders insurance with them too, During my 1st claim they were a little slow to send forms out but thats my only complaint, They paid out straight away with no fuss :)
 
Someone ELSEs bargepole, that is three times the length of the longest barge pole in the world....


they wouldnt pay for hospitalising my dog who died whilst under treatment - so far they have said that it was "becuase it wasnt a life threatening condition"

He died - while at the vets - undergoing treatment for the condition I was claiming for. I honestly dont see how much more life threatening it could have got....

appaling company - never ever ever again.

SEIB arent much better.
 
Racergirl said:
Someone ELSEs bargepole, that is three times the length of the longest barge pole in the world....


they wouldnt pay for hospitalising my dog who died whilst under treatment - so far they have said that it was "becuase it wasnt a life threatening condition"

He died - while at the vets - undergoing treatment for the condition I was claiming for. I honestly dont see how much more life threatening it could have got....

appaling company - never ever ever again.

SEIB arent much better.
Click to expand...

seib are A LOT BETTER I know I have been insured by both, one has paid out twice no hassle as my vet said they would and one took over a year for a straight forward claim I let you fill in which was which.

In answer to op question just peruse recent reviews of pet insurance with E&L and form your own opnion. http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews-all-57547.html

amd horse insurance reviews http://www.equinecompare.co.uk/horse-insurance-reviews.php
 
Last edited:
:) theres really no need to get so defensive - its only my experiences and opinions, same as everyones stories !!

SEIB were amazing twelve years ago - paid out on claims for me without any hassles at all - until my youngster had a year where he spent almost all of it on box rest after one accident after another - then they refused to insure him any more, and for good measure terminated my mares insurance at the same time.(she had never needed them)

becuse they had been so good with me over the injuries before(glossing over the bugger off letter!), I immediately went back to them two years ago when I got my current horse - and (other than ignoring the vets letter stating that the horse was sound - they still insisted on excluding her flat TB feet), it was all fine - until I used them. She had lameness issues in front after injuring herself in the field, and also behind due to her back - they refused to class them as two seperate things,so we had to do the best we could with all round treatments. (as it was,the front lameness turned out to be her DDFTS in both feet,so even though it was a tendon injury,they wouldnt have covered it due to their ridiculous exclusion of all TBs feet)
Then she had sinusitis last easter, which was becuase of a rotten tooth root, so she needed that removed - and another claim. Cue a letter from SEIB telling me that they would not be offering me a renewal when my time came. Nor did they pay any of the nursing or clinical fees that came with my invoices - they do say that they wont pay livery,which is fine - but (according to their own small print!!) they should have paid the clinical fees - but didnt.

SO - as long as you dont use them more than once a year, they are great - but they appear to have a two strikes and you're out policy now (could just be in your first year with them now though?) I think thats really taking the p*** - I could understand my youngster being removed - Id had ten times the amount Id paid in premiums in just over a year - but not the mare who had cost them nothing, and to strike my current mare off after a multi site lameness which they only paid out for one site, and a tooth root infection, is just wrong. They are fast to take peoples money off them - but when it comes to paying out - they will only do it twice...

Mind you - having used them and E & L and other companies as well with various animals, and have had dealings with almost every company becuase of my work - I can honestly say that deep down, you get what you pay for. They are all businesses after all, not charities - so you cant really blame them for not wanting to pay out if they can get out of it in any way possible. Its just shite when its you that they are refusing, and some companies employ better advisors than others !!!
 
That unfortunatly is a sign of the times, insurance companies ( all of them ) are getting much more particular in what they will or not pay out for, I had a claim of them last winter paid for my horses hobday and tieback very quickly, they paid for everything except they did exclude the medication given to my horse before his op as that was preventative to protect his stomach from ulcers.

I have heard similar stories to yours with both petplan and nfu which undoubtidly are one of the best horse insurers.

That said all of them have in the majority of cases paid out, something unusual with E&L.

You are right you get what you pay for and hope your horses are better now :)
 
Last edited:
Having worked in a vets and struggled to get money out of both E&L and SEIB
I personally wouldn't use either one of them!!
But I think you have to go on personal experience..... NFU paid up in full for vets fees and loss of animal for my old mare, but I know others who have had issues with them! At the end of the day Insurance companies are businesses that work for themselves........
 
My vet said he rarely had any problem with seib ,( he had lots of problems with E&L) so you do surprise me.
As you said they are all buisinesses and they all work for themselves
 
I am with E and L and they have been total pants, they have not accepted liability and paid out for my one and only claim but have eventually sent me a "goodwill gesture" which surely means they have accepted liability??

Wouldnt go with them again!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top