Full loan of a horse - who pays the insurance?

Tiarella

Tiarella

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Hi guys :) This has been asked many times before I know, but Fingers crossed im having a lovely horse on loan as the owner is moving away. I have pretty much everything clarified with her but I have not yet asked about insurance. Either way I don't mind paying but having read other peoples experiences it seems a common occurance for the owner to still pay for the insurance.

What is the usual done thing?
 
For my daughters loan horse the owner has kept the insurance in her name and I pay her the monthly premium. The insurance company have been told he's on loan, where he is and have my details too.
 
Same here the insurance in the owners name and I pay the monthly cost direct to the insurance company.
I can be worth getting a vet to do a health check on the horse before you take it. I found the horse not only had almost total loss of vision in one eye but also a large cataracts in the other too!!
 
She would be wise to do as dusty says. It's between the 2 of you if you pay the full monthly amount to her (as if pony dies she will receive the payout but if vets fees they would be your responsibility) if you do it directly then she is risking you returning the pony with no insurance. If she doesn't want to then I would get insurance for vets fees yourself.
I'd also advise you to get BHS membership to cover yourself legally for any damage pony might cause (liability)
When I've loaned in the past owner has insured, given me a copy of the certificate and I've paid her the monthly amount.
 
Depends on the agreement with the owner. I have loaned and have had varying agreements. One owner kept in her name and paid it herself, one owner kept in her name but I paid the monthly premium, one owner didn't have insurance so I sorted it myself and paid it.
 
I have loaned out a few horses and currently my mare is out on loan.

I keep the insurance premium in my name and it goes out of my account but the loanee reimburses me for the full cost.
She also has access to my account number etc and the insurance company are aware the horse is on loan so if there is an emergency and I cannot be contacted, the loanee can speak directly to the insurance company about treatment required/euthanasia etc.
 
I have loaned out my horse previously and also been a loanee (is that even a word?!). The loanee has always paid for the insurance.
 
I would be very careful and get every eventuality drawn up in a contract.

If you pay the premium, would you expect to get the LOU payout? Or would you give it to the owner?
 
I know that links to a relatively recent thread. In my experience the loaner keeps the insurance in their name but the loanee pays - and LOU / death benefit goes to the owner! Changing insurance policies as the horse gets older can be problematic so better to keep it all with the owner's name.
 
Shay said:
I know that links to a relatively recent thread. In my experience the loaner keeps the insurance in their name but the loanee pays - and LOU / death benefit goes to the owner! Changing insurance policies as the horse gets older can be problematic so better to keep it all with the owner's name.
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Indeed, but as we know this can be interpreted in different ways! Whichever way you go, I would have a conversation re this with the owner and make sure you are both crystal clear on expectations, and get it all drawn up in writing.
 
McCauley said:
I would have thought that the owner would be the one to receive the Loss Of Use payment Montanna
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But some people feel (I say some people rather than I, as the jury is still out on this one with me!) that as they have paid the premiums, sometimes for years, they should get the payout. This was discussed at length on the other thread - it was pages long, with lots and lots of different opinions (none wrong, just different!) so definitely something that needs to be addressed in the beginning to come up with something that both parties are happy with, in order to save heartache later on, should the worst happen.
 
Depends on what is agreed between both parties.

IMO the insurance policy should stay in the owners name and the premium paid from the owners bank account.
Then there is the option for the loanee to pay the premium back to the owner.

This is a MUCH safer option for the owner. If something goes wrong they can at least be assured that they have continuity of vet cover.
 
McCauley said:
I would have thought that the owner would be the one to receive the Loss Of Use payment Montanna
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But some policies will pay the loanee! Petplan for example, will pay the loanee the value of the horse in the event of death if they took the policy out, even if they have a loan agreement which states the sum insured is to be paid to the owner in the event of death.

If the owner alredy has insurance it would be easier to keep it in her name and make sure you are known on the policy etc and you reimburse him/her the premium. But no matter what you decide, make sure you fully outline in the contract X is responisble for the insuranc, X is responsible for paying the premiums, in the event of death X is to receive the payment etc
 
For the ones I have on loan to me, I pay the insurance but there is no way on earth I would expect to keep a payout if one of them died. That would go to owner.

That said, we have a pony out on loan and I have kept paying the premiums for her. So I know absolutely that she is insured, and it means I have got good cover that I wouldn't get if I started new insurance now (she is a veteran).

In both cases we have a full bhs loan agreement.
 
We are loaning a pony at the moment and we cover the insurance, the pony was not insured before we took her own. As others have said, do whatever suits the two of you.
 
ihatework said:
Depends on what is agreed between both parties.

IMO the insurance policy should stay in the owners name and the premium paid from the owners bank account.
Then there is the option for the loanee to pay the premium back to the owner.

This is a MUCH safer option for the owner. If something goes wrong they can at least be assured that they have continuity of vet cover.
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Exactly this. I got bitten by loaning recently - loaner agreed to arrange and pay for insurance and then broke the contract three weeks in by refusing to pay vet bills / claim when the mare injured herself. I had to take her home for her own welfare and was left with an uninsured, injured horse and an £800 vet and physio bill.

Lesson learned - owner should keep the insurance and loaner pays to them. I have a standing order set up to the owner of my loan horse.
 
Both of us. I pay my own Goldmember BHS and she pays her own public liability, because he has been in an accident before.
 
I loan a pony and I have taken out insurance in my name, but the owner pays the premium. If anything happens (touches wood) the excess with regards to vet fees is for me to pay and in the event of the pony dying, any costs/payout are for the owner.
 
There is a thread from a while ago where the OP (loaner) paid for the insurance and when the horse had to be PTS they took all the payout. The horse was an eventer an not worth an insignificant amount...

edit - did anyone find out how that ended? Did she keep the lot?
 
I wondered what the eventual outcome was. Just echo all the rest - contract essential and think of all the "what ifs" the worst happened. A sample loan agreement was on BHS website which you can tailor to your own situation.

IMO the insurance should be 50/50 cost between owner and loaner, so the owner pays and therefore knows it has been paid (wasn't there a case on DG where the insurance wasn't paid by loaner?) and covers for death and vets fees cover.
 
The policy is my name but the people that have my pony on loan pay me by standing order each month.

The horse is basically theirs so they should pay everything.
 
When I put my cob on loan a few years back I paid the insurance for him. He was at equestrian college and that was the owners responsibility.

When I loaned him out to a private home, I continued to pay the insurance. That way I knew it was paid, and if something had happened to him I as the owner would have had any ££££ - also it ensured that if anything awful DID happen the vets fees would be covered adequately.
 
Thanks guys for your help, I haven't been able to get hold of a pc for some days and my iPhone doesn't seem to like hho, so sorry for the late reply!

The lady isn't leaving for another month yet so there is plenty of time to draw up contract together :) I went to try the horse last night and going to try her again next week. She is then brining her over to my yard so she can see the yard, take her for a hack and ride round the fields - I want to make sure everything is okay :)

So far after discussing insurance briefly she would prefer me to take over the insurance completely, in my name, my bank account as if she were my own horse - is this a normal thing to do? Is there anything I should be aware of? What questions should I ask?

Thanks everyone :)
 
As the owner I kept on paying the insurance, just to make sure it was paid and everything was covered. However when I was the loanee the owner expected me to pay the insurance. There was a thread recently regarding who got the payout when the horse died/loss of use if I remember correctly due to who was paying the insurance. When my mare went on permanent loan we made the decision to let the loanee decide whether they wanted to pay the insurance, as she is in a forever home until the day she goes over rainbow bridge, it seemed the right thing to do.

I think it really depends on what you have in the contract, if it is precise and detailed as to who pays what and who can claim the money in the event of death or vet bills then there should not be an issue.
 
rachaelstar said:
Thanks guys for your help, I haven't been able to get hold of a pc for some days and my iPhone doesn't seem to like hho, so sorry for the late reply!

The lady isn't leaving for another month yet so there is plenty of time to draw up contract together :) I went to try the horse last night and going to try her again next week. She is then brining her over to my yard so she can see the yard, take her for a hack and ride round the fields - I want to make sure everything is okay :)

So far after discussing insurance briefly she would prefer me to take over the insurance completely, in my name, my bank account as if she were my own horse - is this a normal thing to do? Is there anything I should be aware of? What questions should I ask?

Thanks everyone :)
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I think the main risk in that would be if it was a new policy their wiggle room for the insurance company if something goes wrong very quickly ( and horses being horses that's may happen) .
If the policy in your name there's no risk to you it's the owner that's at risk , because if anything awful happens you could keep the money( as in the thread mentioned above ) .
Perhaps you cover that in your loan agreement .
It's safest for the owner to keep the existing policy going and pay for it and you pay her perhaps the existing policy can be transferred to you with a note of the owners interest that way you can deal with any claims for vets bills if she wants no involvement .
 
rachaelstar said:
So far after discussing insurance briefly she would prefer me to take over the insurance completely, in my name, my bank account as if she were my own horse - is this a normal thing to do? Is there anything I should be aware of? What questions should I ask?

Thanks everyone :)
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It used to be quite normal, I've always done that when loaning horses, often the insurance makes you write a letter to say it's on loan and that all money for vets bills will go to you, money for loss of horse goes to the owner. That previous thread showed that different people have different views on where the money for a dead horse should go, so you really need it set in stone with the owner (put in the contract and signed by both parties?)..
 
I really am confused by this. Basically the best way to go about it is if I pay the owner the insurance monthly through direct debit/standing order and they carry on with the insurance in their name, but I pay for it? I'm not sure I'm happy paying £60-£80 per month for the horses insurance to get nothing back if anything goes wrong?

I'd personally prefer the owner to still have full control of the insurance.

The owner has never loaned a horse before so isn't sure what to do either.
 
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