high excess vet fees insurance

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impresario08

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Hi, does anyone have the option in their horse insurance for the higher excess to keep costs down? Petplan have a £3500 cover with a £500 excess option which would bring my insurance down a lot or should I stick with £5000 with a £150 excess? Hmmm....
 
It depends how much you think you will actually use it with such a high excess. We did that the last couple of years with Frank's insurance but really it is only there if you end up with quite a big issue you need to treat.
 
£500 doesn't seem that bad to me. AmTrust stung me with an excess of more than £800 on a claim of £5000 (they charge a percentage so it can go up and up). Wish I'd read the small print a little more closely!
 
TheSylv007 said:
£500 doesn't seem that bad to me. AmTrust stung me with an excess of more than £800 on a claim of £5000 (they charge a percentage so it can go up and up). Wish I'd read the small print a little more closely!
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I have that one but came out better off.

I saved (depending on which policy I was comparing) between £250 and £400 on the annual fee. So the amount I saved over 3 years ended up more than the high excess on the one big claim I have made and for 2 smaller claims (the percentage kicks in at about £1600 before that it's £250) it made no difference.

What is will say it's complicated so it's difficult to know what you will pay.
 
I have just had a £5k claim paid out by AmTrust but mine was a fixed excess of £135, my last renewal was £308 for a 14 year old TB with no previous claims, no loss of use and only insured for £1k. It was only a tooth and sinus issue but it went wrong and unfortunately i have lost my boy but thank goodness they paid out as the vets fees soon rack up - no way is £3500 cover enough. That was almost gone before the complications. A CT scan alone was £600!
 
We have the high excess policy for our 17yo mare as she had moved onto veteran cover anyway and this was actually better coverage than the veteran policy.

Fiona
 
I wouldn't put mine through colic surgery so that's not a problem for me but our tb leg injury used up 4k on vets visits hospital stay.and we paid 2k on a credit card for his dressings as we got them cheaper
 
I've always had this excess insurance with Pet Plan - it usually works out better as what I've saved in premiums has covered the excess.
For the claims I've had £3500 has been sufficient - but only just - but that's the chance I take.
 
I think there's also the question of what you can afford. The excess usually applies to each (unrelated) claim. If the horse had multiple claims in a year, you may end up having to pay the excess several times over. I think I'd want to make sure I'd be in a position to pay any regular vets fees (such as vaccinations) plus at least 2x the excess within the year. Insurance is about mitigating risk. If you can afford to take the risk that you'll be saddled with a bigger bill, then the premium will naturally be lower.
 
Fiona said:
We have the high excess policy for our 17yo mare as she had moved onto veteran cover anyway and this was actually better coverage than the veteran policy.

Fiona
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Yes that was the same for us. Prior to that we had a £200 excess which we paid for a lameness workup but it only just topped that.
We did reach the £500 excess for his probable cancer though as that took 3 vet stays and posh cream from liverpool and liquid nitrogen.
 
I think some insurance companies after an excess plus a % of the finally bill.
Again that would bring the premium down but you have to be confident you can pay it, potentially more than once!
 
I did the sums and opted for a £500 excess. Two big bills in two years mean I have definitely come out worst - but it's always a gamble; it's only viable for insurance companies to operate at all because more people need to spend more on insurance than they ever claim.
 
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