Horse Insurance Advice - AIMS & E&L

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psychick82

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Hi

I hope some of you might be able to give me some advice about which insurance company to choose.

I've had a quote from AIMS LTD (Animal Insurance Management Services Limited) - they advertise in H&H but I can't seem to find much info about them on the net - on their advert they say they're regulated by the FSA but when I tried to search on teh FSA website for their name I couldn't find them - unless AIMS is the trading name and they are underwritten by another company.

Does anyone else use AIMS? Do you have any problems with claims? Are they a reputable company?

I've also had a quote from E&L, however I've heard that they are not the best at paying out when making a claim and they can be a bit of a nightmare - is this true?

These are the only two companies that have given affordable quotes, I've tried many others but they are all too expensive.

We are currently with NFU and although they are great at handling claims the premium has shot up this year and it is just too much to pay, even though I really don't want to leave them.

I also don't want the risk of not insuring my horse, as she has had several problems in the past that without insurance we wouldn't have been able to afford to pay for, and I would not be able to save up £5000 (i.e. vet fee cover) quickly if she was not insured. This would take some time (a couple of years) and there could be the risk something happens to her in the meantime and we'd be stuck with no insurance.

Look forward to hearing your advice.

Many thanks,
Gemma
 
I know nothing about the first but do NOT touch E and L with a barge pole!!

To be honest you do get what you pay for, I use Equestrian Direct and they are affordable and so far so good.
 
I have heard good things from AIMS but would not touch E & L With a mile long barge pole to be honest, try also getting a quote from Carriagehouse...
 
This is really intresting as I insure with E and L at the mo, but have heard they are not too hot at paying out....Thinking of changing to Equestrian Direct as a friend of mine has them and they have paid out on her 17 yr old mare twice. Just not sure if I can just cancel my existing policy without having to pay a cancellation fee (as with car insurance)??
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Change, change!!! I insured with them 10years ago when I didn't know better. I gave up persuing my LOU claim. Resulting in signficant expense.
 
Out of those two, def AIMS! However, have you actually gone back to NFU to see if they can reduce your premium - ie, tell them you have found cheaper quotes elsewhere (although don't quote the E&L one, other insurer's don't care whether you have a cheaper quote with them as they know which product is superior and will not try compete)
 
yes, we have had liability and personal accident taken off (as liability is covered by our farm insurance and personal accident by riding club membership) but it is still quite expensive - the only other option is to take loss of use off but this makes me nervous! if anything so bad were to happen to anyones horse you'd like to think after paying years of premiums you'd be able to get something back at the end of it.

thanks for everyone's advice - i'll look into carriagehouse and also go back to nfu and see what negotiating can be done.
 
If the premium is too high, try asking for a quote with a higher excess, that way they would pay for a really expensive problem, like an operation, but smaller problems you will have to fund yourself. Insurance is always a problem, but accepting the cheapest quote is a false economy if they don't pay out.
 
yes, that is true - i wouldn't want problems with an insurance company being difficult to pay out.

i don't think i will be able to raise the excesses this year as i'm about to purchase a house with my boyfriend, so i'm going to have hardly any savings this year!! any other time i would have been able to have higher excesses
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Bless don't touch E&L - a lot of vets will ask for money up front or deposit before they carry out expensive procedures due to their lack of paying out.

I use Stoneways who have always been reasonable and are very good at paying out
 
thanks for all your advice, everyone - really helpful and appreciative
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i've now got a decent quote from carriage house and another from AIMS, so we're going to go back to NFU and see what they can do for us.

thanks again,
gemma
 
NFU only for me I'm afraid. Brilliant company to deal with. And that alone is worth the higher premium in my view.
 
Agree do not touch E&L they were bad back in the 1980's and have not improved I understand.
NFU are the preferred choice as I have never heard a bad word about them ??? Perhaps ask your vets who they would choose.
 
Mmmm you might want to rethink about changing to Equestrian Direct, see post entitled Bloody Insurance Companies posted a couple of days ago..

Myself and Chestnut Cob have been told that our claims will not be paid for 3 months so not much better than E & L.
 
This is an interesting post - I have just done an online quote with equestriandirect for my 2year old and it was £100 more expensive than I currently pay with the NFU.

Also am I reading correctly that their vet fee's are £1000 per incident ? If so then the cover is not comparable to NFU.

I have been insured with NFU for over 10 years and have never had an issue with them at all and they have always paid out promptly on any claims that I have made.
 
Vet fees are for £5,000 just had a look on the website think you are looking at hospilisation cover.. also just found out the underwriters are from the Isle of Man so not FSA registered, which means we've got no protection... just had a good quote from Amtrust Equine.
 
If you have your farm insurance with NFU they should be looking at wanting to keep you to be honest (unless you have a terrible claims history or something!). They normally will try undercut competitors premiums to keep a good risk on their books so I think is well worth going back to them.
 
If you went with E&L you would effectively not be insuring your horse. I'm not kidding. It took about 18months to get our vet's fees paid by them, despite that fact they had agreed in writing, in advance!!!!!! £3.5k is a lot of money to be without for so long. The vets groaned when we said we were E&L, plus the vet schools/hospitals won't let them pay the hospital direct as they know how bad they are. Good insurance companies are allowed to pay the hospitals direct so it doesn't touch your pocket.

I know nothing about AIMS, sorry!
 
I am with NFU had to claim for horses broken leg last year and they have been absolutely fantastic, as others say premiums maybe bit higher than other companies but I think you do get what you pay for. Friend is with Carriagehouse and has claimed for a kissing spines op on her horse and she also said they were brilliant, very understanding, knowledgeable and paid up in double quick time!
 
do NOT go with E&L. they may be cheap but they are S**T. it took 3 months to get £600 out of them for an opperation that my pony had. only after numerous letters they paid £500 of it!! they have stupid clauses aswell. like my tack wasnt insured unless the door had a 5 lever lock and there were a minumum amount of horses on the yard. im with nfu and my mum wants to change it because it is expensive but the only reason we went with them is because they covered all vets fees and pay out very quickly. try taking some stuff off to get the price down and rethink how much your horse is insured for. i havnt heard of the other one.
 
Flying in on this one. We're with E and L. Been waiting since begining of the year for the pay out (and it was painful getting that far!). I call every week.

Have another claim going through NFU. Can't face calling them to see how it's going. Want to claim LOU, but have to damage horse more before I can do so (according the to vet).

Hate insurance. Seriously considering only having the cover I get with Gold BHS.
 
My friend insured with AIMS they were OK paying up for claims but put her monthly premium up immediately when she did make a claim (even though not time for renewal).
 
I was insured with AIMS and they were a nightmare!!

They only advised me once I had made a claim that they do not make any payments for treatment until it is totally finished so you either have to p**s off the vets by not paying them for months or stump up the money until you can squeeze it out of AIMS. In my case this was over £2000 only half way through treatment and eventually after much wrangling and threatening with the ombudsman they made an interim payment.

They appeared to have very little equestrian related experience when you talked to them on the phone and when I was advised that my horse needed a scintgraphy at £1000 they said they would only pay for it if it showed a specific problem. So you have to make the descision to risk it being inconclusive and having to pay for it yourself or not have it done!!!

They did eventually pay for everything but personally would avoid them like the plague in the future. IME they are cheap for a reason!!!

Also worth checking the small print in any policy as a friend of mine found out that although she had £5000 vets fee cover ONLY £1000 was allowed to go on diagnostics!!! So if you need and MRI or a scintigraphy that's the £1000 gone without any x-rays, nerve blocks etc etc. I believe that was with Equestrian Direct but wouldn't swear to that fact.
 
Avoid E&L like the plague!

I have just changed my polices to Amtrust Equine after being with Equestrian Direct for years. They have been an absolute nightmare this year. I've been trying to claim for a virus my horse had over Xmas and it's just dragging on. I only want £250 back! I finally had to threaten them with invoicing them for the interest on my credit card bill every month that it wasn't paid until they agreed to send me the money this week.... I also found out that their underwriter isn't UK based, so not regulated by the FSA. Another reason for moving to Amtrust.

I recommend Amtrust. When they split from ED a couple of years ago they took a lot of policies over with them, mine included. Paid up no questions, on time and paid my vet directly. Their quote for one of my horses and the trailer was only about £20 more expensive than ED but really worth paying the extra. I pay mine monthly, which does work out more expensive in the long run but it helps spread the cost. I never expected to move away from ED but bearing in mind I still haven't had the money for an illness in December, it's left me with a sour taste
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I didn't move when they changed underwriter, wish i had now, but will when my policy is due to renew will def go with Amtrust got a really good quote with them
 
We insure with AIMS and they've always been very helpful and have always paid our claims. (upto £5000 per claim)
We've never had a problem with them but I have heard of major issues with E&L.
 
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