How do you prove a horses insurance worth if its disputed?

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FrecklesMum

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How do you prove a horses insurance worth if its disputed? I have my horse insured for a resonable amount, which is more than i bought him for as i bought him as a project horse. Unfortunatley, it looks like i may have to make a loss of use claim on him and i am worried that the insurance company are going to say he is not worth what i have him insured for - hope that makes sense!

So, how do they decide and how can i prove that he is worth what i have insured him for?

Thanks
 
Competition record would be the main one surely?

Otherwise a written statement from a trainer?

That said when I upped my horses insurance value the company asked me there and then to justify it, so I would assume they wouldn't question it if I needed to claim.
 
Insurers like competition results, proof of winnings ie BSJA money and points or dressage points or professional valuations which sadly arent that easy to get.
 
your instructor/ yard owner/ vet etc (basically anyone in a professional position) can provide you with a statement on what they belive his value was at the time of the accident/injury.
 
as above, but my first arguement would be that the insurance company accepted the value of the horse and charged a premium accordingly, when you took out the policy.
 
They should pay you for the market value of the horse ie. what you have him insured for. My horse was in my opinion undervalued by £2-£3k so I increased his value by £2k by having a second vetting carried out on him. I also had to provide a statement from an instructor to say the horse was worth X amount. I didn't have a regular instructor so paid a random instructor for a half hours lesson saying that I only wished the lesson so she could judge what he was worth and she was happy to sign the statement of worth I had already made. I would hope that my insurance company would give me that for him if something should happen - I would have thought they would have a legal and moral obligation to pay what he is insured for otherwise what is the point in insuring an animal for that amount?
 
I recently doubled the value of Chancer, I bought him as a yearling and he is now 4 1/2 and has won a fair bit in hand and now under the saddle.

For my company I had to do a short statement indicating that he was now backed and schooled and a brief description of his recent show record.
 
Applecart - that is my feelings exactley! When I first bought the horse, I only insured him for what I had paid for him, but after several months of schooling him, etc I increased his value and added loss of use as i felt that he was now worth a lot more than i paid for him (as project horses generally are!).

When i rang and increased my premium, I was asked if the new purchase price was 'a realistic market value for the horse' to which I said yes and explained why. They then said thats fine and increased the value and my monthly premiums accordingley. Its just on reading my policy carefully last night, i noted it said 'insured value or market value, which ever is less', which made me panic slightley that they may well say his market vaule was less given the current economic climate, etc.

I think i can prob get the trainner to state what they thought his value was/is........Hopefully the insurance company will just pay up.
 
frecklesmum, I have done this several times for clients, your trainer has to write letter stating the level the horse is working at and its market value, with expensive horses I have also photo copied the list of what the horses have sold for at something like the Brightwells sale and also some German sales showing what the horses have sold for, some ads from H and H can also help if the description of the horse fits yours and its price is shown. One horse we got a valuation from a dealer who knew the market as well as the trainer.

I have been to court once on a dispute for which I had written a letter of valuation and my client won the insurance company had to pay out.
 
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as above, but my first arguement would be that the insurance company accepted the value of the horse and charged a premium accordingly, when you took out the policy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Doesn't work that way. It's in the policy wording. Luckily my farrier knew and believed Tiggy was worth more than she was insured for. I don't know how someone would value at the moment though with the current financial climate.
 
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