Insurance (again)!!!

[frazzled]

We are covered for 3rd party liability by being members of PC, BE and BD. When insuring for vets fees we would be covered upto £5000 pa. Having looked at the sums it seems more sense to put money aside regularly to absorb any vets fees rather than pay high premiums we have been quoted starting with £5000 in an account. (hopefully earning interest) to cover any initial costs. Self insuring I suppose. Has anyone else approached insurance in that way and how has it worked out?

 

[EventingMum]

I've heard of a lot of people who do this sucessfully but personally haven't. I currently have two horses with ongoing treatment at vet hospital, one having two unrelalted conditions and also had another one treated there earlier this year so potentially had up to £20,000 of insurance cover between the three of them. Although it's unusual to have a run of bad luck like this I am glad the insurance is in placed and I have only had to pay out £560 for the excesses.

 

[dixie]

Again I've heard of many people doing this and it rather depends on your luck and willpower not to spend your savings.

I had one horse for 8 yrs, not a single days claim at around £400 per year, so costing me £3,200. However, he broke his leg (sadly) and I was able to get back his insured value - which annoyingly I had dropped to £3k to save on premiums.

My other horse has a high excess and premiums are again around £400pa mark. However, I've had about 5 claims on him, two of which reached the limit and the other two pretty close. All paid out without a fuss.

There is also the compromise on vets visits. For instance I would never had got my horse scoped without the vets cover. He wasn't really showing signs of ulcers but I had a nagging feeling. However, he had grade 3 and 4 ulcers. I think without vet fees covered on this type of thing I would have let things lie.

Its down to personal choice and whether you have enought funds to cover every eventuality.

What do you call high premiums? Is there anyway this can be reduced by high excess, dropping value of horse etc.