Insurance claim - is this normal?

[Neddie123]

I have made a claim (for the first time in my life) and just want to find out if this is normal......

My policy is with SEIB and they have written to tell me that they have accepted my claim of £800.

BUT they are deducting the cost of the remaining years policy which I pay by direct debit (700 odd, roughly 80 per month) as well as the excess. So essentially there is nothing that they will pay out.

I am regretting choosing SEIB but not sure if this is the same across insurance policies? Advice/shared experiences much appreciated

 

[Melody Grey]

I’ve had multiple claims over the years with E&L and that’s never happened. Never been insured with SEIB though so can’t comment on their normal policy.

 

[bouncing_ball]

I have made a claim (for the first time in my life) and just want to find out if this is normal......

My policy is with SEIB and they have written to tell me that they have accepted my claim of £800.

BUT they are deducting the cost of the remaining years policy which I pay by direct debit (700 odd, roughly 80 per month) as well as the excess. So essentially there is nothing that they will pay out.

I am regretting choosing SEIB but not sure if this is the same across insurance policies? Advice/shared experiences much appreciated

that doesn’t sound legal.
Can you copy the full wording out?
Do you want the policy to continue?

 

[criso]

I was insured with SEIB and made a claim but I paid upfront for the year.

Does this mean that they have just taken the premiums upfront rather than monthly so you are not worse off overall but you have had to pay the premiums now in one lump rather than spreading them over the rest of the year?

Some not all policies let you cancel part way through the year and get a refund or partial refund of the unused months. However you can only do this if you have not made a claim during that insurance year.

 

[Lady Jane]

If you are paying monthly it makes sense. If you have paid for the year it sounds wrong?

 

[EllenJay]

Sounds right to me - otherwise there is a likelihood that you will take the payout and then not pay the rest of the years instalments. You will still be covered for the rest of the year - pretty standard credit agreement

 

[milliepops]

I pay my policies direct debit (I'm with kbis) and that's never happened on my claims ?

 

[Squeak]

I only have experience with my dogs insurance that I pay monthly and they've always paid the bill in full.

 

[ihatework]

I’ve never come across that on a monthly direct debit basis

 

[AmyMay]

Never happened to me when I was with NFU.

 

[Fred66]

Sounds right to me - otherwise there is a likelihood that you will take the payout and then not pay the rest of the years instalments. You will still be covered for the rest of the year - pretty standard credit agreement

It depends what the right to cancel is, normally you are able to cancel insurance and woul be entitled to a refund for any unused portion but you need to check your policy

 

[bouncing_ball]

I was insured with SEIB and made a claim but I paid upfront for the year.

Does this mean that they have just taken the premiums upfront rather than monthly so you are not worse off overall but you have had to pay the premiums now in one lump rather than spreading them over the rest of the year?

Some not all policies let you cancel part way through the year and get a refund or partial refund of the unused months. However you can only do this if you have not made a claim during that insurance year.

I had the bizarre situation where I had a loan horse on trial. He had a pre-loan two stage vetting to get insurance for loan (from field).

He didn’t pass trial as went seriously lame after 18 days light work. Unprovable whether new / preexisting as was 12 year old hunter that was turned away. Never been insured before, was unvaccinated, and with lost passport (replaced eventually when I took him on).

I claimed on insurance and he had vet investigation and MRI. I also gave notice on loan trial (30 days notice).

I was paying insurance monthly. Insurance paid out for investigation, MRI and PRP (which was most of £5k), wouldn’t continue cover once he returned to owner. Said if I was neither owner / carer or loaner, I couldn’t continue the insurance.

So to my amazement I only paid 3 months premium, despite claiming.

Not that there was anything good in the experience.

But clearly some pay monthly policies let you claim and cancel!

 

[Sussexbythesea]

What’s the claim for? Is it vets fees or disposal?

 

[dixie]

I’ve always paid monthly and have had multiple claims over the years and this has never happened to me. This was with NFU and Pet Plan.
with NFU they paid out for loss of use and cancelled the policy. They actually refunded the premiums pro rata too. I was a bit surprised because I had only paid about 4 months premiums when the claim when in.

 

[dixie]

Re-reading your postI suppose your horse is still covered for future claims and that they have merely now asked for the full premium in one go rather than monthly. I could see why they would do this to be fair.

 

[Follysmum]

This was the same when I lost my youngster with south Essex. I paid monthly and he died one month into the policy. Unfortunately by the time I paid for cremation I ended up with nothing. I self Insure now.

 

[teddypops]

I’ve never had that with petplan and I pay by monthly direct debit. It seems strange if your agreement is to pay monthly, but it’s probably in the small print somewhere that that’s what they do.

 

[catembi]

This is what happened when my dog was PTS. They deducted all the (monthly) premiums for the rest of the year from the claim & I ended up with nothing. I sent the whole mess to one of the pricing actuaries from work & he said that it was a fairly standard T&C for monthly policies.

 

[Millie-Rose]

Hmm also with SeIb, they said they might do this when I needed to claim about 2 months into the policy. I was concerned that they would also want all the premiums for foals mother too as foal was an add on to mares policy in which case it wasn't worth claiming and may as well pay vet direct. They said it would only be foals premiums they would want and in the end didn't take those we just continued insurance as normal. I had been a claim free customer with my other horse for some years though so don't know if that had a bearing vs a new customer.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I'm a new customer with SEIB and had a claim about 6 months into the policy. They just settled the claim and didn't say anything about taking payment for the rest of the year. I pay monthly.

 

[Britestar]

Have you cancelled the policy?

 

[Lipglosspukka]

I could understand it if the horse was dead and therefore you were cancelling the policy. It's quite often the case that if you have made a claim then you are liable to pay the full years insurance.

If the horse is still alive then I wonder if they have concerns about you continuing to pay? Have you missed payments before or have poor credit rating? I wonder if they consider you a flight risk and are insisting on deducting the full premium as a precaution.

 

[ycbm]

There's a difference between a monthly policy and an annual policy paid monthly. I think the former is usually more expensive.

If it's an annual policy paid monthly then I think it's fairly normal terms and conditions to take the rest of the year's premiums out of the payout so that you don't just stop paying for the policy before you've paid the year's fees that collectively finance a year's claims.
.

 

[maya2008]

Not usual with NFU.

 

[spotty_pony]

Not something I have ever experienced with NFU and I pay monthly. Cannot fault them tbh.

 

[criso]

When I have paid monthly with some insurers, the agreement for monthly payments is with a finance company. It tends to be a more expensive than paying upfront.

 

[chaps89]

Ultimately they set the terms of their policy and can handle claims and charge as they see fit.

I used to work for a different equine insurer and whether a policy was paid for annually or monthly, cover was given up to the end point of the payment period.
So if a policy was paid for in full cover was given up until the renewal date, and if it was cancelled part way through, a pro-rata'd refund would be made.
Similarly if they were paying monthly and cancelled mid-way then no future payments would be taken (apart from maybe a partial one to cover them up to the cancellation date if they'd been paying in arrears) claims didn't have an impact on how/when the policy should be paid, if it was paid for, the cover was available to be claimed on (within the t's&c's and limits of course).

SEIB must have it within their terms that the policy has to be paid for in full if claims are made.
It's not great customer service but it's their prerogative. To be fair, unless the horse dies presumably you're going to continue with the cover anyway, at least until renewal so it probably doesn't make much difference. Just then set aside what you would have paid in premiums to make up what you 'lost' in the claim not having so much paid out on.
Fwiw, I claimed with them last year and when they said about taking the remaining premium from the claim amount I just asked if they couldn't and I continue to pay monthly and they were happy with that but did have to make me aware that if I did cancel before the policy expired at renewal, because I'd made a claim I would need to pay the remaining balance.

 

[ClippClopp]

I have made a claim (for the first time in my life) and just want to find out if this is normal......

My policy is with SEIB and they have written to tell me that they have accepted my claim of £800.

BUT they are deducting the cost of the remaining years policy which I pay by direct debit (700 odd, roughly 80 per month) as well as the excess. So essentially there is nothing that they will pay out.

I am regretting choosing SEIB but not sure if this is the same across insurance policies? Advice/shared experiences much appreciated

I’m insured with SEIB and have made a few claims this year, I pay monthly and they haven’t done this. It’s been wild dealing with them though, they’ve done random things like pay the wrong amount. I’d call them if I were you as they are usually helpful on the phone.

 

[saddlesore]

I have never come across this before! Is it a new policy you’ve taken out?

 

[Abi90]

Never come across this either and I have made a few claims!