Insurance companies - best and worst

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TulipBlaze

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Hello,

I am currently going through a very difficult claim with the NFU for the loss of my previous horse, they are being systematically uncooperative and I would not recommend them to anybody.

I am a complete insurance newby, having never arranged my own before and would like recommendations for insurance companies who in your opinion have provided good service at a reasonable cost.

I now have a new horse, 15.2 8 year old mare for all round riding, hacking, showjumping and low level eventing. I would like the insurance to cover the following

Riding in the school with others
Kept on a livery yard
Hacking on roads
Showjumping
Low level eventing / Xc schooling
Transport in my own, and other peoples horseboxes / trailer
Attending Horse camp

I am a member of British Showjumping, and a BHS Gold member, and have some basic insurance through those.

Any general advice, and recommendations very much appreciated, thankyou!
 
Sorry to hear you are having difficulties after the loss of your horse.

Personally I would now never insure with anyone other than NFU, been with them years and never had an issue with claims and they come very highly recommended by a lot of people. E&L is one to be avoided, lot of people have awful problems with them, including two close friends.

Hope you get your claim sorted soon. x
 
I'm insured through NFU and have had two claims for lameness recently and I couldn't fault them. Also know others who have claimed with them and found them good.
My only complaint with them is that my premiums have gone up nearly £30 a month since claiming!
I'm sorry this hasn't been your experience of them!
Maybe try KBIS or PetPlan?
I think KBIS also offer up to £7500 for colic instead of the usual £5000 for vets fees.
I've no personal experience of claiming with either of these though.

As said by the poster above, Google reviews for E&L before thinking of using them!
 
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Several years ago saw a sign at vets practice that said "clients insured with e&l will be treated as uninsured" basically meaning, pay at time of treatment. Other insurance companies they were happy if you just paid the excess & would wait for claim to be processed. Think that says it all a out e&l.
 
Im sorry to hear you are having problems. I know someone else who lost their horse, she was insured with NFU and refused to insure her new horse, because her previous horse had died!

My mare is with KBIS, and unfortunatley i had a claim last year and another one this and cannot fault them. They paid the vets within a week of of getting the claim, they pay for her physio, again super quick payment and all they need is the receipts.

My mare has had an MRI and bone scan and they have paid for both of those, including hospitalisation. They have various levels of cover, and i don't find them too expensive. My mare has been insured with them since i have had her (3 1/2 years).

Hope that helps!
 
I've been with SEIB for a while with a couple of big claims including MRI at Newmarket and they've been brill to date.
 
Avoid E&L like the plague . . . they will do anything they can to avoid paying out . . . you may as well not be insured.

P
 
I've never had a problem with NFU, they even paid out on a LOU for me.

What problems are you having with them? Are you sure it's because they are being difficult or is it because you aren't covered for your claim and just don't really understand how horse insurance works?
 
I've always used Pet Plan except once when I used NFU as I wanted to insure for loss of use (which I needed as it turned out & I had only owned the horse a couple of months).
Have only had good experiences with both. Pet Plan in particular have been particularly good in paying out for my various claims on one horse.
I have a high £500 excess but this keeps the premiums pretty low.
 
I was looking at this also recently- The following points were what I discovered:

Avoid E&L

Although it seems like you've had a bad experience with NFU, the ones most people recommended were NFU, Pet plan, and KBIS.
 
I'm also going through a loss of horse claim with NFU and its taking ages! I phoned 2 weeks ago to find out what was going on and the lady on the phone was quite rude, granted the vets havent been that co operative either.
I have had several claims with South Essex who had been great, paid out 10k over 12months no issues,covered a bone scan, lots of xrays, nerve blocks and also eye surgery. I would definitely recommend them.
 
KBIS are excellent. My mare has been insured with them for 2 years and had a number of claims (including one in excess of £1000) with absolutely no problem at all.

They pay vets directly and quickly and send photocopies of the cheques so you can see that they have paid. Their staff are lovely on the phone too.

Also, their exclusions are sensible (i.e. resulting directly or indirectly from an incident, rather than excluding whole legs like some do!)

Would highly recommend.
 
I have had KBIs for my last two and had to claim for both, have to say they have been excellent, nothing to fault them on. They also were one of the most comprehensive policies I found for my 18 year old. Good luck with your claim, sorry to hear about it
 
You're the lucky one. Although they agreed my claim back in November they still haven't paid out and quoted a further 14 working days yesterday...when I asked for their MD's contact details and details of the Insurance Ombudsman this has suddenly reduced to three working days...it shouldn't be like this....
 
Petplan has always provided very expensive quotes for me in the past but I reinsured my boy last year and they were actually the most reasonable (with decent coverage too).
 
I was with petplan and they have paid out over £15k in total with no quibble.
Am now with Kbis for new horse as petplan was too expensive
 
I'm with four counties - they seem to be unable to provide me with any document detailing what I'm covered for - however I pop my forms in the post and payment comes quickly.
 
I had my first horse with NFU and had full pay out when she had to be PTS. No quibbles regarding the pay out. I think it took a few months for payment to come through but nothing major. When insuring my next horse the premiums almost doubled so I looked elsewhere and am currently ensured with Carriage House who paid out no problem when i've made a claim so can recommend them.

Only difference with these ones who are a lot cheaper than NFU/Petplan/KBIS is that the vet limit is probably lower. Mine is now £3k instead of £5k with NFU and there are some things they wont cover such as transportation (had to take mine to Edinburgh vet school from Aberdeen and got no reimbursment for diesel costs/hire of transport) and i think hospitalisation wasnt covered or could have only been 50% I cant quite remember. So the cover isnt as good which is why premiums are lower.
 
Having just had a large claim paid without question within week by CarriageHouse insurance I would recommend them highly. Other horse is with NFU and I have had claims with them in the past but this was the easiest claim I have ever made too!
 
Echo others - avoid E&L - may as well flush your money down the loo.

Best ones I have come across are AIMS and Petplan. Never had a problem with either of them. Personally, I would avoid SEIB as one of my liveries has had loads of trouble with them.
 
Another vote for Petplan - they have been absolutely wonderful over the past year with all my mares problems and I'm so grateful for it, they paid so much quicker than I expected too and have been nothing but helpful over the phone. Will definitely be sticking with them!
As others have said, I wouldn't touch E&L after hearing noting but horror stories.
 
I would recommend Shearwater. Have an 18 year old loan horse who had a £7.5k horse walker accident last year. They paid out the £5k per incident with no problem and re-insured him this year with just the expected exclusion and no huge increase in premium. They are lovely to deal with on the phone too.
 
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