nicknack
Well-Known Member
Just quick cautionary note in view of the recent posts.... you can have the benefit of some of the lessons I've learned this year!
During the first six months of my loan, the horse was covered under the owner's existing policy with a certain unpopular company who will remain nameless
On expiry of the policy, I was to take out a policy. Our loan agreement sets everything out in very fine detail.
We had a fairly large claim for vets fees in the first month which the insurers tried to wriggle out of for 9 months (and in fact the cheque still hasn't been received).
My lessons learned are:-
<ul type="square"> The owner should have confirmed to the insurers that the horse was on loan in writing (because they denied receiving the phone call advising them of the loan).
Because the policy was not in my name I couldn't chase the insurers personally and since I'd paid over £700 on local vets fees and other costs I was quite anxious to see a resolution!
If the policy is in someone elses' name, then check the fine print of the policy very carefully so you know what you can expect to recover. Some of the expenditure wasn't covered by the policy (over £500 worth, such as hospital fees and emergency transportation to the hospital).
To be very cynical - if the policy is in the owner's name, then you are always having to take it on trust that there is a policy in force. Someone less than fair could cancel their policy which would leave you exposed for vets fees, etc (I hasten to add that my owner would never do such a thing).
Make sure the insurers have been notified of anything that might affect the policy. I'm not going to be too explicit on here, but my loan fellow has had a surgical procedure carried out in the past and I found out a few months ago that the insurers hadn't been notified. This could have voided the claim subsequently made. To be fair, the owners hadn't realised they had to declare this procedure, but it could be described quite casually in a vet's report and left me completely exposed for the vets fees.
[/list]
Should we have to make a LOU claim, then I would expect to reimburse my owner for the value of her horse.
Sorry for the length of this post, but loans can be a minefield anyway even before you add the complications of insurance, so I hope there might be something useful here for someone.
During the first six months of my loan, the horse was covered under the owner's existing policy with a certain unpopular company who will remain nameless
We had a fairly large claim for vets fees in the first month which the insurers tried to wriggle out of for 9 months (and in fact the cheque still hasn't been received).
My lessons learned are:-
<ul type="square"> The owner should have confirmed to the insurers that the horse was on loan in writing (because they denied receiving the phone call advising them of the loan).
Because the policy was not in my name I couldn't chase the insurers personally and since I'd paid over £700 on local vets fees and other costs I was quite anxious to see a resolution!
If the policy is in someone elses' name, then check the fine print of the policy very carefully so you know what you can expect to recover. Some of the expenditure wasn't covered by the policy (over £500 worth, such as hospital fees and emergency transportation to the hospital).
To be very cynical - if the policy is in the owner's name, then you are always having to take it on trust that there is a policy in force. Someone less than fair could cancel their policy which would leave you exposed for vets fees, etc (I hasten to add that my owner would never do such a thing).
Make sure the insurers have been notified of anything that might affect the policy. I'm not going to be too explicit on here, but my loan fellow has had a surgical procedure carried out in the past and I found out a few months ago that the insurers hadn't been notified. This could have voided the claim subsequently made. To be fair, the owners hadn't realised they had to declare this procedure, but it could be described quite casually in a vet's report and left me completely exposed for the vets fees.
[/list]
Should we have to make a LOU claim, then I would expect to reimburse my owner for the value of her horse.
Sorry for the length of this post, but loans can be a minefield anyway even before you add the complications of insurance, so I hope there might be something useful here for someone.
