Insurance - loss of animal. How does it work?

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Christmas Crumpet

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I am about to start ringing round to get quotes for my new horse and want to insure for vets fees and loss of animal as I've always done.

What I don't understand is that if you pay the money and insure for a certain amount i.e. horse worth £4k, how is it that the insurance companies do not necessarily give you £4k if the animal dies?

Surely if you've been paying the premiums that the insurance company worked out you need to pay for a £4k horse are they allowed to not give you £4k when said horse dies?

Just something I've been thinking about recently!!
 
Ok, firstly you need to realise that the Mortality cover is only paid out under certain circumstances. If your horse broke it's leg and had to be shot, they would pay out the £4k. If the horse went lame and you couldn't ride it and YOU decided to have it pts, they would not pay out. My own horse had a sudden onset of ataxia - ie she couldn't walk properly, she was in danger of falling over. The vet said I should have her pts. I agreed and the insurance co paid out the mortality claim.

If your horse dies of old age, they won't pay out the mortality claim. It is not insurance for the day the horse dies of natural causes, or because you decide to have it pts. It is insurance for death by accident or if the vet feels it is humane to have the horse pts because of extreme illness.
 
Hello, my youngster was PTS earlier in the year, but I got back exactly what I had him insured for so I never lost anything, as there was no option other than for him to be PTS after an operation (reaction to anaesthetic that left him totally paralysed). I think if you choose to have them PTS when they dont necessarily have to be (like BigRed mentions above) then I think they wont necessarily pay out.

When i asked my insurance company about it they said they look at the current market value and what you have your horse insured for, but I havent heard of anyone not getting back what they had their horses insured for in the first place.

Hope that helps a bit :)
 
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NFU didn't do any of that when they paid my claim. My horse was 16, she had been insured for 10years for the same value and they just paid it out.
 
I don't insure for LOU or Death.
You have probibily all heard this but last mare was vetted as fit for purpose (general riding, hacking, dressage, schooling, XC, SJ etc).
She went lame, stiff behind. It was a slipped disk in her back. Insurance wouldn't even pay out for LOU despite 2 vets ringing them and us having the origional vetting cert. :( Too much hassle. forfitted the money and had the poor thing PTS.
 
Basically, you should only insure your horse for his value, either what he cost you or his realistic worth to you (bearing in mind premiums will rise accordingly and if over £5000 will require a full vetting) at the same time remember that the company will only pay out his market value so if you value him too highly, that's completely your own fault and you're wasting your premium.
I've never had any trouble having the full pay out but I do price realistically in the first place.

Don't forget, car companies only pay out on market value too so even if your car is insured for more, they won't pay it out.

Be totally realistic with your valuations and then you shouldn't have any trouble at all IME.
 
Damnation said:
I don't insure for LOU or Death.
.
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Isn't death always inclusive in a policy? Usually it says death by accident, illness or disease, all mine do; doesn't seem much point to a policy if you're not claiming if it dies. :confused:
I would never do LOU, (that seems to be a waste of time and money)
If you only want a policy for vet cover then insure for only about £500.
 
I've always insured for vets fees and loss of animal - I hunt and am well aware of the risks of hunting horses so like to be insured in case something dreadful does happen and horse needs to be PTS.

I believe I've paid a fair price for the horse I've just bought so am intending to insure her for that figure. I'd like to believe that if she had to PTS or died suddenly, that I'd get that money back. Otherwise I wouldn't insure her for Loss of Animal.

I seem to recall a few posts on here where people have said they weren't given back the full amount they had insured for when their horse had died or PTS.

By the sounds of it, if you insure your horse for the right price, you will get your money back which is good!!
 
The wording is normally "sum insured or market value whichever is lower" so they will pay out the value that you have insured your horse for unless they believe that you have overvalued it in which case they will pay the market value.

So if you said your horse was worth £10k but it was only really worth £5k they would only pay out £5k. Likewise if you insure your horse for £5k but it is actually worth £10k they will only pay out £5k.

This is most likely to be an issue if you buy your horse for £10k, insure it for £10k then claim for say headshaking, then the horse needs to be PTS for a broken leg. The insurers will know that a £10k horse will not still be worth £10k once it is diagnosed as a headshaker so they will reduce what they pay. Realistically insurers are not going to investigate value unless something doesn't ring true as it would be expensive and time consuming to look into every single claim.
 
I am currently nearly at the end of a LOU claim, I don't think I'd bother insuring for LOU again, unless the horse was very valuable.

My boy was diagnosed with kissing spine about 15 months ago, my vet was not hopeful for a posiive outcome after surgery and reccomended that I we pursue a LOU claim, the insurnace company refused and said that under BEVA guidelines if there was a treatment available he had to have it.
So he had the surery, which despite months of rehab didn't work, I had to have him PTS last month. The insurance comapny decided he had a residual value as a companion ( a 9 year old 16.2hh, poor doer TB, who because of his pain was dangerous to handle go figure!!) so took that off my final amount.

8 months after I first submitted my claim, I'm still waiting.....

One of my others is insured for LOU but I wouldn't bother again, at a time when your are extremely emotional anyway, to have to battle an insurance company is not needed, just my opinion obviously.
 
What everyone else said basically! Usually an insurance company will pay out the sum insured but there are occasions where they may question it or indeed state the horse is not in fact worth what you have down as its sum insured. This is more likely to happen in cases where the sum insured is higher so really it is your responsibility to keep a check on what you have you horse insured for. For instance, your horse could well have been worth a lot when it was younger and competing maybe at a certain level but 10 years down the line it may not be doing the same and you have to think insurance wise on what (realistically) you would get if you were to sell the horse NOT what it would cost you to buy the same horse again (ie as the younger model) If you get what i mean?!

As far as LOU is concerned, it can seem like a huge waste of money and great expense but does often come in handy and, like anything, it's only whem something happens and you realise LOU would have covered the circumstances that you wish you had it! Also LOU would cover the scenarios of a horse being long term injured and you electing to have the horse PTS because it could no longer be used for the purpose it was insured for. You wouldn't need to comply with BEVA guidelines as in the vet wouldn't have to state the horse needed to be PTS. Obviously the vet would have to state the horse was no longer able to be used for the same capacity it could before and there would have to be something physically wrong (otherwise unscrupulous people would be insuring horse for high values having horses PTS left right and centre claiming 'Loss of Use'!)

Personally I don't insure for LOU but then i don't have particularly valuable horses and if myine could only be a field ornament then so be it - i wouldn't be concerned about having to 'cash in' the insurance on it to get a replacement!
 
Maesfen said:
Isn't death always inclusive in a policy? Usually it says death by accident, illness or disease, all mine do; doesn't seem much point to a policy if you're not claiming if it dies. :confused:
I would never do LOU, (that seems to be a waste of time and money)
If you only want a policy for vet cover then insure for only about £500.
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I thought death was normal on the policy and then vet fees additional too.

LOU cover can be tricky. I work in equine insurance and more often than not the LOU claims are a bit awkward. You have the general horse insured for riding, has a crippling injury and now can't be ridden therefore you will get a LOU payout. The awkward ones are if there is possible treatment etc, the insurance company won't instantly payout. They normally want to leave it a period of time to ensure the horse will not actually recover. Example of a spinal injury. If it happens then a month later you try and claim LOU, the company may wish to leave it a year to make sure the horse is still LOU before paying.

Plus, most companies will refer things to an independant vet so they really go by what that vet says - they don't make it up as they go along.
 
Maesfen said:
Isn't death always inclusive in a policy? Usually it says death by accident, illness or disease, all mine do; doesn't seem much point to a policy if you're not claiming if it dies. :confused:
I would never do LOU, (that seems to be a waste of time and money)
If you only want a policy for vet cover then insure for only about £500.
Click to expand...

All policies are mortality policies, which means they cover the death of the animal first and foremost. Vet fees, LOU etc, are additional cover for which the insured will pay an additional premium.

Mortality cover can be for all risks of mortality (ARM), or for accidental/external injuries only, or for specified perils only (eg lightning strike, objects falling from aicraft :confused:).
 
Maesfen said:
Isn't death always inclusive in a policy? Usually it says death by accident, illness or disease, all mine do; doesn't seem much point to a policy if you're not claiming if it dies. :confused:
I would never do LOU, (that seems to be a waste of time and money)
If you only want a policy for vet cover then insure for only about £500.
Click to expand...

She may well be, I am not sure but she is covered 3rd party, vets bills, and for local shows.
They wanted me to travel my mare 3hrs for further investigations before paying anything out, despite 2 vets agreeing the mare shouldn't be moved and that she had been in low grade pain for years. They were willing to write a full report and I was willing to have a scintograph done (only 20mins away) but the insurance company would not pay out full stop. So I forefitted the money and had her PTS. As I said wouldn't even pay out for LOU despite never being able to do more then a 20min hack and she was 5 stage vetted as fit to do anything when I bought her.
Never had a claim before, insured her with the same people for 3 years. They wouldn't even cover for her disposal.
 
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