Insurance – Mortality Claim Equine Metabolic Syndrome

[Hanno Verian]

I’ve just had my 6yr old ID PTS following Laminitis as a consequence of Equine Metabolic Syndrome, this came on very suddenly with a fit horse suddenly becoming foot sore on Christmas Eve then increasingly lame, he was diagnosed on the day after Boxing Day with EMS and treated accordingly. After a month’s treatment including remedial shoeing he suddenly took a turn for the worse and was PTS in the first week of Feb. My vet showed me the X Rays and the pedal bones had rotated and were about to come through his feet, in her opinion it was a very straight forward case.

Fortunately he was fully insured with Full Loss of Use underwritten by KBIS, who were very good and dealt with it very professionally, he was insured for £8K and I received a settlement in full in the form of a cheque for £6.5K, the £1.5K missing reflecting the balance of my insurance policy (I pay by direct debit monthly). I was a little aggrieved that this is in effect a lottery, I’ve insured him with them for four years, I had renewed my policy on Dec 10th and paid two months’ worth of payments but only in effect insured him for two months, but had to pay for the full twelve months. Whereas had my claim been made in November I would not have had to pay any extra and received the full £8K.

I must admit I was a little irritated about this and wondered if this was standard policy across the equine insurance industry and if people were aware of this. It seems the moral of the story is if you intend to be able to buy a similar horse then you need to up the insurance value to around £2K above the market value. I just wondered what people’s thoughts were about this and their experience with other insurance companies before I insure my new horse.

 

[Louby]

Sorry to hear about your horse. Im in a similar situation myself, but for vets fees and my horse has recently gone to a new home with a friend. I pay monthly too and have until November for my renewal, so really need to ring them to say I no longer have my horse but I am guessing they are going to want the balance of the premium paid before they will cancel the policy. I think its pretty standard tbh but will be interested to see your replies as I really dont look forward to having to pay the remainder of my premium when I havent even got the horse anymore.

 

[Shay]

Most insurance premiums paid monthly are in fact a short term loan of the full amount which is then repaid across the term - that is why they charge interest on it. They even show up on some types of credit reference as a loan - although I don't think you need a credit check to pay monthly. I don't know why you should have to pay for 12 months insurance when you only need a shorter period - but that is the way in industry has always been. We switched to always paying for the full period up front and save on average £50 per policy which adds up over 2 cars, house, contents, holiday, horse etc. But you do have that one year when you have to find all that up front!