Insurance renewal mid claim what happens?

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cre8tivekid

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(also posted in veterinary)

I was wondering if anyone has any experience of this?

My horse has been undergoing treatment from the vet, initially lameness in the forelimb - which was put down to poor foot balance. Subsequently it became evident that he was sufferering from arthritis in both hocks which has now been treated with steriod injections (to little effect).

My insurance is due for renewal in January and I have recently received a letter from the insurance company asking for an update from the vet before they will pay any more bills on the claim.

At the moment he is insured for competition and also loss of use. I have only got him insured for £4000 as that was expensive enough.... he was worth as lot more. Currently he is worth nothing!

Ultimately I can see this going towards a loss of use claim but having never claimed for treatment before let alone made a claim for loss of use I was wondering how this works and what it means come January when my policy is due for renewal.

I am reluctant to ask the insurance company for this advice as I don't want them to know the prognosis. My vet has been quite vague with them so far and is going to update that his treatment involves as gradual return to work which has been difficult given the poor weather.

Anyone got any experience that they can share?

Thanks
 
From past experience I found the following -

If you change companies then of course they will not insure for the ongoing problem so you have to stay with the present company.
You may find your premium increases but there is not much you can do about that.

You are usually insured for one year dating from the first day you noticed the injury/called the vet. This will continue through the renewal process and will terminate on the exact date of one year from initial injury/problem. The amount of money will be the same ie. 4,000 pounds for the loss of your horse. Or LOU will still be possible if it was covered previously. The vets fees covered will be the amount insured at the start of the first year (usually around the 5 grand mark IME). After the "one year" date you will have an exclusion for the ongoing problem but should still be insured for everything else. It is usual for your vet to be asked for a prognosis. The trick is to "spend" the 5 thousand before the year is up if investigation or expensive treatment is needed.

If you are insured with a reputable company you should not IME have a problem. I hope this helps. It is just what has happened in the past for me. It is worth asking them - you do not need to give too much information away.
 
Sorry to hear about the ongoing problems with your horse, but from an insurance perspective you will be fine as the event happened while you were insured.

My mare went down with cushings related laminitis the day before my policy was due for renewal! The vet came that day and therefore I had advised the insurance company before the renewal date and so was covered. They have subsequently paid out over £2000.

So basically you are covered as long as a problem starts within the life of the policy. Technically you could even move to another insurance company for the renewal and the old one would have to ccontinue paying out on your claim, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it!
 
I have had a years treatment for recurrent airways (pollen allergy) and then went onto make a claim for LOU. I made this claim a few months after the year of treatment ran out. It has been approved and we are waiting for my instructor to write a letter about Winston's value. I think I remember you had a year from finish of treatment cover to make a LOU claim.

My company is NFU.

Good luck - I hope it does not come to LOU!
 
Thanks for your thoughts on this, it sounds like they will cover for the status of the horse as insured at the time, and that as suspected they will put my premium up at renewal :-( but potentially I could downgrade the use class without affecting the existing claim which might help cut down on the amount I am paying out to insure a horse that I am not able to do anything with.

I am sure that there will be some kind of exclusion in the pipeline so I guess I need to get all the treatment done asap. Problem is that if the treatment is only a temporary fix - this will mean that LOU is excluded for the hocks in future years?? Best get the renewal through and then start asking questions.
 
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