Insurance value

rachk89

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Sorry saw a thread by someone else and didn't want to hijack it but seemed like something to think about for my horse too.

Obviously since he's had kissing spine surgery and surgery on both stifles, diagnosed with chondromalacia, he's worth about ****** all now. Doesn't bother me but he's valued currently at his bought for price of £3000. I'd question someone's sanity if they bought him for that now. :p

Can I lower it to say £1000? I can't claim on any of his issues any more as maxed both claims, and he's pretty much only insured for his head and one leg now. I was thinking of just going for the catastrophe cover by kbis to be honest, to cover basic injuries, colic etc. And of course make sure he's covered for being pts etc. Loss of use I'm not that bothered about, I'm aware he could need to be retired in anything between 1 year or 20. That just depends on how his joints cope with the medication.
 

be positive

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There is little point in keeping him insured for £3k as he is not worth that and any payout is for insured value/ market value, the lower one will be what you get in event of his death, there certainly is no point in having LOU on a horse that has no real job, which yours doesn't really, because it is so hard to get even with a horse that was in full work, so cut back to the bare minimum to cover the more serious vets bills that may come in, although it may be better to stop insuring and save the money with a horse that has numerous exclusions that you probably wouldn't put through colic surgery or anything requiring long term box rest.
 

rachk89

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Yeah I was thinking of just stopping it too. I have a credit card for emergencies for him, and for the most part I've just paid vet bills myself other than the big ones. Not sure he's even insured for the remaining leg now either.
 

spookypony

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I personally would stop the insurance, due to the exclusions if nothing else. I have four animals under my care (was 5); 3 horses and one (2, previously) cat. I stopped insuring once I moved beyond one horse, and once that horse moved to a competition category beyond the basic, because the total premiums exceeded what I figured one serious emergency would cost. 3 years ago, I was hit with TWO serious cat emergencies in ONE week, leaving me with nearly £3000 in bills. This was STILL CHEAPER than paying premiums for 2 years for 5 animals, even on "cheapo pony worth less than £1500" insurance rates. It really hurt my credit card at the beginning (Obnoxious urban out-of-hours vet wanted £140 before even looking at the cat out of hours, and a total of £700 for looking at him, bandaging his tail, and telling me that I needed to get it amputated by the regular vet the next day, which operation cost only £400. Major surgery, with blood transfusions, 2 vets, 2 nurses, and all, on the other cat 2 days later was £1600, with the obnoxious urban out-of-hours vet then charging another £400 to change saline drips and observe the cat overnight. Highway robbery! And then there was continued treatment and eventual euthanasia for the serious surgery cat, two months later. Not a fan of obnoxious urban out-of-hours vet; my horse vet charges a fraction of that for OOH call-outs and treatment), but with a payment plan with the (normal, non-obnoxious) vet, it was by far more sensible than insurance would have been, at that point.

My point is that you need to do the maths: how expensive are premiums? How likely do you think an event is, that would exceed the excess/deductible, assuming it's not excluded anyway? And how well would you be able to cope with any single expensive event?

For me, colic surgery would be fairly catastrophic. Lameness scans etc. can be absorbed, with some pain. So it's a risk assessment.
 

Red-1

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When my last horse became "valueless" I quit insuring at all. I would have paid for a wound to be stitched, routine care and all his expenses, but he would no longer have had protracted investigations or a colic operation. The smaller bills I could have paid myself.


I just had 3rd party cover from the BHS.
 

rachk89

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Ah yeah 3rd party cover is that included in the gold membership or do I have to get it separately? Think that's all I'd need really, I treat most cuts myself unless they need stitches. Thankfully though he is less of a hooligan now in the field and doesn't lead the other horses out of the fields anymore. Still need the cover though just in case.
 

Shay

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You do need to keep third party liability - it is included in BHS gold. Or you can get it by making regular donations to World Horse Welfare - or from the Harry hall one club. (Although watch the cover amounts on anything other than BHS Gold they could be too low.) Otherwise - insurance is basically a gamble against the house. You gamble your horse will get sick. They gamble it won't. And like any gambling - the odds are stacked in the house's favour!
 

rachk89

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Ah cool. I'll get rid of the insurance soon then. Waiting until the vet checks him again as she wasn't happy with his front right leg, but I was counting on the issue there being to do with his hoof being shorter than the left. He isn't moving it shorter than the left anymore, so even if it was muscular he seems OK now. She wants to do nerve blocks and xrays on the leg, so keeping insurance if I do need them, just hoping I won't.
 
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