insurance

[Boughtabay]

My insurance has gone up to £92 a month for one horse this year and I’m considering alternatives. He is insured for loss of use as I didn’t have that for my thoroughbred and she’s now a field ornament BUT I’m considering the pros & cons of:
1. Keeping him insured without loss of use
2. Keeping both but reducing his value with the insurer
3. Getting rid of insurance and taking out a 0% credit card in the event of an injury or illness, not sure how this option would work practically though.
4. I could open a savings account and put what I would have spent on insurance in there but that’s not likely to build up to a useful amount anytime soon…

thoughts? Particularly interested in experiences of option 3 or similar

 

[AntiPuck]

Part of this is dependent on you and your risk tolerance, really.

Mine recently shot up to £140, but on going through it I realised the horse was over-insured activity-wise, and I was able to call up and reduce the value insured and increase the excess to get it down to around £90 per month - worth trying to see what impact it has on your premium.

 

[Patterdale]

I use option 3 for vets fees and have them insured for death only. But last month I cancelled even that as it was nearly £90 for everyone.
Vets fees wise, I am very anti-intervention. I would just turn away for most issues, so it’s pointless me having it really.

 

[Clodagh]

Dogs not horses but I cancelled all of mine. It was costing a fortune. Insurance is a profit making exercise, but you do need to feel confident you have alternative ways to raise money if you suddenly get something expensive happen.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

My insurance has gone up to £92 a month for one horse this year and I’m considering alternatives. He is insured for loss of use as I didn’t have that for my thoroughbred and she’s now a field ornament BUT I’m considering the pros & cons of:
1. Keeping him insured without loss of use
2. Keeping both but reducing his value with the insurer
3. Getting rid of insurance and taking out a 0% credit card in the event of an injury or illness, not sure how this option would work practically though.
4. I could open a savings account and put what I would have spent on insurance in there but that’s not likely to build up to a useful amount anytime soon…

thoughts? Particularly interested in experiences of option 3 or similar

wow



My horsebox is £ 42 a month
car is £ 32 a month
and horse is £ 34 a month

 

[Love]

I gather most insurers will pay out either sum insured or market value, whichever is less. Is he insured for a lot more than his current market value? You might find that if, God forbid, the worst was to happen you would only get his market value back anyway despite being insured for more. Some of the better insurers though may not even check market value and just pay sum insured so a bit of a gamble really. I know in my experience LOU adds a hefty amount to the premium

 

[Boughtabay]

I gather most insurers will pay out either sum insured or market value, whichever is less. Is he insured for a lot more than his current market value? You might find that if, God forbid, the worst was to happen you would only get his market value back anyway despite being insured for more. Some of the better insurers though may not even check market value and just pay sum insured so a bit of a gamble really. I know in my experience LOU adds a hefty amount to the premium

He’s insured for what he was worth before breaking in, I’m not really sure what he’d be worth now he’s riding away

 

[Boughtabay]

wow



My horsebox is £ 42 a month
car is £ 32 a month
and horse is £ 34 a month

Yes I thought it was quite steep - £72 a month last year included loss of use, vet bills and payout on death it’s gone up a lot!

 

[Boughtabay]

I use option 3 for vets fees and have them insured for death only. But last month I cancelled even that as it was nearly £90 for everyone.
Vets fees wise, I am very anti-intervention. I would just turn away for most issues, so it’s pointless me having it really.

yes I don’t usually choose invasive treatments. However, the insurance did allow for my thoroughbred to be MRI’d to investigate her navicular which I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise & was quite useful to know what was going on, but probably didn’t change the course of action much.

 

[Zoeypxo]

have a look at KBIS catastrophe insurance
I pay £40 a month it includes things like colic , open wounds , septic infections etc and death and straying . I think you can add loss of use too although i have not

 

[ponynutz]

Idk I think almost £100 a month into savings would build up reasonably quickly, youre talking £1200 a year

 

[Boughtabay]

Idk I think almost £100 a month into savings would build up reasonably quickly, youre talking £1200 a year

yes, but not much use if he colics next week or even within that first 12/24 months

 

[nagblagger]

None of mine are insured, i have public liability through the BHS.

I would decide what i would want to put my horse through and assess it that way, eg if horse was young and fit and I would want to investigate everything i would insure, if not I would just save and just do the basic investigations and then make an informed decision on what was best for the animal at that time.
Depends on ones personal circumstances and finances.

 

[lannerch]

That doesn’t sound expensive to me, especially if it includes Lou my dog insurance admittedly it’s cover for life and he’s 9 is £75 a month, and he’s had a big claim, but it was nearly that much before the claim.

When I got my horse as a 2yo quotes from the higher reputation horse insurers were over £90 a month just to I keep her in a field. I didn’t take the insurance out but have had to spend over 5k in vets bills when she was a 5yo so probably would have saved money if I had insured her, but not much.

It all depends if you can afford the bills without the insurance, if you can I would be tempted to take the risk.

 

[Fieldlife]

have a look at KBIS catastrophe insurance
I pay £40 a month it includes things like colic , open wounds , septic infections etc and death and straying . I think you can add loss of use too although i have not

40 a month is £480 a year. Normally KBIS catastrophe only is £300 a year?

 

[vikkic]

I got a quote from petplan today. 5k value vets fees and death, class 3 ( non affiliated)£124 a month. I was really surprised at the cost.

 

[Bobthecob15]

Call NFU, they are in my experience better cover and cheaper. I wasn't going to bother as I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered with a phone call and expected them to be expensive....but actually I'm so glad I did! They were cheaper than Petplan, KBIS, SEIB and the insurance emporium and animal friends!

 

[Boughtabay]

Call NFU, they are in my experience better cover and cheaper. I wasn't going to bother as I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered with a phone call and expected them to be expensive....but actually I'm so glad I did! They were cheaper than Petplan, KBIS, SEIB and the insurance emporium and animal friends!

Im with NFU for everything and wouldn’t move from them but I’m just considering ditching the horse insurance as it’s gone up £20 since last year although this thread seems to show that there are some a lot cheaper and some a lot more expensive and I’m middle of the road!

 

[Bobthecob15]

Im with NFU for everything and wouldn’t move from them but I’m just considering ditching the horse insurance as it’s gone up £20 since last year although this thread seems to show that there are some a lot cheaper and some a lot more expensive and I’m middle of the road!

They are fab, we've just added our trailer onto our horse policy which was half what we were quoted everywhere else!

 

[Zoeypxo]

40 a month is £480 a year. Normally KBIS catastrophe only is £300 a year?

i also have public liability and personal accident with it maybe thats why.. not sure ! It was £37 but my last premium went up to £40

 

[Boughtabay]

They are fab, we've just added our trailer onto our horse policy which was half what we were quoted everywhere else!

NFU are really good to deal with/when you make a claim… I’m just begrudging that by around the 5 year mark I’ll have spent what I have on the horse in insurance regardless of whether he’s gone up in value since I broke him in it’s a depressing thought given he’ll probably live for another 20 odd years *touches wood

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

It's such a tough one and a question I'll be asking myself soon as my pony ages and the exclusion list gets longer. I pay £78 at the mo with petplan and in the last year I've claimed about £15k. So I'm quids in as I don't think I've even paid £5k in premiums since I got her and my excess is only £145 per claim (I've had 5 claims). But with everything else rising it's so easy to fall in to the trap of cancelling insurance.

It really is a very personal decision depending on your risk levels, liquidity and what you are willing to do treatment wise.

 

[AandK]

I was thinking that is cheap with LOU... Mine has gone up to £90pcm (from £60), without LOU. I'm cancelling the policy as he has a lot of exclusions.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

look into the small print, alot of them have a clause like KBIS where if you continue treatment after the vet does the initials care and it gets bad, they won't cover the bill. I was astonished how many had small print clauses.

 

[Fieldlife]

look into the small print, alot of them have a clause like KBIS where if you continue treatment after the vet does the initials care and it gets bad, they won't cover the bill. I was astonished how many had small print clauses.

Are you missing a don’t?

 

[Muddy unicorn]

Call NFU, they are in my experience better cover and cheaper. I wasn't going to bother as I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered with a phone call and expected them to be expensive....but actually I'm so glad I did! They were cheaper than Petplan, KBIS, SEIB and the insurance emporium and animal friends!

NFU wouldn’t even give me a quote when we got my daughter’s second horse because we’d claimed for vet fees for her first horse after he had an accident and who was insured with a completely different company

 

[Boughtabay]

NFU wouldn’t even give me a quote when we got my daughter’s second horse because we’d claimed for vet fees for her first horse after he had an accident and who was insured with a completely different company

that’s a shame - I’ve always found NFU to be very good for insuring and paying out & probably wouldn’t consider leaving them. My only issue is the £20 a month hike this year

 

[Bobthecob15]

that’s a shame - I’ve always found NFU to be very good for insuring and paying out & probably wouldn’t consider leaving them. My only issue is the £20 a month hike this year

Haven't made a claim yet so will see..a friend is an area manager for them so I'm hoping she'll be kind if we do