'Loss of use' or no 'Loss of use'?

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jtaylormoss

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Hi,

Having just officially finished paying for my mare and am now in the position of requiring horse insurance. Am going for tack, personal injury (inc dental), vets fees and public liability. The other option is to also include loss of use - the concept sounds great, but it costs a fortune, what do you think? Should i opt in or opt out?

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I did go for LOU but found the premium with NFU was not a lot more expensive than other insurance companies without LOU. For instance, a lot of companies were quoting around £700 without LOU and I paid £800 at NFU with LOU and other things in the policy are equal. Someone (I forget who) quoted £1700 !!
 
Depending on the overall value of the horse personally I wouldn't go for L.O.U.

Regarding having insurance cover for the other things mentioned.....have a good read of the policy because you will find that most companies do not consider your saddle as being tack
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You have to insure the saddle seperately. Before you insure your tack check your house insurance as you may find it is covered under that,
 
I was advised against loss of use as its really costly. A dressage rider I know who owns very valuable horses does not insure against loss of use, and his horses must be worth a fortune! He said it would have doubled his insurance costs.

Saying that, even without loss of use I am paying a grand with Shearwater. Don't fancy paying more!
 

with one insurance company I was with, as my tack was kept in the house, it was covered under the contents insurance.

Depends on the value of the horse & whether you could afford to replace him/her should he/she go lame permanently or can't be ridden for any other reason.

I have mine covered as I know I couldn't afford to replace her immediately if something went wrong with her.

After looking at local ads & asking on here mine is worth approx £3,000 so I've got her covered for LOU.
 
Thanks guys, i got quotes from NFU, insuremyhorse.co.uk and from Petplan and Petplan were cheaper by far, so so much it knocked almost £300 off the quote with loss of use.

That said, i have heard they are not good at paying out, does anyone have experience of this?
 
I think LOU depends on your circumstances and whether you are able to keep a horse that cannot be used. Many people would rather have their horse put down than pay for a horse they can't use. May sound harsh but is true. That is where LOU would kick in as your death section of your policy would not cover your horse to be put down unless was necessary under BEVA guidelines.

Personally I don't have the cover as money for replacing the horse does not concern me (that's not that I have money) but i would keep a horse even if it could not do the job it was intended for and consider getting a 'replacement' that was not already made to bring on myself. However i do not have livery costs to think of so am lucky

LOU is expensive cos of what the cover is and there should not be any problems with a company paying out if the claim is genuine and insurance companies are consulted and kept in the know about the horse's problems.

As for the tack commented on, saddles are (as far as I know) seen as tack but policies will have a single article limit (SAL) say for £400 or something for any individual items so, if you have saddles valued over that then you need to specify them.
 
Thanks for your input, i too am lucky not to have to pay stabling as they are at home. That said we only have limited space so can't accomdate everything.

What do think to this, i was presented with two options loss of use and no loss of use, but within loss of use i again had two more options. I could insure my horse for the correct £5k and at 60% LOU would have to shell out for a 5point vetting. Or i could insure for £2.5k @ 100% LOU and not have to have any vetting.

Am thinking the latter might be a better option. Including everything i mentioned in my first post for cover they quoted me something in the region of £420 for £5k @ 60% and £360 for £2.5k @ 100%. I thought the latter wasn't bad.

Thought's anyone?
 
I've never had a problem with Petplan Equine - inafact they've been brilliant throughout my two big insurance claims - one horse i'd had less than half an hour before it sliced up it's leg, and they paid out fully.
I was out hunting with my pony club friends when my mare hurt herself, wasn't covered for hunting, just pony club, and they paid out, and cleared for a £1.5k scan, but she came sound before we needed it
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I must say: Do not go for the insurance company that uses two initials and names it's different types by these initials. A lady who used to work at a well known magasine says they used to get 100+ complaints about the company per month.
 
I wouldn't bohter full stop. I just insure mine (including expensive sj horses) for rock bottom £250 so I get vets fees paid and public liabilty. Unless your horse gets hits by a bus and has to be PTS its difficult to get the compnay to agree even to PTS and get the money back if they die. If the horse is deemed paddock sound then most insurance compnaies won't pay out to have PTS, even if they can't do the job anymore. By doing this not only are my policies very cheap but I know I won't have to scrimp on ves fees and they have the best possible chance of recovery. Horses are a gamble, and unless you actually sell yours your are unlikely to ever see your money again!
 
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The only time I bother with LOU is if the horse cost over £20k. Other than that, the inflated premiums, amount of hassle to even get it paid out etc - its just not worth it in my opinion.

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I see your point, but even with a horse over this value, I decided after 2 years to remove the LOU from his policy - which reduced my astronomical premiums by about 50%!!! I'm putting money aside myself, which seems a safer way to go in the long term, as insurance companies can be particularly reluctant to pay out for LOU.
 
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