Market value for insurance renewal, can anyone help?

[bonnysmum]

Me again

So my insurance with KBIS is up for renewal and as well as dropping a category because my mare is now 16 it's also gone up £20 a month. She has so many exclusions now I'm starting to wonder what they would pay out for to be honest, but as I'm needing to make another claim very soon I can't see I have any choice but to renew at the moment. However I'm certain she is now over-insured but I'm wondering how I assess this and arrive at a sensible insured value (and whether it would make much difference to the premium).

She's a registered Welsh Section D, 14.2hh schoolmistress. Knows her job, but she's a Welshie so doesn't have the easiest temperament. If you don't want to canter then she's a good, safe novice ride...

BUT, she has now been diagnosed with equine asthma (although this year with better hay she hasn't had any flare-ups) and more importantly suspensory ligament damage and SI pain. Just now her prognosis for schooling and jumping is not great, but for hacking she'll probably come sound.

I paid £4500 for her at the height of silly Covid prices. None of these problems are new, but at the time I bought her they were undiagnosed and she was suffering in silence. If she went on the market now (and I must stress that is NOT happening, this is purely hypothetical) can anyone suggest what her market value might be? As there's zero chance of us selling her, there's no possibility of offending me or me being worried about losing money or anything like that, so please be honest!

Editing to add that my problem, obviously, when looking at adverts for comparison, is that no one is going to volunteer this kind of information. So what code words/phrases could I look out for?

 

[Red-1]

I always under insure mine, and am quite open with the insurance company about it. I really only want vets cover and 3rd party, so why pay more?

They always ask why I am valuing as less and I tell them my reasoning. In your case, you have good reason, but they have been fine when I have said that the horse was produced for sale at a well known yard and I am only a private owner so would not get the same return.

The only time this backfired was when the newly purchased horse dropped dead half an hour after arriving home (yes, really) and I really wish I'd paid more and had full value that time LOL. They did pay me the 6K I insured him for without quibble though.

 

[Jambarissa]

I always under insure, you get the same vet cover no matter the value of the horse.

I'd say your horse is worth £2k at best but probably wouldn't be sellable if you declared all that - sorry! hope I'm not offending you, I'm sure she's lovely.

 

[Jambarissa]

I always under insure mine, and am quite open with the insurance company about it. I really only want vets cover and 3rd party, so why pay more?

They always ask why I am valuing as less and I tell them my reasoning. In your case, you have good reason, but they have been fine when I have said that the horse was produced for sale at a well known yard and I am only a private owner so would not get the same return.

The only time this backfired was when the newly purchased horse dropped dead half an hour after arriving home (yes, really) and I really wish I'd paid more and had full value that time LOL. They did pay me the 6K I insured him for without quibble though.

Dropped dead as you got it home

Who were you insured with? My insurance said it would only pay for accidents for the first 14 days, I was terrified because I thought she had a fair lami risk at the time.

 

[TheMule]

1k value and keep the vets fees cover- I doubt if you’d get a payout for any more TBH, given her issues make

 

[Red-1]

Dropped dead as you got it home

Who were you insured with? My insurance said it would only pay for accidents for the first 14 days, I was terrified because I thought she had a fair lami risk at the time.

It also covers death! Had he got colic he would not have been covered. As he simply dropped dead, he followed the accident or death part of it.

As an aside, I also start the policy as soon as the horse passes the vet, or even as soon as I decide to buy. It all shortens the time the horse will be only partly insured at home. If the horse fails the vet, you can always cancel within 14 days at no charge.

I would go for 1K too, for yours.

 

[bonnysmum]

Thanks all. No offence taken at all because to my daughter and me she's priceless. Is it likely to make much difference to the premium?

I do get annoyed when I think about the hidden issues she had and how much we clearly overpaid for her at the time, but others were lining up to buy her as everyone who knows her knows what a sweetheart she is, so I wouldn't have got her for less. I'm much more annoyed by the fact she was in full work when we bought her and we were pressured to keep her that way, on working livery. Thankfully we ended that arrangement very shortly afterwards.

 

[OlderNotWiser]

We are with KBIS too and yes usually it does reduce the premium. When my daughter’s horse reached 18 they were happy to rework the premium over the phone with different values.

 

[Fire sign]

A couple of years ago I reduced my cover on my late teenage mare to a market value of about £500 to get the premiums down with KBIS

She had multiple exclusions and some medical conditions but I still wanted some vets fees cover at the time

 

[Jambarissa]

If you have so many exclusions you think next to nothing will be covered something like Harry Hall accident insurance could be worth a look.

 

[Melody Grey]

KBIS also do catastrophe cover if you feel your exclusions are starting to take over.

 

[criso]

From memory kbis have a calculator on their webpage where you can enter different levels of cover and different values and see what difference it makes to the premium.

When I retired my horse with NFU it didn't make much difference to the premiums as most of it was for vets fees rather than death, theft etc.

 

[Zoeypxo]

KBIS also do catastrophe cover if you feel your exclusions are starting to take over.

I now have this after my horse having almost every exclusion possible!