Need horse insurance for a loan, on a budget! Anyone in my situation?

ZoeCharlotte

ZoeCharlotte

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I'm looking to get BHS gold membership to cover me for my riding as I am soon to loan a lovely pony
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. However, I am confused as to whether BHS gold membership will only cover him for accidents, or at all; as the his owner wants me to fully insure him against 3rd party liability, vet's fees, tack etc etc.
It's a necessity to have the insurance, although to add to my troubles, I am short on spare money! I'd like a sound policy, but I'm struggling to find one that is fairly low on price and still covers him.
Is anyone in the same situation as me, or has any advice? I'd really appreciate it!
 
Cheap insurance rarely pays out - there is a reason why it is cheap.

Without sounding like I'm being horrible, if you're going to struggle to pay the insurance then have you really thought through the true costs of having a horse? Shoes, feed, saddlers, wormers and you will have an excess on the insurance policy to pay. I pay more for my policy to have a fixed excess of £120.

Avoid the insurance companies who have an excess of a % of the total vet bill (15% may not sound a lot but if you claim for 5K and then have to pay 15% of that yourself, it's a lot of money). Avoid E&L full stop. I would also avoid Equestrian Direct (or whatever they are called) now. Amtrust are good but not cheap.

You get what you pay for with insurance. When I queried the price of my Amtrust quote they said "we might be more expensive but we will pay out...you get what you pay for"
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ETA - I have my loan horse insured for pretty much everything. Death, theft and straying. 5K per incident, unlimited incidents, per year. 3rd party liability. Tack. Hospitalisation and hospital livery. I pay for mine monthly by direct debit as I don't want to hand over £500 in one go! That's one thing to think about
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I've budgeted out worming, vaccinations, rallies etc and feed and bedding is part of my loan agreement. It looked fairly solid but the livery owner sprung the insurance on me, as she hadn't mentioned it before. Sorry if I didn't make myself clear, what I meant to say was that I'm not looking to go out and do masses of competing, hunting, xcountry and so on, he's just a pleasure riding pony, so he doesn't need a policy with huge amounts of scope.
I will check out Amtrust, thanks!

-edit- Is that with Amtrust then? In which case, it sounds worth paying for
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Ditto Chestnut cob completely. Do not cut corners on insurance - it will be a false ecconomy. Equally if the owner wishes you to have full insurance then yes it is required - I would be fuming if the loanees of my pony turned round to me and said no we didn't actually insure her so can afford to pay (if she had a accident etc).

BHS will only cover third party not accidents and the such.

Just to Echo again do NOT use the first one mentioned above!!!!

Edited to add when you phone for qoutes they will have different levels of cover for different activities - so that will alter the price - just tell them what you will be doing!!
 
No, I'm with the company who took over Equestrian Direct. Basically, years ago ED used Amtrust as an underwriter but they fell out and AT took the existing policies with them. Mine was one so for the rest of that period (2006 possibly?) I was with Amtrust. They were fantastic, paid out straight away and easy to deal with. For some unknown reason, I then chose to go back to ED when my policy was due for renewal. They have now been bought by someone else and have become incredibly difficult to claim from.

That cover, however, is with ED but Amtrust policies are pretty much identical (because of the old relationship I guess) bar the excess with Amrtust is £135 not £120. My premium is higher because I have a fixed excess but I'm not sure how much by.

Most companies have a Class A and Class B. Class A is usually hacking and unaffil competing I think. I have Class B because it includes hunting (or at least I do when the policy starts in Sept but I usually have it removed when the season finishes as you can often make one change to the policy without being charged, which then lowers my premium).

NFU usually get quite good reviews on here but I found it difficult to even get a quote out of them!
 
Thanks very much to everyone who replied, I'm looking at Amtrust for my soon-to-be-loan. I appreciate the expense, but I feel that if I'm not going to compete or stretch the insurance to cover things like hunting then it's going to be comfortably payed for.
Thanks!
 
I agree with everything said. You don't need insurance until you need it and then if there is something in the small print you didn't spot it is too late.

Remember also if lender wants you to take out vet fees insurance it is essential you know of 'pre-existing conditions as these could negate the policy.

I have been insured with Carriage House for 15 years, also NFU have very fair policies.
 
Is the pony actually a pony, or a horse-affectionately-known-as-a-pony? ED have a special pony rate if you value the pony at under 2000 pounds. It's worth checking out, I think.
 
He's a crafty 14h 1in, or 14h depending between the two most recent measurements of him. He's also a jolly 15 years old, but I thought he was about 9! In which case, he'd probably qualify for that ED policy, so I'll check that out.
I've "shortened" it down to Amtrust, ED, NFU and possibly PetPlan. I'll keep you guys posted; thanks again!
 
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