NFU are REALLY taking the pi$$ now!

[piebaldsparkle]

Just got my renewal, now bearing in mind my horse is 18yo this year, has been insured with them since 1999 and only ever had 1 minor claim in all that time, I have to say I was frankly shocked by the quote!

£654!!!! (more than double last year).

Holy fook I want to insure her not sell her!!!!!!

Guess I better start looking around, I expected it to go up (having seen other posts on here), but really didn't expect the quote to be that much!

 

[MAggie09]

I have a 7 year old tb whose fully insured with SEIB for nearly a hundred pounds less than that!

I also had a 26 year old insured for injury and public liability that was 120 for the year.

Have never had to claim from the so can't comment on that but I haven't heard any horror stories about SEIB.

NFU seem a bit steep!!

 

[soulfull]

OMG that is stupid money!!

I agree try SEIB they are fab have claimed lots

Well they better be still be fab as just put in huge claim lol

 

[asmp]

My insurance went up by a third this year, even though I haven't claimed for 3 years (I'm with Shearwater). Then I read an article in the Telegraph saying that all horse insurance is shooting up because of all the expensive treatments everyone keeps putting in for (MRI scans for example). Perhaps we should be like Germany - when I lived there, they didn't insure for vets fees so vets charges were much cheaper than here.

 

[Janette]

I've got a claim going in with NFU at the moment.......Again.


Star is a bit of a 'lemon' - if she was a car, you'd scrap her. She breaks so easily. So far, I've put in for 2 big claims, and just put in for my 3rd. I've picked up numerous other bills that it wasn't worth claiming for.

I dread to think what her insurance bill will be next year.... But because of her chequered medical history, I's a bit stuck when it comes to shopping around.

 

[pricklyflower]

I didn't renew with NFU either as my premium shot up. Are they trying to price themselves out of the market?

 

[jomiln]

I have some insurance with NFU - although not horse insurance but when I got my renewal through and it had gone up I rang to query this with local agency - they review the insurance and cover required and I have now had the renewal reduced by over £100.

It may be worth your while ringing them.

 

[Angua2]

I didn't renew with NFU either as my premium shot up. Are they trying to price themselves out of the market?

I heard that they were

 

[bushbaby28]

The hard thing is that NFU are so good and pay out for almost anything. My boys lameness could have been attributed to a pre-existing condition (even though it wasn't) but they paid out, no questions asked. And they've never questioned the treatment he's been given.

I'd be scared to go to somebody else and then find out that they won't pay out. Still agree its way too steep but during the time i've owned my horse I would have definately have had to pay more on vets bills than i've paid on insurance if I didn't have it!!!! Bloomin' accident prone TB's

 

[Nosey]

Well I can provide the SEIB horror claim hence why I'm with NFU! I've claimed with NFU too & the service was immeasurably better. My fees also went up this year which was disappointing but by reducing insured value if horse got it down to pretty much what it was before.

 

[welshcobmad]

Ive just had my renewal with NFU for £480 despite a 3k claim this year & 2 other large ones previously, been with them 7yrs now

 

[Bertolie]

I've just insured my 18 year old with Petplan including full illness cover for over 200 pounds less than your premium. Not had to claim so can't comment how good they are at paying out. They were the only ones who would insure for illness cover and not just external injury because of his age.

 

[rockysmum]

Not having a go at anyone here and certainly not the OP but I do feel like a bit of a rant on this.

The reason our insurance premiums are going through the roof is not because the insurance companies are suddenly changing their profit margins or have collectively decided to rip off horse owners.

Its because we put so many HUGE claims in.

I grew up in the days where just about all vet treatments were done on your own yard and ordinary horse owners wouldn't have considered a vet hospital. Treatment for most things was box rest or turning away. Now every slight issue is xrays, nerve blocks, MRI, surgery etc etc.

Horses get far better medical care in most cases than humans do. I am not saying this is a bad thing, just a fact of life. If we want to carry on this way then we have to pay for it.

I have 3 horses, all insured, although the oldie only has limited cover. I have (touch wood) only claimed once since I started insuring the oldie against vet fees 25 years ago. This wasn't for the oldie it was for the warmblood which we have owned 5 years. It was a big one and I was very grateful to be insured.

I do get the vet to my horses when necessary, I never wait and see. However if the bill is only a few hundred I would never claim against my insurance. To be honest I dont for anything, not worth the paperwork and the poor claims record. I have watched owners on various yards over the years running up huge bills, often just because they can, and want instant cure not wait a while and let nature heal. I do appreciate that doesn't always happen and some treatments need to be done asap.

I'm sure we have all had experience of the different treatments recommended by vets depending on whether you say your horse is insured for vets fees or not. To me that says it all.

If we want to bring our premiums down we need to stop claiming as much, simple.

 

[pricklyflower]

I understand your comments Rockysmum but it is a bit galling when you are loyal to a company for years and don't claim for anything and you have a huge hike to compensate for other customers claiming for everything.

I think the reason why a lot of people claim for everything is because when you do need to claim and insurers ask for a history they exclude anything on it whether its been claimed for or not. The way I see it is if they are going to exclude it anyway, you may as well get some money back from it!

 

[sidesaddlegirl]

This is why I left NFU in November and went over to Petplan as my premium went up double as well for my 15 turning 16yo TB despite never claiming for anything.

I rang them up to negotiate a better price and the first time, no one ever rang me back and then 2nd time, the person said that the only way I could reduce my premium, would be to value my horse at a lower price (which only knocked £2 off my monthly payment). I was even willing to have a higher excess as I wouldn't bother claiming for anything under £500 but the answer was no. When I rang back to cancel, the lady asked why I was leaving and I told them that they were double the price of everyone else!

 

[Merlin11]

I had a similar experience with nfu last year for one horse - premium nearly doubled and I had not claimed. Was going to move to pet plan but they were going to exclude most of the horse - he has been lame in one leg before just a sprain - oh we won't insure that leg then! Went back to nfu who had already cancelled my policy but offered to add him to my other horses policy for significantly less. Was dreading the joint renewal but it wasn't too bad. I did reduce the sum assured on death etc and that helped reduce the premium - may be worth looking into. think I have spent about £5000 on horse insurance premiums over the years and never claimed though. Wishing now I had just put the money in a bank account!

 

[galaxy]

That's not just a premium increase like everyone else got, your horse in 17 turning 18, they consider your horse a veteran now and if you still want full cover your premium increases quite a bit. If you reduce your horses value (they asked me to think about it when this happened to me) it will come down a bit. You will have then got another increase in line with everyone else on top of that.

My premium only went up £70 last year.... Really not that much! No idea how I got away with it!!!!

 

[Zebedee]

I've stuck with the NFU because they've been so good over the years. When my renewal notice came in though I was going to query it, but before I got around to doing that I had a phone call saying to ignore the quote as they were giving me a further £350 discount. They're still fat from being the cheapest though.

 

[Goldenstar]

I don't insure but my one experiance of a horse with a nasty health issue and the NFU was that they where extremely fair and paid a fortune to the vets followed by a no quibble loss of use claim.
My view is they are losing money on horse insurance and have put up the premiums and don't really care if they lose the buisness.
There's a horrible spiral going on with people insured up tp six k for vets fees and insured horses driving up what the vets can get away with charging horses are going for MRI scan routinely now and vets find dealing with uninsured owners a shock when they wanted to send my 1/10 lame cob for a MRI on a lameness we had consistently blocked to the same place I said no and that I would box rest for 12 weeks and see where we got to.
Horse is now sound and working better than ever.
But if insured would I have sent him dont know ,insurance can easily turn not so expensive things to fix into very expensive ones
Don't know what the answer is but with ever spiralling vet costs insurance cots can only go up.

 

[wellsat]

Don't assume NFU will pay out. I currently have a complaint against them which is being looked at by the Ombudsman

 

[goodtimes]

I'm with NFU - Put in a huge claim last year, my boy had all sorts of treatment but sadly it was decided it was better to PTS

Got new horse, only insured him for £1000 but my monthly payments are more than I paid for my old boy who was insured for £4000.

When I asked why, they said it was because I had made a big claim already.

But this is a different horse!!!!!

 

[Dizzykizzy]

I was insured with NFU for 12 years, had a few claims and no problems.
Due to big reduction in horse numbers...I only had my 21 year old mare and her arab son, decided to cancel insurance and in their words "bear the risk myself". I thought if I put away the £130 a month I had been paying (for them all and trailer) it would cover any vets bills. How wrong I was, within one month of cancelling it my 4 and a half year old had a catastrophic colic, we lost him on Christmas day so vet bills were double what they would ordinarily have been. How I wish I hadn't cancelled the insurance.

 

[Finlib]

I have 3 of my 5 horses insured with NFU (2 in their 20's not insured only 3rd party)
I have been insured wih them for 20 years .
In that time I have made 2 claims one for £1,500 and one for £800
One of my insured horses needed a lameness work up for a persistant lameness which turned out to be a deep foot abcess .The total bill was £350 less the excess of £140 so £210 claim .This was in June .
In Sepember I received a leter requesting a FULL veterinay history (including routine vaccinations and teeth!!!) of the horse from birth with any vet I have used (he is 5years old)
I had to contact a previous vet as I have relocaed 250 miles away from my old vet and get them to email a full history to my current vet and then they had to e mail it all to the insurance. All for a £200 claim.In the 20 years I have been with them they must have had 15to £20,000with the
I will seriously consider what to do when the renewal is due .

 

[galaxy]

I have 3 of my 5 horses insured with NFU (2 in their 20's not insured only 3rd party)
I have been insured wih them for 20 years .
In that time I have made 2 claims one for £1,500 and one for £800
One of my insured horses needed a lameness work up for a persistant lameness which turned out to be a deep foot abcess .The total bill was £350 less the excess of £140 so £210 claim .This was in June .
In Sepember I received a leter requesting a FULL veterinay history (including routine vaccinations and teeth!!!) of the horse from birth with any vet I have used (he is 5years old)
I had to contact a previous vet as I have relocaed 250 miles away from my old vet and get them to email a full history to my current vet and then they had to e mail it all to the insurance. All for a £200 claim.In the 20 years I have been with them they must have had 15to £20,000with the
I will seriously consider what to do when the renewal is due .

Including a full veterinary history (usually since you have owned the horse) with any claim is standard practise with all companies when you submit a claim and is highlighted in bold on the claim form. Any future company you insure with will also ask for this

 

[Goldenstar]

I was insured with NFU for 12 years, had a few claims and no problems.
Due to big reduction in horse numbers...I only had my 21 year old mare and her arab son, decided to cancel insurance and in their words "bear the risk myself". I thought if I put away the £130 a month I had been paying (for them all and trailer) it would cover any vets bills. How wrong I was, within one month of cancelling it my 4 and a half year old had a catastrophic colic, we lost him on Christmas day so vet bills were double what they would ordinarily have been. How I wish I hadn't cancelled the insurance.

That's exactly the gamble you take when you carry the risk yourself and you where very unlucky I did it the opposite way round whenI had a lot I did not insure now we have four and I may ( big may ) go down to three in time then I would consider the insurance thing again but it has not cost me money over the years to be carring the risk myself the only thing they would have been terrible was say a grass sickness episode affected all ten that would have been painful financially but not as painful as loosing the horses.
Also when you are big claims that limb or whatever is excluded the next time you renew so in the end it's a one off getting a claim through and then you end up paying yourself any way.
You had the classic problem when insurance really comes into its own a one off big op and a problem which hopefully will never reoccur it really was rotten luck.

 

[ester]

PS I think that petplan are the only other insurance that will do full cover for oldies. That is who Frank is with, but to keep premium down our excess is high (500). Have just made a claim for them (lameness work ups, remedial shoeing and steroid/ha injections) and they paid up before we even got round to paying the vets bill so very happy with them.

 

[Finlib]

Including a full veterinary history (usually since you have owned the horse) with any claim is standard practise with all companies when you submit a claim and is highlighted in bold on the claim form. Any future company you insure with will also ask for this
__________________
I have never been asked for a veterinary history before by Nfu on either of the previous claims I made which were for much more.
This horse has been insured with them by me from birth and has never had a claim made on him before .
Pet plan insure my dogs and I have never been asked for a veterinary hisory on hen when making claim.

 

[MurphysMinder]

I am with NFU and they have paid out some high claims without a problem, but last year the premiums shot up ridiculously. The trouble is that our 2 are both getting on, 20 and 24 this year so they kind of have us over a barrel. However if as I suspect the premium has gone up again at next renewal I am going to seriously think about not having them insured and just putting some money away each month.

 

[MurphysMinder]

Including a full veterinary history (usually since you have owned the horse) with any claim is standard practise with all companies when you submit a claim and is highlighted in bold on the claim form. Any future company you insure with will also ask for this
__________________
I have never been asked for a veterinary history before by Nfu on either of the previous claims I made which were for much more.
This horse has been insured with them by me from birth and has never had a claim made on him before .
Pet plan insure my dogs and I have never been asked for a veterinary hisory on hen when making claim.

Ime NFU have been asking for full veterinary history for quite some time, certainly around 7years ago when we claimed for a pony with Cushings they checked back and tried to say it was pre existing because she had laminitis in the past, luckily our vet fought our corner and they did pay up. They do tend to ask the vets direct I think for the history so it could be you were not aware of it.

 

[galaxy]

Including a full veterinary history (usually since you have owned the horse) with any claim is standard practise with all companies when you submit a claim and is highlighted in bold on the claim form. Any future company you insure with will also ask for this
__________________
I have never been asked for a veterinary history before by Nfu on either of the previous claims I made which were for much more.
This horse has been insured with them by me from birth and has never had a claim made on him before .
Pet plan insure my dogs and I have never been asked for a veterinary hisory on hen when making claim.

I ma surprised, as I have been with NFU for 8/9 years and have sadly made several claims and have always had to include veterinary history. For small and large claims. Before then I was with another firm and again had to include it.

My friend is with KBIS, has to include it. (and every invoice she submits has to fill out a new claim form even with an existing claim!!!! Does the vets heads in!)

Also always had to include it in a claim for my dog, although not with petplan.