NFU are REALLY taking the pi$$ now!

Last year my son insured his landrover with them cost £1000. at renewal they wanted £2000!!!!!!!!! [WTF] ;he got a quote from elsewhere for £650 so went with them. Ridiculous.
 
galaxy said:
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!!!!
Click to expand...

I only have her insured for a value of £500, have done for a couple of years now as she is only a happy hack and rarely competes to achieve any proven record, so market value would be hard to prove, so no point in insuring for more. So doubt they will even let me drop that much there must be a 'minimum value'!

Will look into Petplan as certainly don't want to go to just accident cover just yet and if I have to TBH I won't bother insuring. Nor do I want to pay £154 over her insured value for 1yrs insurance!

All those who state insurance has gone up due to those claiming, well hammer them, not me. Like I said I only had one minimal claim a few years back, which I only claimed as had to declare it, so no point in not claiming the £60 over my excess.
 
hmmm... that sucks!

It may be down to people claiming. A few years back NFU paid me out over £10,000 in 18 months!! I had a HUGE run of bad luck. But that is why I had my horses insured at the end of the day. £3000 of that was a pay out for loss of horse, but the rest was vets fees of which could not be avoided and I could not have afforded (well without putting myself in debt anyway! I would have found the money!)
 
I had to leave NFU as my renewal price was too high. Went up from £53 per month - £64 a month.
They were fantastic though - paid out a lot of money for my late TBxWB without any hassle. (2 claims of maximum £5K, Euthanasia and Loss of Horse)
I just couldn't afford to insure my other TB with them this year.
It is like insuring your car - you have to shop around to get the best deal.

I totally understand your frustration though. Good luck with getting a better deal. xx
 
I was with NFU for over 10 years but this year despite not claiming for 4 yrs my insurance went up from £37 a month to £54. I really didnt want to change as NFU had been really good in the past but felt I had no chice. Petplan were dearer! so I reduced his value and went with KBIS, still £34 a month though. NFU couldnt get anywhere near it even with his value reduced.
I asked the woman at NFU why they had gone up so much and she said it wasnt because they didnt want to do horse insurance anymore but that vet fees were so high now and claims so big that they had no choice.
I was sad to leave them really.
 
The NFU have lost their street cred now with the horse world!

Once upon a time they took out full page adverts in HH saying why we are the countries number 1 for horse insurance, just go on HHO (or words to that effect)

Would love to see that kind of advert now!

I am just at the complaints procedure with them.

I have been a loyal customer for over 20+ years. With one horse they paid out fine no problems and he died due to a rubbish farrier, who got reprimanded by the FRC, but NFU would take no action! So put a massive £200 veterinary hike on my vet cover for a different horse!

Cheeky!

Then came the renewal on my veteran and other horse well over 900!!!!

So went to pet plan as not only better cover for my veteran but half the price plus tack cover as well!

Then NFU claim they have never received my letter cancelling the veteran and tack insurance and have been HAPPILY taking my FULL premium for over 6 months!

Then when I put a complaint in they 'can't investigate fully' at the moment!

So off to the ombudsman I go!

NFU you WERE the countries Number one for horse insurance but guess with a lot of things when you are sitting pretty at the top and decide to get a new broom in the only way to go is DOWN!
 
Not read the whole thread, but got my renewal from NFU last week and it's gone up. I've got my 26 year Welsh A insured, my 23 year old NF pony and my 18 year old Welsh D. The latter two go out on roads so will have to be insured 3rd party, but thinking I'm going to scrap the Welsh A's insurance altogether, and just keep the latter twos 3rd party.

Not happy, I've not claimed on the insurance for at least 10 years :(
 
I didn't renew last year with NFU, either.

It's a shame what they're doing, as I've had nothing but great things to say about them in the past and would have recommended them as (one of) the best horse insurance companies for leisure riders a year or two back. Not now though. It's as if they're just dissing horse owners. Disgusting - if they no longer want to cover equines why don't they just say so :mad:
 
Horsesforever1 said:
Last year my son insured his landrover with them cost £1000. at renewal they wanted £2000!!!!!!!!! [WTF] ;he got a quote from elsewhere for £650 so went with them. Ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Just done the same for my fella with his range rover,

2 years ago he was paying £875 just gone to return they wanted £1990. Confused.com brought someone up for £983.

I half expected insurance to rise but NFU have gone a bit OTT
 
Janette said:
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. :(
Click to expand...

I've got a dog like this, our Labrador is steady and has his annual visit to the vet for his jabs and that's usually it, the Springer on the other hand is on first name terms with every member of staff at the vets, he is sooooo accident prone. We have spent a fortune on vet bills for him, used his whole vet allowance for the year just on one tooth problem one year! He is a walking disaster, but we love him to bits!
 
Saffron_Envy said:
Not read the whole thread, but got my renewal from NFU last week and it's gone up. I've got my 26 year Welsh A insured, my 23 year old NF pony and my 18 year old Welsh D. The latter two go out on roads so will have to be insured 3rd party, but thinking I'm going to scrap the Welsh A's insurance altogether, and just keep the latter twos 3rd party.

Not happy, I've not claimed on the insurance for at least 10 years :(
Click to expand...

If you only want 3rd party just join BHS as a gold member, that will cover all 3. ;)
 
Saffron_Envy said:
Problem is, how do you switch insurance companies? It's not as simple as switching car insurance is it? Don't you have to get the vet out or something?
Click to expand...

I'm hoping not as 18 and will only be insuring for £500, however if they require a vetting, it will probably still work out cheaper! (in my case anyway as doubt xrays will be required).
 
NFU almost doubled my premium this year too. So I've cut it right back to the very bare minimum and have got the premium down to less than I was paing last year.

I've joined the BHS for public liability cover, and I'm self insuring my retired TB for vets fees, and have opened up his own savings account. I've only got NFU covering vets fees for my warmblood, my trailer, and one saddle.
 
asmp said:
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.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't bother insuring at all if vets fees weren't covered. It would be BHS Gold and nothing else!
 
Im with E&L and before anyone starts saying their aweful,hear me out. I claimed for a sarcoid,they sorted claim within 3 days,payment within 2 weeks.They ALSO have a MATURE plan for older horses.I was reading up on it (my boy is neally 10,so way to go yet).

They are good at lowering policy premiums too,I just got mine down (not renewing till June) and they took a few quid off it.
 
Nosey said:
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.
Click to expand...

^^ This. 2 companies I would NEVER insure with SEIB and E & L.
 
I've got my horsebox insurance with www.horsebox-insurance.co.uk

They were so nice and saved me a lot of money. I had to make a claim after an accident and they were brilliant!

My horses' insurance is due next month and I'm definitely going to ask them for a quote (they do all sorts of equine insurance).

They are a broker and know the market well. They get reduced rates from the top insurers (and know what to say to get further discounts from them I suppose!) so you end up paying less but have their expert knowledge and experience on your side!

They argued my case with the insurer after our accident and got us an extra £600 than they'd originally offered!! I'm glad it wasn't me dealing with it all, I'd have just taken what was offered!

Hope you get something sorted.
 
My renewal due next month with NFU so will be interested to see what happens with that. Never claimed in the three years have been with them and premium stayed pretty static last year. Will wait with baited breath and ready to shop around.
 
I got mine through. The two young horses I have insured stayed pretty much the same. Flynn's premium has, not unexpectedly, had a big raise because like OP's horse he's now 18 and the vet cover component has rocketed. It's no big deal, I will take the money for his premium and stick it in an account to use for vet bills. I have in the past turned down £3.5K worth of treatment for him as I didn't feel that putting him through something whch according to the vet would probably have no effect on the eventual outcome was fair on him. "People like to think they've tried everything" was the exact phrase used when I asked why on earth anyone would have the treatment then.

And that, my friends, is why your premiums are rocketing - people who use all possible treatments even though there is no basis for supposing that such treatments will make any difference to the outcome. Sure they might help, but no-one knows. So next time your vet suggests some radical new treatment ask how they measure what difference it makes.
 
Hmm, I think what I might do, is go with the BHS gold membership for the public liability cover. I can then cancel all the insurance on the horses for this, plus the vet fees (they only pay out for accidents, not illness) and self insure with the money I'm not forking out each month. The BHS personal insurance seems bit weedy, so may keep the NFU insurance running for my sister and I.
 
I moved from NFU last year as my premium rocketed despite not having claimed, I went to KBIS and so far I am very pleased with them. George has recently been diagnosed with COPD and so far KBIS have paid out £380 all within days of receiving the claim from my vets. They also said I didn't need to fill in a claim form for every invoice of an ongoing claim, but will probably ask for a vet report every 3 months which I thought was fair enough.
 
I've changed to SEIB because NFU have annoyed me so much. I've insured my horse with them for the past 5 years at just over £1,000 per year and never made a claim (I could have bought a nice horse for all that!). Even with my "discount" for being a "loyal customer", they tried to put my renewal up by £40 a month more!! I was horrified. SEIB were cheaper (although still £10 a month more expensive than NFU previously). On calling NFU to say I wouldnt renew, they couldnt have cared less! I've given them about £6,000 of my money and I didnt even get a thank you!
 
I had same last year with NFU, with a massive premium hike but having never made a claim with them. I moved my two to Pet Plan as they came highly recommended and took out BHS membership.

I am not surprised at the hikes, my vet has offered all sorts of possible treatments for one of mine who was lame (following a self inflicted knock in the field) when cold hosing was all that it required on that occasion.
 
That's extortionate! I've just had the renewal through for my policy, I have one 18yo mare, a 2.5yo filly, an ifor trailer and 1500 worth of tack all insured with the same company and the annual cost is £506... AND I know they pay as have had claims with the old girl. I suggest trying carriage house insurance for a quote?
 
Got an online quote from Petplan for £300 less!! and get a free jacket whoop, whoop and that with Sparks insure for more as they will only accept an insure value of 50% less than purchase price (I guess due to me getting the quote online).

Going to have a look at a few others before I decide, but one thing is for sure NFU have lost another loyal customer.
 
I was pleasantly surprised to see my NFU renewal today and although has gone up it's not by much and is still cheaper than the alternatives quotes. I do have a high excess on vets fees though and I think that makes the big difference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top