NFU coming out to home to discuss a claim?

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disco

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Is this normal?

Has anyone ever heard of this before?

To cut a long story short, a friend of mine looked at buying a horse, it past the 5* vetting so she bought it. 6 months later it has an accute collic attack for the 1st time since she bought it. the horse was rushed to Oakham & my friend was put into a situation of the horse having major surgery or put to sleep. It was bank holiday so friend couldn't speak to Insurance co. until the Tuesday. This was on the Monday, the horse was very very poorley & advised that surgery would only be 20% succesfull due to the fact that the vets had discovered a scar indicating that the horse had had major surgery within the last 12 months (which indicated the operation had occured 6 months prior to my friends purchase) so the decision was made to put the horse down.
She contacted the Insurance co the next day who said it wasn't a problem. Now all of a sudden their objecting to paying out & have made an appointment to go round my friends house tomorrow to discuss the claim.

Has anybody experienced the insurance company coming out to discuss a claim?
 
Not yet - although the way Donkey is going at the moment she is NFU's biggest liablity. When I lost Nelly over night to colic they paid up without a post mortem, I had only owned her for 6 months.
 
I haven't experienced this but can see why they would want to have a personal interview on this.
If your friend has been completely honest then she should have nothing to fear or hide - if she did not know about the previous colic operation then she couldn't have informed the insurers.
I recent op like that would have left external scarring surely, that the vet should have picked up on 5*
Tell your friend to have previous owners details to hand and the vet that did the vetting details.
 
It sounds as thoguh they want to try and use the fact that the horse had had prior surgery as an excuse to not pay out (I might be wrong!). I've never heard of them coming out to visit in person before, but then it's better than just saying they aren't paying. At least they are willing to discuss it.
 
you don't know what the major surgery was for?........it could have been for colic already then.and within the last 12 months???.........then the horse shouldn't have been in full work when your friend bought it.maybe this is why the insurance company want to see whats going on?.and its unlikely if its been operated on already that the insurance company would re insure for the same type of condition.

also, if the horse had had major surgery so soon before your friend bought the horse, surely there would have been some sort of scar?.....how come the vet didn't pick up on it?...
 
I think more and more insurance companiers are doing this, although never heard it for horse insurance. I know that people with quite large home claims can be interviewd. I think its so that the underwriter and 'judge' the person face to face rather than over the telephone where you can not see facial expressions/body language.

As someone said above she should be fine as she had no previous knowledge of the colic surgery.

Good luck to her, its horrible to face a interview about such a sad topic
 
I had a (relatively) minor accident in my car, and my insurer sent a man round to take a full statement from me, although in that case they said it was because of the possibility of a personal injury claim. I think there have been a great many inflated and fraudulent insurance claims, so insurers are more likely to want a face-to-face conversation with the insured before paying out.
 
Yes she's been totally honest with them. It has been a very raw & upsetting experience for her and has told NFU everything.

I personally think that they are going to try to wriggle out of it with the issue of the old scar.

The vet that passed the horse did find the scar but the owner said it was an old scar from surgery when the horse was a yearling. The vets at Oakham said the owner had mislead the vet however the vet should have recognised that it wasn't a 10 yr old scar.
My friend wasn't present at the vetting & bought this horse on good faith that it had passed a 5* vetting process.
She's still so upset & it has totally upset her world. If NFU refuse to pay out on the basis they blame the vet for passing the horse when it shouldn't of been passed my friend will then have to pursue her claim with the vet. I just dont think she's strong enough to go through with it.
 
No, but can understand why they would. Like other have said if your friend had no knowledge she has nothing to fear, plus surly if they don't pay, she could pursue the vet that did the vetting for losses? I have always found NFU to be very straight, and not the sort of company to weedle out of paying.
 
It could be they are sending out a loss adjuster to assess the validity of the claim and to see if there was anyway that your friend or the vet could have known that the horse had suffered from colic before.

If your friend was unaware and if it passed a 5 stage vetting then she shouldn't really be unduly worried about it. Unless a vendor discloses all problems the horse has had, if there's no obvious signs then how would your friend know? I would query how a vet didn't notice a scar though?

The main concern of the insurer will be because of the time scale with this and I guess the value of the horse. They will also want to ensure it was PTS on immediate humane grounds. Insurers can be suspicious in these circumstances as, although your friend may be completely innocent there are people who are unfortunately not. One particular case a person claimed (through 2 different insurance companies) for a horse that had died. It was queried by the 2nd insurer and it was discovered the horse had never in fact died yet this person and a vet in cahoots with them had submitted a claim. Stupidly though they were caught out (they hadn't even bothered to use a different name for the horse!). Things like this do happen sadly and it's the genuine claimers that suffer.

Your friend shouldn't worry if the claim is legitimate.
 
[ QUOTE ]
you don't know what the major surgery was for?........it could have been for colic already then.and within the last 12 months???........
That's what we thought

.then the horse shouldn't have been in full work when your friend bought it.

Again Yes that's what we thought & it has made my friend feel so guilty that she's been exercising the horse quite hard & having proffessional show jumping lessons and all along the horse should of been rested.

maybe this is why the insurance company want to see whats going on?.and its unlikely if its been operated on already that the insurance company would re insure for the same type of condition.

also, if the horse had had major surgery so soon before your friend bought the horse, surely there would have been some sort of scar?.....how come the vet didn't pick up on it?...

[/ QUOTE ]

She wrote to the previous owners stating all of these facts above & as yet hasn't heard a single word in response.

She just doenst know what to do anymore.
 
NFU are a reputable company, if I found myself in this sort of situation then I would want to be insured with NFU.

This whole situation sounds dodgy to me and I am sure it does to NFU too!

What you may find is that NFU pay the claim but then try and reclaim the money from vets insurance based on vets negligence (if indeed that is the case, which it may not be)
 
Yes - And they were very nice, Try not to worry! It was a few years back now, but my pony had escaped from her field in to a nighbours garden, she is a big heavy cob who was only 3 &1/2 at the time she trashed there garden! & it is a Huge garden, any way to cut a long story short, the neighbour had said that both my horses had been galloping round the garden, i had said that just the one had, i only retreived the cob & the other mare was then about 30 so didnt gallop & was stood watching! there was no way she had joined in!

They also went to the neighbours home address! I think its just to clarify ther notes coz every ones story was diffrent!

I have made a few cliams over the years mostly for Vet Fees, but they have always been very nice, one claim took forever though!

May be after this they will get the claim sorted? If your friends horse had passed a 5 stage vet i cant see how they can not pay out? This must be horrid for your friend to have all this draged out, lets hope this will get every thing cleared up!
 
I had a loss of use claim on my horse and had a home visit from the NFU loss adjuster. As long as you have all the facts to hand and evidence of what happened, if necessary get report from vet. As it turned out I got the loss of use payout, reduced because the horse could do another job rather than what he was insured for, 11 years later he is still going. I found the NFU to be very fair.

If the vet had detected the scar and the previous owner has failed to disclose a fairly recent surgery then your friend would probably have a case if she wanted to take it further.

As more horses are insured and more claims are made insurance companies want to make sure everyone has kept their part of the contract. Too many people think they can claim for things without it affecting them, the truth is the more claims are made the higher premiums will be for everyone.
 
Not much help regarding the actual horse insurance claim but the reps from our local NFU office often come out to see clients rather than calling them in to the office, I think they know that round here most farmers haven't got/won't make time to do this and it is just something this company do. My family and I have been with them all my life and I think I've only been into the office once!
 
nothing to add about actual claim but i have had some sticky situations that i never thought i'd get paid for with the NFU but they have always been willing to discuss and come to some agreement that both parties are happy.
 
My horse is insured by NFU, and about three weeks after I took up the cover we had a little 'incident' on the road which resulted in a car with a broken window and bent wing (not even going into details, still gives me the shivers to think how lucky we were...). I had a guy come out and take a statement at my work, then he came back at a later date when the guy whose car it was was threatening to sue (long story!). By far the best and most personalised service I've ever had from an insurance company though, wouldn't hesitate to recommend them - they know their stuff. It's a bit daunting, but at least you know you're being treated as fairly as possible - hope all works out ok!
 
Thanks guys for all your very helpfull comments & experiences.

My friend isn't worried about the visit as she's told NFU everything, we both just thought it was a bit odd!

I'll let you know the outcome.
 
perhaps the horse has been insured before with NFU and they are just trying to get the facts right. you never know NFU might help her bring a claim against the sellers/vet as they do have a legal team that is very helpful.
 
[ QUOTE ]
NFU are a reputable company, if I found myself in this sort of situation then I would want to be insured with NFU.

This whole situation sounds dodgy to me and I am sure it does to NFU too!

What you may find is that NFU pay the claim but then try and reclaim the money from vets insurance based on vets negligence (if indeed that is the case, which it may not be)

[/ QUOTE ]#

here here,i also think this is what their planning on doing
 
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