NFU insurance claim - are they always this slow?

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FinellaGlen

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My trailer was stolen a few weeks ago and my property badly damanaged (electric gates). The company with whom I've got the gates insured have been great and they've arranged for the gates to be repaired. NFU, on the other hand, still hadn't even looked at my claim until yesterday because they were, in their own words (I phoned twice) "very busy"! Is this normal for NFU? I've never claimed before and I am wondering when I can start looking for a trailer again. I don't want to miss the entire season
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It took them a couple of months to process my claim last year, I also got "we're very busy at the moment"! They did pay up in the end but I had to keep ringing my vet an apologising! Keep ringing them and pestering them, can't do any harm!
 
Is that just trailer claims because they've made 2 payments to my Vet in the last few weeks. Both received a 2 weeks of me posting the paperwork so allowing for post time they can only have taken 9 days, at most, to process. I suppose trailer & vet claims might be dealt with by seperate office/departments. Do they wait a certain amount of time in case the trailer is recovered? If so they should tell you so you know where you stand.
 
Thanks both. I am going to ring again on Monday to see if they are a little "less busy" and have managed to find time to process my claim.

The police don't expect me to ever see my trailer again but maybe NFU are waiting to see if the thieves have a change of heart and return it? If they do, let's hope they don't smash through my electric gates in order to put it back where they found it eh?
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I have insured with them for years and had a few claims including one for a trailer which they sorted out in good time.
Fairly recently we got 2 horses back from loan and I wanted to reinstate their insurance, over 2 months on and I still haven't received any paperwork despite chasing it up twice. Don't know what is going on with them.
 
I don't have any experience with NFU (they won't insure me! Not because I did anything bad, but I put a HUGE claim in when Mazzie was killed so I'm too 'high risk'), but in my experience they're not the only slow ones. When I did the claim for Mazzie which was very clear cut (broken back due to an accident, no pre-existing condition, no negligence, etc) which the person I spoke to on the phone agreed with, it was about 2 months before they paid out. All I can say is be patient, as annoying and frustrating it is!
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I rang them this week for a quote for horsebox insurance. The lady did say they were very "thin on the ground" and it took her over a day to get back to me.

My horse is insured with them and I claimed in 2007 and they were absolutely excellent, which is why I wanted to see if I could switch my lorry to them (quote from them last year was £100 more than my current insurers
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Oh dear. It's not sounding good. All I want is to be able to get another trailer and get out and about again. Surely that's why we have insurance? I had done everything in my power to make my trailer safe. The police said that no-one could protect against thieves who used oxy-acetelyne torches though
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I used to work in claims and generally with the theft of a vehicle there will be a period of waiting to see if it turns up before a payment can be made - standard industry limit was six weeks. That was about 10 years ago so things may be different now.

As for the NFU claims service, I cannot fault them. My horse has had 5 major claims in the last year, total costs including excesses and hospitalisation costs that weren't covered = over £16k. They have paid everything that was covered, been sympathetic and understanding - they have even chased up claim forms because my vet was slow to return it

They do get busy though...well I keep them nose to the grindstone dealing with all my stuff, don't think anyone else can get a look in
 
If you want to move things on, you could always go to the insurance ombudsman. Just getting him involved might concentrate their minds at NFU.
 
Horse claims are dealt with at a central unit in York and all other claims are dealt with in regional claims offices. I work in an agents office and spend alot of time chasing claims on behalf of clients and know how fustrating it is. One of the problems is that the NFU Mutual has brought in a new computer system which has many teething problems and has slowed everyone down. Sorry this hasn't expained why your claim hasnt been sorted but we did make our regional directors aware of the problem again week and hope it gets sorted soon.
 
I recently about 8 weeks ago put in a claim for vets fees, I kept getting reminders from the vet that the account hadn't been settled. I rang NFU,, about 10 days ago and explained the situation and I was told that "they were busy" but had received my claim and hopeful that it would be looked at the following week.

I received a cheque about four days later, so it might be worth giving them a call.
 
I think you may find that a claim for a trailer will be dealt with like a claim for a car. Most companys wait for a certain period of time before paying out to see if the trailer turns up or is recovered.
 
Sorry to add to the list of not-so-good! My lorry went up in flames (write off) on March 20th, NFU still haven't paid out. Have spoken to local office several times and each time it is someone else's fault - or mine! It has been most frustrating.
 
I put in a claim for vets fees about 3 weeks ago. Called Tues to be told their really busy (in fact no one answered the phone, tried every 10 mins for 2 hrs and then left a message and someone called me back few hours later), but mine was now at the top of the pile to be looked at. I got my cheque in the post today!
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My trailer was damaged in a fire a few years ago. Now I did take quite a while getting it sorted (old trailer, had to have a new door made), but they apid out direct to the mechanic really well. I didn't even have all the info for the fire (police reports etc), but the barn that burnt down was also insured by them (not owned by me) and I just put a note on the form to look at their claim and they did! I was very impressed! They have brain cells!!! ha ha!
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Bad report from me I'm afraid. I've personally had no probs at all with previous vet claims and have always recommended them especially on HHO. However my friend had her trailer stolen in Jan 09. It was recovered by the Port authorities at Holyhead in Feb and she has only just had it returned following NUMEROUS phone calls to her local office and the claims office. It seems left hand didn't know what right hand was doing as they don't normally recover trailers and so not sure if they had a plan of action in place to reunite an owner with their trailer. My friend has insured her horses, car and trailer with them for many years and this is the first time she's had a problem.
 
I have claimed twice for vet fees and got a very swift & efficient service without any questioning whatsoever. They aren't the cheapest but I have always been happy with the service I have received.

Fortunately I have not had to claim for a vehicle though which sounds a lot more longwinded than vet claims.
 
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