NFU PREMIUM INCREASES (also in CR)

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Spoonies

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Anybody else been stung on renewal? I have been with them over 12 years with 4 horses
and my premium has gone up big time.

Anyone been elsewhere for better quotes?
 
Think NFU are doing this across the board (ie not just horse policies). They gave large discounts last year for their centenary year but will have been hit (as other insurers have) with big snow/storm claims over the last 2 years so no doubt have decided they need to up their rates! They are normally ridiculously cheap compared to other markets but there's only so long a company can undercut other's premiums. Eventually they're going to get hit hard without enough premium to cover the losses.

Who ultimately will feel the hit? You, the policyholder I'm afraid!
 
Yes not horse (although I have used before) but tractor went up £70.

It went something like this £300 for about 3 years not much change
2010 £260
2011 £310

I asked why the £70 hike it was their anniversary last year so they did a good discount 2010 apparently??

but I got a tenner off due to being a bit peeved. Was told that farm machinery is highly nickable and thats why! But I suppose everything with a value is nickable?

Trouble is we are at their mercy!
 
I'm holding my breath as mine is due through the door in the next month.....

I wouldn't have said they have been cheap though. IME they were on par with KBIS and SEIB, just Petplan I have found to always been way more expensive....
 
ladyt25 said:
They gave large discounts last year for their centenary year
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My 'discount' last year was a 40% increase! :eek:

Despite them being brilliant with the claims I'd made in the 5 years I'd been with them, I couldn't afford the increase and had to go elsewhere. However, the additional cost of having to do a vetting to get the new policy and the silly excess on with my new insurer, I probably would have been cheaper or certainly broken even if I'd remained with them. Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it :(
 
Ah, well you've not been playing them right then - waht you do is get a premiun elsewhere tell NFU what it is and they (9 times out of 10) will give you a lower one! Often they do daft discounts and other insurers will just not bother to compete as it;s not worth it. Think depends on what office you're dealing with though as the various agents do different things.
 
Yes I've just moved from NFU after my renewal came through and the premium had gone up by a whopping 52% with no change to my policy and no claims made. I questionned them but they wouldn't say why or discuss it further or offer any discount. Moved to Kbis.
 
I just have a lump sum in a high interest savings account, and put some money in there each month. Much better idea than insurance, where you have to pay an excess, and 80% of the time they try to wriggle out of claims.
 
Mine doubled when I got my renewal through a few weeks ago so I shopped around and am now with CarriageHouse. Much cheaper!
 
Both my horse and household policies had increased considerably. Unfortunately as both horses are oldies I couldn't find move, but they did reduce the premium on the household policy when I threatened to go elsewhere. Ime its always worth trying to get renewal premiums down, most times the companies will be keen to hang on to your business.
 
I left nfu a couple of years back as premium went from 360 to 530 when I hadn't made claims!! Changed to pet plan as they were back bout 360!
 
BrambleandMonty said:
I just have a lump sum in a high interest savings account, and put some money in there each month. Much better idea than insurance, where you have to pay an excess, and 80% of the time they try to wriggle out of claims.
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Where did you find a 'High Interest Account'?.........at the moment I get next to no interest on lump sums in various institutions. Although I rarely have had to claim I've never had NFU try to wriggle out of a claim.
 
Yup pushed up the premiums last month on renewal (no claims ever made). Problem was pet plan came in more expensive and though SEIB came in £300 cheaper it would have cost me more than that to get 2x 5* vettings in order to move insurance. This is the problem with switching and I think they are potentially playing on it...
 
I've been with NFU for years and have had to claim from them on several occasions, and been really happy with them. However, I was a bit peeved this year when my renewal came through for my older horse.

The premium had gone up massively (over £300), and when I rang and queried it I was told it was because she was now a Veteran. When I started to say that I would have to look elsewhere because no way was I going to be able to affort the additional amount only then did they offer me a transfer onto their Veteran policy which actually works out less than I was paying!

I told them that they would have had better customer satisfaction if they had pointed out that she now qualified for Veteran cover when they sent my renewal out, but suspect that they don't bother to do that in the hope that the majority of people will just continue with the previous policy.
 
I kind of had the opposite re my 2, who are both technically veterans. Someone advised me to check that colic was still covered due to their age (its mainly why they are insured tbh, so if the worst happened I could afford surgery if it was suitable). I was initially told no they weren't, I had a good moan that I had been paying premium for 5 years on pony and no one had ever told me. They then double checked and said as they were still on standard policy they did have colic cover, had they been on a veteran policy they wouldn't have had it. So depending on what cover you want it might be worth checking the small print of the veteran policy very carefully.
 
MochaDun said:
Yes I've just moved from NFU after my renewal came through and the premium had gone up by a whopping 52% with no change to my policy and no claims made. I questionned them but they wouldn't say why or discuss it further or offer any discount. Moved to Kbis.
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You are exactly the same as me I nearly died when I saw NFU's new premium (so much for their tag line of "we reward loyalty" when I had been with them for 16 years with a total of £3700 in claims when I'd paid THEM somewhere in the region of £11,000 in premiums!) I also went to KBIS
 
I am dreading my renewals with NFU this year!!!!!

They USED to reward loyalty!!!!

I was very upset with them when they outsourced their claims - lost all my paperwork and even now my vets are still awaiting payment for a claim last year!!!!!!

I think I will be changing like everyone else! What a shame!
 
I stopped using NFU years ago when my friend insured her horse at the same branch; a higher value, older horse than I was insuring and her premium was miles cheaper than mine and I'd been with them for years and getting a loyalty discount. There really was a vast difference for the same cover. My premium also went up by a larger percentage the following year so I think they were making the figures up as they went along.:rolleyes:

I voted with my feet after that.
 
My horses policy went up from about £300 to about £425 this year!

Pleased to say I buggered off to Petplan for £350!

(Also used to have pony with them, charged me about £250, at renewal found Petplan for £120!)

Shame I had to move from NFU as I've always found them to be very good, paid out on my old mares claims no quibbles but I can't justify spending an extra £250 a year!
 
Interesting that you all seem to say Petplan is cheaper - a few months ago I enquired for my horse and they were higher than NFU. However I too have been hit by a massive hike in my premium, have had current horse for 5 years and paid £22 a month to begin with, last year it was £25 which it seems to have been for ages, then this year it has rocketed to £30. My horse is 9 years old and only had one minor claim. I have been with them for 10 years. I think I will look into SEIB next, they are reliable as NFU at paying out from experience (my other horse was insured with them by his loaner when he broke his leg).
 
touchstone said:
I stopped using NFU years ago when my friend insured her horse at the same branch; a higher value, older horse than I was insuring and her premium was miles cheaper than mine and I'd been with them for years and getting a loyalty discount. There really was a vast difference for the same cover. My premium also went up by a larger percentage the following year so I think they were making the figures up as they went along.:rolleyes:

I voted with my feet after that.
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Were the horses a similar breed? That has a huge impact on premium.

I had a 15hh mare that was a tb x insured for £1250. I sold her then bought a 15.3hh ISH of same age for £3500 and my premium went DOWN! When I queried it they said it was to do with the horses type and breeding. They obv reckon ISH are less risk than a tb x......
 
My NFU premium increased massively too this year but I didn't change because I was concerned about exclusions etc for previous claims if I went with PetPlan. I didn't realise you had to have a vetting if you changed insurers, is that mormal? :eek:
 
When I shopped around, Petplan were the same as my renewal with NFU. Very expensive. Petplan have also bombarded me with about 10 letters since simply getting a quote from them which I thought was a bit excessive!

If you insure your horse for less than 5k most insurers wont ask for any vetting. Also if you have owned your horse for more than 6 months I think they rarely ask for a vetting cert. I'm not sure what the rules are if your horse is over 5k.
 
galaxy23 said:
Were the horses a similar breed? That has a huge impact on premium.

I had a 15hh mare that was a tb x insured for £1250. I sold her then bought a 15.3hh ISH of same age for £3500 and my premium went DOWN! When I queried it they said it was to do with the horses type and breeding. They obv reckon ISH are less risk than a tb x......
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Both exactly the same breed, in fact they were half brother/sister!
 
Im with pet plan and just recently got my renewal thats over £150 more than last years i have looked around and KBIS seem the cheapest have sent an email to petplan to find out why my policy has increased so much and i think unless they can lower the price i will be changing ive been insured with petplan for 3 years but i cannot justify £ 500
 
Premiums for every insurance have to go up, regardless if you personally claim or not. Costs rise all the time, as do claims made by others. This has to be covered somewhere along the line, so ALL premiums have to rise.
 
I have two horses insured with them, my policy went up £10 per horse per month. bar once when they were slow at responding they have always been helpful and paid up for numerous claims.
I deal with teh main office though, not the local ones.
 
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