NFU rip off !!

M

mrussell

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 January 2002
Messages
2,126
Location
Suffolk
Visit site
I had a letter from NFU on Saturday to tell me that my excess has gone up to £200 because of a claim I made last year. It will stay at £200 for the next 2 years and will only come down again if I stay claim free in that period.

The worst of it is is that there are 2 other horses on that policy !!!!!!

Anyone else had this happen? I am appalled.
mad.gif
 
Not impressed with NFU at the moment either, they took ages to pay my vet for a claim, claim first made in April, had to keeping ringing them, they never returned my calls and have only just paid out. Kept saying there was a back log of paperwork, vets werent too happy either.
 
So do you not think its harsh to apply the same XS to my other 3 horses who have been fit and healthy ??

You cant compare car insurance to animal insurance.

Cars are slightly different, they dont career round paddocks or suffer diseases. Car Insurance doesnt cover rust so the car company doesnt have to price for that risk.
I have hardly been negligent with my horses or ridden one into another parked horse !! I could understand it if I had !!

Furthermore, car companies dont exclude parts of your car if you claim for damage to them and they dont charge me £1320pa to insure for the year either !

Harsh? I dont think so.

But thanks for your support.
 
Ive just had a letter saying no increase in excess after 3 claims totalling 6.5k this year have been made. Also no specific exculsions but they would check my claims with a fine tooth comb if any new ones were made. Unfortunatley i am now getting the said horse PTS.
 
[ QUOTE ]
So do you not think its harsh to apply the same XS to my other 3 horses who have been fit and healthy ??

[/ QUOTE ]

Just think yourself lucky that you only have had an increase in excess....

I have been slapped with a 'no cover for any illness/condition/disease prior to the most recent renewal (6/7/08)' following KS surgery on one horse..... he isn't the only horse on the policy
mad.gif
frown.gif
frown.gif
frown.gif
 
Horse insurance isn't fair and cannot be depended upon.

It just decreases the risk of some unexpected vets bills.

It's ridiculously expensive considering it's hardly a reliable safety net.

BUT, sometimes it is a serious lifeline worth having.

I think NFU are among the best of a bad bunch
crazy.gif
 
Also not too happy with the NFU at the moment. They applied loads of silly exclusions to my policy when I took it out for my new 5yr old. They were things which were noted down on the vet report but a bit daft, like insect bites. I know they have to cover themselves but insect bites? They excluded loads of other things as well, including his right front foot because he'd lost a shoe the day of the vetting and was 'footy on rough ground'. I've left him with them for now but I may change my policy next renewal time.

Last year our premium went up by 25% compared to the previous year. My dad questioned it and we were told it was because the horse was 17. At the time my parents just paid the premium. But this year we get a letter from them saying (words to this effect) 'your horse is now 18 would you like to reduce the value she's insured for'. Would it not have been better to send it the previous year?

I think like others have said though, insurance is a nightmare. Moved my older mare to Petplan now and she's only insured for accidental injury. But they've still excluded a soft tissue injury on her right fore unless I can get the vet to come out and write them a letter confirming she is now sound and has not suffered from the problem for 12months.

Car insurance is up for renewal in a month as well...joy

x
 
All of my policies have that anyway.... I thought that was standard?

If OH didnt event, I wouldnt bother to insure. I would just put the money in a pot !
 
Ooh snap! I got one the other day too, thought it was just me.

I thought it was a bit unfair that its applied to the policy number rather than the individual horses but they have been very good with payments so im willing to stick with them for now.
 
NFU applied an exclusion re fly bites too as my girlie comes up in bumps. But as they arent in themselves a prob and no evidence they should become one I asked them to make it a 12 months exclusion and then be removed provided the flybites hadnt led to anything, and they agreed to that.

They also tried on my other horse to exclude colic cover when he had a bit of tummy ache after his journey to us, again I persuaded them that was an overreaction and they agreed to remove the exclusion.

So although they can be bad at times, at least they do have underwriters with a brain who actually know one end of a horse from another.... and importantly at least they pay out on the things they do agree are covered!

I think the premium thing is a bit sharp, it should only go up for the proportion of the policy relating to the affected horse.
 
I've got nothing but praise for NFU after the way they have dealt with two claims for us. No increase in premiums or the excess. I would be questioning why the increase in excess has to apply to ALL your horses and not just the one you claimed for and see what they say?
 
My excess went up and I've only made one claim (two years ago) It also excludes anything that I've claimed for i.e. if I claim for something this year (hayfever as it happens) then after the policy is renewed next May, I'll never be able to claim for any sort of respiratory thing again. I'm thinking it's perhaps time to move, or put the money into an account every month.
Is there anyone who'll cover you for vets bills over a certain amount? I guess what I''m asking is can I put my excess up to £1000 and what kind of effect would it have in lowering my annual bill?
 
NFU have put my excess up too.... (£200)

Bounty.... I think you will find (though I may be wrong) that they now exclude anything for any horse that has happend before the date of the last renewal period.....

Its the new way of saving themselves having to exclude particular problems.......
 
I've got nothing but praise for NFU in the way they have dealt with any of my claims over the years. They are not the cheapest of insurers but certainly are not the most expensive. I got a quote for our new boy from NFU & Petplan amongst others (all were given same details) & Petplan was the most expensive of them all, being about £165 higher.
mad.gif


On reading the various threads regarding claims people have made it's a wonder that any of the horse insurance companies are staying in business.
crazy.gif


Changing insurers is fine, & you may get a better deal, but if you do not disclose problems your horse has or treatment he has received in the past, you may well find that your insurance will be void.
shocked.gif
 
Yes ive had the same happen to me. Ive got two horses on one policy. Ive had a claim for one but not the other but the excess has gone up for both
crazy.gif
crazy.gif
mad.gif
I rang them to query it and was quite rudely told the excess is in relation to the policy and not the horses. I will be waiting for my claim to "expire" then changing to someone else
crazy.gif
 
You think that is bad...had a £2K saddle added to my SEIB policy which increased my premium. Cos saddle turned out to be a very expensive P.O.S. and shoved my premium up by £10 a month. Eventually got all my money back for saddle so asked SEIB to remove it from my policy....would only have saved me £1 a month. Not going to renew with them next year as I am now paying £45 a month and have not made a claim in the last 7 years (horse in question now being 8 and of native breed).
 
I must say that I have always been happy with NFU until now. I have had over £3k stuff done to my boy starting 4 months ago, I keep getting reminders from the vets, phoned NFU and was told they hadn't even looked at my paperwork as there was a backlog, said they should look at it in about 2 weeks. I asked if they thought there would be any problems and she said 'was the horse vetted' so i replied no as he was £4250 and was told I didn't need to so she said 'oh um...' then 'why hasn't he had any history with vets' isn't this good??? They are moaning as I have not needed to have a vey out to him in that 8 months I have had him as the injections were done already when I got him!! So I am waiting with baited breath to see if they pay out!! Plus I am paying nearly £600 per horse which I think is a lot!!!
 
I think you will find that the exclusion of previous conditions will be the same on all policies who ever you insure with. You are asking them to insure your horse against normal risks, therefore if your horse has had a condition this becomes an abnormal risk so will no longer be covered. Have to say that I am with NFU and have always been very happy with them. I do every year at renewal time, have a look around at other companies to check that the rates are competeitive and I have to say that they are exceedingly good; it would cost me at least 50% more with petplan for example.

I am afraid that we have to accept the previous conditions are not covered after 12 months and really, why should they be? What I do think seems unfair is the hike in excesses, surely lossing the no claims discount is sufficient. I'll wait and see if I get a letter!!!

Sqip
 
Its not actually a new rule, simply a clarification. Any previous conditions could be expected to be excluded whether they stated it in your paper work or not. To avoid confusiojn they have now sensibly decided to just state that this is the case and not bother being specific. What it means is that hopefully no one is caught with unexpectedly having to pay them selves for conditions which the horse has had before but the owners chose not to claim for ( and often keep quiet from the insurers) when the insurers find out from checking the vet history that this condition has actually arisen before and they hadn't been told. If everyone knows that previous conditions are not covered then no one can moan when they get caught out.

Sqip
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top