Opinions PLEASE! horse insurance...and a sort of how much...

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KatB

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Just got my renwal letter for Goddy's insurance. Has set me thinking, he is currently only insured for the minimum amount possible, but I think I should probably up it...but if so what to approx?! He is a 6yr ISH gelding, 100% hack box shoe etc, competing BE at the mo (ready to go PN in new season), good dressage reg getting 8's for his paces, won and placed at unaff ODE's, placed and won regularly showing as a 3/4yr old?

Also my policy is also currently for 85% of vets fees after the excess, except colic surgery where it is 100% after excess, was thinking of changing it to the policy that insures for 100% of vets fees after excess, but has a limit upto £1000 for everything except "life saving" surgery (broken bones, colic, joint infections etc) where it goes to £5000? What do other peopl cover in their insurance?

Help and opinions very much appreciated
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Mm I don't like all this fussiness about all the different vets bills/colic bills at all! Just gives them so much to have an excuse about and to try and worm their way out off! Can they not just do a simple policy like other companies? I.E with Petplan they pay out 100% of vets fees on any condition up to £5000 after an excess of £115 which I think is brill. No fuss, no questions.

Re; value, I think you can end up spending 100's of pounds extra on insurance when increasing value and that can all add up to so much over the years. LOU is so hard to prove in a lot of cases -virtually impossible.I just insure for whatever it would cost me to replace the horse regardless of the training its had. For me I guess I would insure my own horses for £2k because I know I could get a good quality ex racehorse for that, obv untrained but with all the ability there.

If you are insuring for G's full value I guess about £6k?
 
Hmm, thanks for that. They do do a 100% vets fees, but only covers upto £3500, and know it can EASILY go higher than that....Would never insure for LOU, waste of money IMHO, He is currently insured for £2.5k, but knida think would like something to do the same as him if (god for bid it should happen) I ever lost him.
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I just have Grace insured for what I bought her for... I inquired about upping it, but it added quite a lot to my premium so decided against it. All my vet fees are up to £5000 which I am so thankful for with what she has had done recently!

I personally would not increase value, but would increase vet fee so it is 100% for everything and up to £5000 for everything too... as Christmas_Derby said, too many differences just gives them an excuse not to pay
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Yes I know how you feel! It just takes so many years to train up a green horse again. But on the other hand there are just far too many horses out there and nowhere near enough owners! so if the worse did come to the worse..I'd bet you'd find something..
 
If you up the value of the horse does it actually up the amount you get on your vets fees?

I think that the only reason would be if you are insuring for loss of use, but then they have so many ways of getting round paying out for loss of use that is it worth it? I think they also quite often ask you to turn the horse out in the field for a year to see if it would recover.

My suggestion would be insure for minimum value you can to get max vets fees cover. Work out what the extra cost of your premium would be if you upped his value, open a 2nd bank account and put aside the extra you would spend on his premium and you could soon save enough money that if you had a serious problem you've got the funds for a solution.
 
Yeah well that was my thought....the vets value stays at upto £3500 on 100% regardless of value...or £5000 on the 2 ive mentioned...tried to get a quote with NFU but they wouldnt because he hasnt got a recent vetting, even when insuring for less than i paid for him!!!
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Petplan wanted a 2stage doing as well, which i am loathed to pay out when i have owned him for near on 3 yrs without a claim *touches wood*!
 
I have Olympic insured for £1 below the cut off if you haen't got a 5* vet certificate (he is insured for less than I paid for him). I'd just pay out for 100% vet fees cover, means the insurance company is less llike to wiggle out of paying out should you need to claim.
 
We have £5K fro any veterinary treatment, cover for additonal therapy such as remedial shoeing, physio etc
Also covers diagnosis, transport to hospital, half hosptila livery costs etc
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85% after excess on £1K is hardly worth having?
I look for a company that offers a lot more.
 
I've got Badger insured for about 2k I think.. as long as I get vets bills then thats okay for me, I don't want to pay tons out each month on insurance..

to get something like godders again I reckon you'd have to pay a bit though - he's so colourful and pretty!
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I'm thinking 7 or 8k?
 
I had 100% vet's fees with Petplan, they pay out up to 5K and cover for life as well. Didn't bother with that hi-excess nonsense (500 quid!)...that was my main reason for insuring her and so didn't bother with loss of use. Am kind of kicking myself now as she's been retired for medical reasons and now I can't afford to buy anything decent to replace her. Doh!
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If he were mine I would probably opt for a policy that covered 100% of vets bills up to £5000 (this seems to be the norm).

2 things will bump your premiums up
1) adding loss of use
2) increasing his value

You have to make a personal descision based on your circumstances as to whether you want to add LOU or increase his value. Just bear in mind there are a hell of a lot of get out clauses on a LOU.

I would probably value your horse around the 5-6 K mark and a lot of companies will take a horse without vetting up to 5K

If he were mine I'd insure him circa 3K (what it would cost to buy a green 3/4yo off the boat), no LOU, and would go with NFU. From my experience with them you would be looking around £35 per month. Policy is all inclusive and very comprehensive, only downside is they only pay half an MRI should it ever be needed, upside they will cover hospital stabling, transport and remedial / alternative therapies.
 
Hi, just like to say I am an underwriter for a insurance company providing cover for horses, that is your average rider's type of horse not racehorses etc etc.

The vets fees insurance cover mentioned (up to £1000 is that right?) does not sound adequate at all and I have no idea what company offers that. From the amount of claims we have I would say the average vets bills are at least £1500-£2000.

You certainly need to shop around for quotes and find what cover suits you best as some things included you may not need so are paying for cover you won't use. Loss of Use cover is generally something I would only suggest for someone competing their horse as then claim settlement would be based on the fact the horse would not be able to continue in the activity it was intended for. The reason Loss of Use is there is so in the event the horse was permanently incapacitated (ie with navicular as an example) you would receive settlement up to the sum insured of that horse the intention being you can purchase a replacement animal up to a similar level of the existing.

You would be amazed how many people who do not have loss of use have their horses destroyed cos they don't want the expense or hassle of having a horse that can't do anything then try claim for death. An insurance company is very unlikely to pay under the death section of a policy for this is the horse could have quite happily lived out it's days as a companion and was not a case for immediate humane destruction. That is when a Loss of Use (for the death) claim would be valid. It is also the reason Loss of use cover is pretty expensive.

My advice would be always try to check the small print and ask around friends etc for their experiences with companies. Also check restrictions for things like tack cover as certain companies restrict thefts where there are more than say 5 horses on a yard (we do not restrict this seeing as many people would be in this situation on livery yards!)

A rough estimate for a price for a horse valued/with a sum insured of £6000 for death, theft, PL, Vets Fees (£5000/incident ) would be around £500 - £550 annually.

Vets certs are only required for certain ages/values of horses say if the horse is over 10 years of age and over £2000 or any horse valued over £5000.

Hope that's of some help - soz for the length of message!!!
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