Pro's/Con's of claiming LOU ..

We claimed LOU for one of ours, and it certainly wasn't as low as that - it was a while ago, but around 80% sounds about right to me. There is nothing wrong with going back to them and saying the amount offered is too low (same idea as when a car is written off, you never accept their first offer!) Their business is to expend as little cash as possible - go back and tell them you believe the LOU figure should be around 4800.
 
Surely you don't get to just pick a figure to insure them for, no offence but from what you have posted before was she really worth 6k- I believe you had just broken her and she had no competition record to speak of, obviously I don't know her breeding but it would have to be v good for something unproven to be worth that amount. Maybe you paid that for her I don't know?!
 
ILD has a point. It may well depend on what value Sol would be (all medical issues apart), rather than the amount you pay the premiums for!

When Tiggy was PTS, I had to provide proof that she was worth the £3k I had her insured for. The fact that I'd paid premiums for £3k was academic (it's in the small print!).
 
Hmm, can I just put into the equation if you had her PTS they would pay out the amount insured OR THE MARKET VALUE, WHICHEVER IS LESS.... Market value for Sol= £0, I would claim the LOU tbh.
 
Am I reading it right that they are saying they want to deduct the vets fees paid to date from her value, leaving a LOU value of £1.5k?

If so, I'd question that, if you are insured for vets fee's and LOU, one doesn't cancel the other out, you are entitled to try and treat the horse first (and ultimately fix it in some cases) and claim LOU if treatment doesn't work.
 
I think you've got muddled with the £1500. NFU paid out 80% on my mare. They ask for a value before she went wrong ie £3500 and the current value (considered £500), but still paid out on the full 80% of the sum insured ie I got £2800.

if they've only offered you £1500 then whats the point of insuring for LOU
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If he's insured for £6000 but considered worth £1500 now, I'm sure they'll payout on the £6k provided all other conditions are met. After they paid out they offered me an insurance policy to cover her for the future but can't remember the details as I've ditched it now.
 
No your are not reading it right.

Vets fees and Loss of Use are 2 seperate covers they are therefore treated differently.

As you will see in my earlier post they will pay 80% of SI or market value, which ever is less. Vets fees do not come into it at all.
 
Right, your horse warrants a LOU claim. You could not get LOA claim because your horse does not now warrant a case for immediate euthanasia and, when your renewal is due the insurer will exclude the current degenerative conditions so, even if she DID require immediate euthanasia then it would not be covered after your renewal date (general policy wise anyway).

As for LOU this too will have a time frame for which you can claim this. It is generally 365 days after the renewal (whether you renew or not) providing the condition occurred before the renewal (which it has).

You say your claim runs out in March 2010 - is this right? Usually you have 12 mths only from the start date of the claim and surely this was before March 2009? Anyway, I would talk to the insurance company again as I think you may well be confused about what they are telling you.

If you haven't used up all your vets fees limit already then i would suggest use that for the treatment you need until the time limit / vets fees limit is reached. You can then still claim for LOU cover (as all avenues of treatment are exhausted) and depending on the amount of work the horse can do or how much 'use' she is they are likely to settle on a % basis of her sum insured or market value as it would have been if she was healthy. This is generally anything from 60% upwards so I don't think they will have offered you only £1500 for her??

You could elect to have her put down if you felt her quality of life was not acceptable to you/ a vet as at the end of the day it is a degenerative condition. This two would be claimable under LOU and should be to the full value (ie 100%). This is what LOU is for. You cannot claim under LOA unless the horse NEEDS euthanasing with LOU you can if the condition warrants it and the vet agrees it is full LOU. OR (so many scenarios) if the horse has NO other use other than that of a field ornament then again you can claim 100% LOU. Do not let the company argue you can use for breeding or that it has a 'use' as a companion!

We (company I work for) have just settled for a similar case - the horse is no longer rideable and will just be a field ornament. Settlement was on 100% basis.

Obviously I do not work for NFU and their policy may differ - but only slightly. Get your vet or even an experienced horse person to help you talk to NFU if you feel your parents maybe don't understand. Your vet WILL they deal with these sorts of things a lot.
 
Krissi - thats what I mean, one doesn't cancel the other out, they are unrelated - i.e. if you claim vets fees, but then still cant use the horse so go for LOU, the fact that they have paid say £5k on vets doesn't mean they take that away from the value of the horse (£6k) and there's your LOU amount (£1k).

I was asking if I had read the other posts correctly and that's what was being offered here...

Surely market value should be market value before the horse broke, otherwise what would be the point of anyone insuring for LOU??
 
The market value is the market value before the horse goes lame, or the SI (Sum insured).

If she is being offered £1500 then she may want to check her policy schedule as she may have insured the animal for less then she thinks.

Any hores insured with NFU with an SI of over £5000 would have to have a 5 stage vetting to gain that value. We do not increase or decrease the value of a horse without written confirmation from the insured.

I work for NFU and as the horsey person in my office I am the one that deals with the policies!
 
If you don't claim LOU now and you wait until you PTS in say 6 years time, her market value at that point will be next to nothing so your payout will be tiny (as KatB has said!). And all that time you've been spending and spending with no hope of any fun for yourself.

And if she's already in pain are you going to put her though colic surgery (for example) or some other major treatment requiring box rest for months? In all seriousness it is worth thinking about. My TB is not insured for medical treatment as he has so many exclusions and has so many things wrong that if anything bad happens I will PTS for his own sake. He wouldn't want any more box rest.

Find out what kind of cover you get for LOU horses as a first step.
 
Exactly you have no idea what we paid for her , what she'd done or how she is bred ... if you did you may understand why she is insured for that amount
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This is all rather complicated! I would want to hold off until the year was nearly up then see where you are, it could be that sh'es going to come right then no need for LOU or she's not 100% but pain free so oculd claim LOU and use her as a light hack or it could be that she's no better then you can decide between LOU or PTS.

The simplier option would be PTS now and take loss of animal for the full amount, depends how bad she is really and what chances she has of getting better.
 
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The simplier option would be PTS now and take loss of animal for the full amount, depends how bad she is really and what chances she has of getting better.

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Ofcourse this would be most simple ... and its not an option
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The market value is the market value before the horse goes lame, or the SI (Sum insured).

If she is being offered £1500 then she may want to check her policy schedule as she may have insured the animal for less then she thinks.

Any hores insured with NFU with an SI of over £5000 would have to have a 5 stage vetting to gain that value. We do not increase or decrease the value of a horse without written confirmation from the insured.

I work for NFU and as the horsey person in my office I am the one that deals with the policies!

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Ah, Tiggy was with E and L, hence the difference (Dizzy is with NFU
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Exactly you have no idea what we paid for her , what she'd done or how she is bred ... if you did you may understand why she is insured for that amount

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Hmmm! Ultimately I would be reading small print very carefully and claiming LOU at the latest possiblke date so you get the most out of your vets fee payout.
 
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Hmm, can I just put into the equation if you had her PTS they would pay out the amount insured OR THE MARKET VALUE, WHICHEVER IS LESS.... Market value for Sol= £0, I would claim the LOU tbh.

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I assume you are talking about the future ? Not right now as that isn't the case if they ok'd euthanasia now ?
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Yes she was vetted and yes I am now sat with the policy infront of me stating how much she is insured for.

I will ring NFU tomorrow as I need to find out what's going on with the payment of her vets bills too.

Just a quick question as you are one of the best people to ask..

As soon as I've shown i've said I wan't her LOU'd will the vets cover stop from that moment or when she is actually branded and everything ?
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Yes I mean in the future. However, you would struggle to justify the market value at 6k before the more recent diagnosis tbh in my experience of claims when the "market value" has come into it (which is becoming more and more common with claims unfortunately...) being as she was a 4/5yr old with lttle or no riding record to speak of, no competition record and as you state, not great conformation for showing/competition "potential"....
 
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Exactly you have no idea what we paid for her , what she'd done or how she is bred ... if you did you may understand why she is insured for that amount

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Hmmm! Ultimately I would be reading small print very carefully and claiming LOU at the latest possiblke date so you get the most out of your vets fee payout.

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Care to explain the Hmmm!
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In an ideal world that would be the best solution I guess , just need to work it all out ....
 
Again I don't believe she is worth 6k... I just believe she is worth more that 1.5k .. simple
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And she's not got catastrophic conformation really .. yes none of its ideal but she doesn't belong on FHOTD just yet
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The Hmm was in relation to the "What shes done/how she is bred" as she hadnt done alot if I remember rightly, and her breeding is irrespective if she cant do a job due to conformation/soundness issues (that you have brought up numerous times
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Pretty much from the second you start the claim for LOU you will no longer get the vets fees paid. You will get them paid up to that date though.

The one thing I would advise is that you dont ring and talk about LOU and then carry on with VF for a few months and then try LOU as they may not pay out! As LOU is meant to be taken from the point the vet says they can no long preform their duties!
 
I've picked her confo apart time after time and yes its not that great neither is it that bad
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I take the piss out of her conformation before I let other people rip it to shreds
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Also , you must not have 'noticed' me before her problems then seeing as she was sound and in work for a while before an injury led us to the millions of weeks of box rest
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Ok, I'm not going to get in discussion with you about it
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I just know my friend whose eventer who had been placed at PN and was insured for 6k had problems, she really had problems justifying his value even though he had a very good competition record, thats all
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I'm not getting at you or Sol personally, just stating facts how I find them based on my fairly decent amount of experience
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You don't have to justify to me how much she is worth but the insurance company would want some justification for a figure! She was 5 (?) when the problems started so plenty of time to establish a ridden career and possibly some sort of affiliated record if she had the sort of potential the figure justifies yet she has no competition record to speak off. Yes the breeding may have been a trump card but you just told us her conformation is rubbish so she could have the best breeding in the world but if the conformation is no good then it doesn't mean a thing! I agree with KatB in the current market you would struggle to get that money and so in the insurers view her market value would be less as in their eyes you could pick up something the same for less.
 
You pay out would be based on market value, or sum insured before the accident. With purchased horses, the market value is easy to establish, the amount paid, if the sale was recent. However, if you can show extensive schooling (things like receipts for breaking / training etc) or you can prove that the horse would have been worth more (for example, if you had trained / brought on similar other horses within the same time frame (we used to buy a lot of 3/4 year olds, which would quadruple in value through the schooling we did in house, the exposure to different disciplines etc) then you may be able to prove a higher market value than what was paid. It works the other way for older horses, with their market value decreasing with age. If you don't believe she was worth 6k before this, what do you think she was worth? Then you can look at 80% of that figure.
 
I'm not planning on getting into a discussion about it . I just feel like I should , for once defend her as I am constantly reminded at my yard what a useless piece of rubbish she is and in all honesty she would have been a very nice horse and made me very happy
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And as I've said before I don't think she is worth 6k . I just know she is worth more than they have offered
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