Public Liability Insurance problem

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gem1979

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Hi,

I have public liabilty insurance through the BHS Gold membership but am now worried about the extent of the cover. A friend was involved in a driving accident where she was driving 2 horses belonging to other people. In the incident, 2 cars were damaged. My friend has been a gold member of the BHS for over 30 years and thought that the insurance cover would pay out in this instance - the horses weren't injured, just the cars. The insurers are now asking for the insurance details of the two horses as they want to spread the claim. The incident has been classed as an accident and my friend cleared of any negligence. Why should the insurers make a claim on the horses individual policies and in turn, increase their owners premiums when my friend has public liability insurance of her own? Has anyone else had similar problems?

I am worried that I don't own my own horse but share instead. He is fully insured by his owner but if we cause damage to someone/something whilst I'm riding him will my policy suffice (if the horse is not injured) or will his owners policy be affected?

The insurance the BHS offer is a big selling point in going for Gold Membership but is it worth it?
 
I had an accident a few years ago which we claimed under our household policy for Public Liability. My horse spooked at something, reared and flipped himself over backwards, deposited me on the floor with a twisted ankle and trotted over an A road junction where he sat on a car. The insurers didn't pay out as they said it was a 'freak accident' where I could in no way be found to blame and the car that he sat on was going over the 40 mph speed limit - despite my horse being loose on a main road and sitting on a car. As the woman driving only had 3rd party herself, she got nothing and I now have to avoid her as I have had a couple of sticky moments when I have bumped into her in the local supermarket...
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Having said that, the BHS gold public liability cover did me proud when one of my dressage horses attacked another pony in the field and ran up a vets bill of 3000 on the other pony. They didn't pay out then either as I was proven not to be negligent (again!) but they fought my corner for me when I might otherwise have ended up in court. I think it is worth it for peace of mind, but they won't pay out if they find you weren't at fault - which is really the same as car insurance!
 
Public liability is optional with NFU, but I wouldn't take the risk of not having it as it only cost £30 for the year. I don't know if all household policies would cover the horse for public liability.
 
i'm not surprised by this at all , & think it wouldn't be an issue if there were no other policy in place , i recently had a none horse related insurance claim & the insurers asked several times if there was any other policy that would cover the loss , basically they want to limit their payout , & as such why shouldn't they? if another insurer covers the liability too why should one insurer take all of the hit?
 
Insurance companies always want to find out what other insurance there is and then they say that one is the main insurance and they can pay for it, if there is no other insurance then they usually take it on
 
Ditto.. it is standard practice for insurance companies to have a sniff round to see if there is any other insurer who will share the costs! They are not doing this *because* the insurance was with the BHS. They would do it no matter who you were insured with.

BHS Gold membership insurance is very good policy.
 
Always read the small print!!!

Gold membership is not worth the paper it is written on! Friend went hunting and got kicked badly-air ambulance and hospital including a pin job-she gets out her Gold membership and calls to find out she wont get a penny as she didn't lose her leg!!!! WTF! She had to employ people to run her company and got no salary herself!

So gold membership cancelled!
 
I think that's a bit harsh on the BHS, the insurance is third party liabilty not income protection!!! FYI I pay around £70 a month for income protection, not £50pa !
 
[ QUOTE ]
I think that's a bit harsh on the BHS, the insurance is third party liabilty not income protection!!! FYI I pay around £70 a month for income protection, not £50pa !

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, it is there to cover your liability for damage to others property or for their losses, not for your own.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Always read the small print!!!

Gold membership is not worth the paper it is written on! Friend went hunting and got kicked badly-air ambulance and hospital including a pin job-she gets out her Gold membership and calls to find out she wont get a penny as she didn't lose her leg!!!! WTF! She had to employ people to run her company and got no salary herself!

So gold membership cancelled!

[/ QUOTE ]

But that is personal injury, not public liability
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As has already been said, she ought to have claimed off the person whose horse kicked her.
 
Understand totally what you mean.
4 yrs ago my horse literally stood on a friends head causing damage (friend in hospital for nearly a yr - great believer in hats now I can tell you).Anyway petplan sent me to solicitor who asked if my house insurance covered me for public liability,it did.Petplan would not move foreward til I checked and informed house insurance.
I was like you,thats what I thought my horse insurance was for,seperate from house insurance.But no solicitor says insurance companies do this basically so they can share the payout if any.
As it was friend didn't make a claim soon enough and missed deadline (shame cos she did deserve something has at least 5% permenant damage and a hole in skull to boot) but when other half change insurance companies he noticed we had a #3000 liability claim-it was seemingly Petplan claiming half solicitor etc costs.
Opened my eyes re insurance as I wasn't insured for what horse did as such but insured for being sued,if that makes sense.
They really don't like paying out more than they have to do they.
 
QUOTE "They really don't like paying out more than they have to do they"

They are a business there to make money for their shareholders. They pay out under the terms of the policy and its people not understanding those terms that causes the problems. Why should they pay out for things that they havent signed up to??
 
Thank you for the comments and your experiences - sounds like this is fairly typical then. Just seems extremely unfair that people who weren't involved have their policies hiked up especially as it was a true accident. I suppose I've been lucky and haven't had to deal with a claim before - I wrongly assumed household insurance was for houses and horse insurance for horses!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I think that's a bit harsh on the BHS, the insurance is third party liabilty not income protection!!! FYI I pay around £70 a month for income protection, not £50pa !

[/ QUOTE ]

BHS Gold Membership does provide Personal Accident Cover but only for accidental death, loss of limbs, or total permanent disablement.
 
Every insurance company will try to mitigate it's losses on a claim so sharing it with another insurance company if you are covered by others is standard practice.

The BHS policy is good as it gives cover up to £10,000,000 which is beter than a lot of others. In this day and age one needs £10,000,000 third party/public liability cover. The policy only covers a small amount of personal injury and if you want to hike it up get another personal accident policy.
 
Oh totally understand they are in it for the money!
And yes totally niave when it came to it.I stupidily/niavely thought horse insurance was for horse and house was for house,didn't realise they could sort of 'poach' off your other insurances.Felt like I was paying for the same thing twice if you see what I mean.I knew my house covered me for public liability but thought that would be house related-you know postie slipping on path sort of thing.
As I said it was a real eye opener but hey you live and learn
 
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