Sky-high insurance premiums

[Muddy unicorn]

I’m trying to sort out insurance for my new arrival but the premiums are utterly ridiculous - so far quotes have ranged from £90 per month to £145 . This is for a not particularly expensive horse to be covered for hacking, unaffiliated competition and riding club stuff. I’ve tried getting quotes from all the usual places - PetPlan, NFU, SEIB, Insurance Emporium etc. I’m thinking of taking out catastrophe cover with colic surgery (he’s young enough to be a good candidate if the worst happened) but then thinking is that risky for the first year? When we first got insurance for my daughter’s very similar pony club horse the premiums were less than £30 a month and that was only about 6 years ago.

 

[Birker2020]

I’m trying to sort out insurance for my new arrival but the premiums are utterly ridiculous - so far quotes have ranged from £90 per month to £145 . This is for a not particularly expensive horse to be covered for hacking, unaffiliated competition and riding club stuff. I’ve tried getting quotes from all the usual places - PetPlan, NFU, SEIB, Insurance Emporium etc. I’m thinking of taking out catastrophe cover with colic surgery (he’s young enough to be a good candidate if the worst happened) but then thinking is that risky for the first year? When we first got insurance for my daughter’s very similar pony club horse the premiums were less than £30 a month and that was only about 6 years ago.

You can mitigate some of the insurance cost by not having your tack insured (most people's tack rooms wouldn't be covered if its not alarmed/level mortice locks, etc) so you often end up paying for tack that wouldn't be covered in the event of a theft anyway.

You could also reduce your premium by having a more expensive excess or by valuing your horse a thousand pounds less.
I am worried that my previous history of claims for Lari although only £3.8k will have a knock on effect when I purchase a new horse. Which is totally unfair in reality. But I can understand from an insurance assessors point of view.

 

[Birker2020]

You can mitigate some of the insurance cost by not having your tack insured (most people's tack rooms wouldn't be covered if its not alarmed/level mortice locks, etc) so you often end up paying for tack that wouldn't be covered in the event of a theft anyway.

You could also reduce your premium by having a more expensive excess or by valuing your horse a thousand pounds less.

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[Muddy unicorn]

That’s without tack and dropping the purchase price ..and no loss of use either

 

[Birker2020]

That’s without tack and dropping the purchase price ..and no loss of use either

Oh gawd. What a nightmare. Maybe put the money aside every month.
I'm saving for my next horse and intend to pay the annual insurance premium in one go so I'm currently saving for that (and other disbursements) as I have the purchase price covered now.
I nearly fell off my chair when they quoted me £95 per month for Lari in October 2021.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I'd recommend always insuring the horse for vet fees for the first year , even with high premiums, as there is no such thing as a totally sound and healthy horse.
Things like hock arthritis are incredibly common, the average age for diagnosis and treatment is 6!
So I'd be inclined to take out insurance, wait a few months and then at the first sign of any issue ,.get everything scanned, x-rayed , injected etc.
I had everything done in the first two years of owning my horse , they since excluded pretty much everything so I've now got cover from World Horse Welfare for £150 for the year for external injuries only.
But I've had my boy x-rayed and body scanned pretty thoroughly so if any further issues arrive, my vet has a baseline to start from.

 

[w1bbler]

Personally I'd fully insure for the first year, even though its expensive. During that time you'll get a feel for the new horse, change of home / life style will often reveal issues that were not apparent with previous routine & exercise.
Look at how many people on here run into problems with horses that have been 5 stage vetted. There are also so many dishonest sellers and a vetting is no guarantee there isn't something underlying.

 

[Birker2020]

Personally I'd fully insure for the first year, even though its expensive. During that time you'll get a feel for the new horse, change of home / life style will often reveal issues that were not apparent with previous routine & exercise.
Look at how many people on here run into problems with horses that have been 5 stage vetted. There are also so many dishonest sellers and a vetting is no guarantee there isn't something underlying.

And so say all of us

 

[Fielder]

Sorry to jump on post but Im also looking at insurances for new horse subject to vetting, looking to cover for death but debating on whether to add on loss of use (hacking schooling) goes up from £75 to £95? So many unknowns with a new horse

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

Try Agria, they do lifetime insurance rather than something not being covered after a year, and you co-insure so pay 20% towards claims for life, rather than an excess and 100% after a year. They are also very reasonable in the majority of cases

 

[SEL]

Painful isn't it? I've only got baby cob insured now, the other two are via Harry Hall's accident policy. I'd echo others though and insure fur year one. I'd only had the micro cob a couple of months when I realised breathing was a problem and that cost me £3k!!

 

[Muddy unicorn]

Thanks - you’re all echoing my gut feeling. He sailed through his vetting but I’m only too aware of how quickly vet bills can mount up. What’s thrown me is the incredibly steep increase in premiums compared to not that many years ago. I can understand my daughter’s competition horse needing high premiums as she’s affiliated but for essentially a happy hacker to cost 3-4 times more now is ridiculous.

 

[Muddy unicorn]

Try Agria, they do lifetime insurance rather than something not being covered after a year, and you co-insure so pay 20% towards claims for life, rather than an excess and 100% after a year. They are also very reasonable in the majority of cases

Thanks for this - they were much more reasonable . I know there’s a fairly hefty co-payment but not a huge difference to the insurance emporium who now charge 17% and exclude everything after a year ..

 

[Bobthecob15]

We found similar, not insuring tack or any sort of personal accident or 3rd party (we have separate insurance) AND 3k less than the price of the horse and it was still over £80 a month...its jumped a lot in the last year when we insured the previous horse for the same amount! We found NFU was the cheapest for us x

 

[Bobthecob15]

Thanks - you’re all echoing my gut feeling. He sailed through his vetting but I’m only too aware of how quickly vet bills can mount up. What’s thrown me is the incredibly steep increase in premiums compared to not that many years ago. I can understand my daughter’s competition horse needing high premiums as she’s affiliated but for essentially a happy hacker to cost 3-4 times more now is ridiculous.

Yes its definitely gone up a lot in the last 18 months!

 

[Melody Grey]

Personally I'd fully insure for the first year, even though its expensive. During that time you'll get a feel for the new horse, change of home / life style will often reveal issues that were not apparent with previous routine & exercise.
Look at how many people on here run into problems with horses that have been 5 stage vetted. There are also so many dishonest sellers and a vetting is no guarantee there isn't something underlying.

I think this is good advice. You have a 12 month window to get the horse up and running as you mean to go on, sound out and treat anything that comes up….and then decide whether to continue- it might be apparent that there’s more to come, or you might have everything excluded, in which case there’s no point continuing to insure!!

 

[Britestar]

So I'd be inclined to take out insurance, wait a few months and then at the first sign of any issue ,.get everything scanned, x-rayed , injected etc.

And this is why everyone's premiums are so high.

 

[SO1]

I have gone with NFU again and insured for Berties full value 8.5k with a £400 excess and it is £129 a month.

One of the reasons I was able to have Bertie was because NFU paid out over 5k towards the vet bill and paid out on replacement horse. My vet bill was over 7k and whilst I did have a 10K emergency fund for vet bills not covered by insurance I didn't have to dip into it much. Bertie is insured but he also has the back up of the emergency funds too.

Over the 15 years I had Homey I had some big claims including a broken splint bone, 5k on investigations when the vet thought he had a heart condition when he was not well which turned out to be tape worm, 4 fillings, 2 soft tissue injuries plus the gastric impaction and ulcer claim during the last 2 months of his life. The glandular ulcer possibly being caused by the week he had in hospital when he was being starved and tubed twice a day and scoped to see if the blockage was dissolved it took nearly a week to clear his stomach when they finally cleared it they found the ulcer. Having the insurance was definitely worth it. Homey passed his 5 stage vettings with no concerns as did Bertie who I also had x rayed. Most of the big bills came from the age of 17 (fillings, soft tissue injuries, gastic impaction and ulcer, pts)

 

[asmp]

If Shearwater are still around try them. They are brokers and were always very helpful when I insured my horse (too old now for insurance)

 

[criso]

I had some competative quotes from Equesure when i was looking. They are a broker so can compare a few companies.

Just wanted to add I've seen equally high increases in travel insurance, contents insurance and the block insurance for the building. It seems insurance generally is going up.

 

[Sossigpoker]

And this is why everyone's premiums are so high.

What utter bullocks. If you've got insurance , why shouldn't you use it?

 

[Britestar]

By all means use it, but everyone complains when the premiums increase.

Its a business and needs to make money, therefore lots of claims = increase for everyone.

 

[Bobthecob15]

By all means use it, but everyone complains when the premiums increase.

Its a business and needs to make money, therefore lots of claims = increase for everyone.

Absolutely...a friend works for NFU, she said the number of claims they have had has gone through the roof!

 

[Upthecreek]

That is why insurance companies reduce premiums if insurers are prepared to pay a substantial excess. Higher excess = less likely to make lots of claims.

 

[Melody Grey]

That is why insurance companies reduce premiums if insurers are prepared to pay a substantial excess. Higher excess = less likely to make lots of claims.

And policies with co-payments on claims.

 

[expanding_horizon]

What utter bullocks. If you've got insurance , why shouldn't you use it?

I don’t think you understand how pricing works. The underwriters have to make money across the book of policies written. If there are more claims the overall premiums rise for everyone for new policies / next year.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I don’t think you understand how pricing works. The underwriters have to make money across the book of policies written. If there are more claims the overall premiums rise for everyone for new policies / next year.

But again- why shouldn't I use the insurance I pay for ?
I know exactly how pricing works.

 

[Sossigpoker]

By all means use it, but everyone complains when the premiums increase.

Its a business and needs to make money, therefore lots of claims = increase for everyone.

If I wasn't going to use the insurance, there would be no point in having it!

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

Just insured our newbie with NFU for £100/month ..practically double what I was paying for the other two combined…

 

[scats]

Millies went up to £90 from £45 a month. I have decided to cancel Polly’s when her renewal comes round and just insure Millie.
Polly has lots of exclusions now anyway.