Value of horse for insurance

Abi90

Abi90

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How do you even begin to know what value to put your horse down on its insurance?

I initially insured him for the sum I paid for him (£3500), which was probably a bit too much but now I'm not sure if he's worth more or less or the right amount but with my renewal coming round I want to get it about right.

Should you insure for market value? I've looked at adverts but there seems to be no consistency in how much people ask for their horses! He could be anywhere between £2k and £5k :(
 
haven't a clue!
I paid £2.00 for my currently insured horse, I put her value down as £2k because I thought I could pick up something half decent at the beginning of its ridden journey for that if the worst happened.

I have no idea what she's worth. On the one hand, she's a talented trainable dressage horse almost ready for Medium and playing with baby stuff towards higher levels. On the other hand, she's too small, horrid to hack and not remotely suitable for novices or nervous riders. I suspect she's still worth £2 tbh!!

I do think you have to be careful not to underinsure just to get the premium down, but on the other hand I don't think it matters too much at the lower scale... perhaps you should discuss with your insurers, they are usually good at offering advice.
 
I think this depends on what your insurance cover includes. Every year when I get my renewal I phone the insurance company and ask how I can get the cost down. I reduce his value every year but as my reason for insuring is vet bills and third party the value is pretty irrelevant. I don't insure for loss of use and in my experience insurance rarely pays out if you have to have a horse put down unless it's a dire emergency and I'm prepared to accept that risk.
 
Sadly most insurers will find any way possible to wriggle out of paying the value of your horse. If is a mare regardless of whether it is suitable to breed from you get less loss of use money as it can have a foal. If you decide to PTS for any reason and they can refuse to pay if regardless of outcome their condition has even the slightest chance of being able to be left in a field. So I personally I chose the lower value so we can cover vets bills and third party and bank the difference in premiums to replace the horse should the worst happen.
 
Generally policies will pay the sum insured or market value, whichever the lesser.

If you have over insured in the event of a death they will only pay the market value and will not refund any premium so it benefits to insure the value accurately.

It is always hard to put a number on it as horses are priceless to the owner.

Best way is to think if you were to sell your horse tomorrow, how much would you want for it? Or similarly if you were to purchase an exact same type how much would you be willing to spend.
 
windand rain said:
Sadly most insurers will find any way possible to wriggle out of paying the value of your horse. If is a mare regardless of whether it is suitable to breed from you get less loss of use money as it can have a foal. If you decide to PTS for any reason and they can refuse to pay if regardless of outcome their condition has even the slightest chance of being able to be left in a field. So I personally I chose the lower value so we can cover vets bills and third party and bank the difference in premiums to replace the horse should the worst happen.
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Bit of a sweeping statement there to say most insurers! I would say actually there's a small select few.

There is new legislation in force which is very consumer friendly and is stricter on insurers. For example, if you have breached the policy terms, they cannot reject a claim if that breach has no bearing on the claim at all.
 
not come across one yet that would allow you to PTS without intensive treatment regardless of outcome but am happy to be corrected on that. I would chose PTS over a lot of painful and less than perfect treatments including surgical colic so no insurance company that I know of would allow me that choice even if it was cheaper
 
I had a lovely horse PTS this time last year following a fracture of his long pastern. The vet had recommended sending him to an orthopaedic vets for surgery but with no guarantees; he also was not sure if there was more than one fracture from the x-rays. We opted not to do this as he had a history of tying-up, ulcers and a "wonky" pelvis. The thought of the effects of 3 months box rest, much of it cross tied, did not bear thinking about for our beautiful boy. I knew that the insurance company would not pay out as I did not follow BEVA guidelines, but felt that his quality of life was more important. Much to my surprise I received an almost full payout of his value along with the vets fees approximately 3 months later, proving that some insurance companies are on the side of the horse's well-being.
 
Pleased to be proved wrong but jaded by standing with a much loved friend while he was shot knowing it was the only fair thing to do but also knowing the insurance wouldnt pay out as they would claim he was field ornament material. His xrays showed so much damage from arthritis in all 4 legs "that any other type would be on the floor with their feet in the air" was the quote from the specialst vet who read the plates
 
FrankieCob said:
If the horse doesnt meet the BEVA guidelines they dont pay out.

http://www.fhvets.co.uk/downloads/BEVA Destruction of Horse Guidlines.pdf
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Yes but that is a policy condition that is on every equine mortality policy. If the vet says BEVA isn't met and the policy will only respond if BEVA is met, to me that's not wriggling out of paying. That's a clear policy condition. Wriggling out to me is when insurers rely on really obscure conditions that have no bearing on the current situation, for example, declining to pay as you have barbed wire fencing but the injury you're claiming for wasn't caused by barbed wire.
 
Lintel said:
I don't think you can put a value on a horse sometimes.


Not all the money in the world could replace my boy to me.
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Same. I just put down what we paid for him. There's no way I could ever replace him (god help the world if there are 2 of him out there).

Really though I don't know how much his value has increased. Probably not much but despite his quirks i would have a queue of people wanting to buy him. I know of certainly one person who made it clear if I ever sold him she wanted him. Won't be doing that though it would be painful to sell him.
 
Unless you also pay for loss of use there is little point IMHO insuring for anything more that the minimum needed to get the vets fees cover. As others have said Death is only paid out when BEVA guidelines are met and whilst you do get the odd tragic accident and sudden death, most horses don't meet this.
 
burtie said:
Unless you also pay for loss of use there is little point IMHO insuring for anything more that the minimum needed to get the vets fees cover. As others have said Death is only paid out when BEVA guidelines are met and whilst you do get the odd tragic accident and sudden death, most horses don't meet this.
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Perhaps I've been 'lucky' then as most of mine have been 'the odd tragic accident in the field' paid out for without any quibbles, including for Irish, who just died peacefully. Then again, I have only ever insured for their basic replacement cost (which is never dear) and not for vet fees so I'm not a huge drain on their resources as some are; I'm usually an easy policy to deal with compared to some.
 
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