Where the hell do NFU get their insurance prices from?

Holly Hocks

Holly Hocks

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So my horsebox insurance is up for renewal, so I've been doing a bit of shopping around. Most have come up with between £200 and £280 for a 3.5t 2004 box, based on any driver over 25 and a £100 excess.

I went into my local NFU office today to get a quote from them. Just to insure for myself and my OH to drive - no breakdown cover added or anything - OVER £700!!! Now I can understand a variation of £100 between companies, but this is over triple the cost of some of the other quotes......needless to say, I didn't take out cover with them.
 
NFU were best for my horse and trailer insurance but asked them to quote for my car - they quoted £1300 (I actually laughed down phone!) - I eventually got it for £380 !!!!!!
 
I will be interested to see what the renewal quote for my trailer and gelding will be this year! I think NFU are looking to get out of the equestrian insurance market hense the silly premium quotes.
 
My sister's car renewal went up from £600 to over £900 with NFU. Hadn't had any accidents etc. Consequently she went elsewhere for £600.
 
TicTac said:
I will be interested to see what the renewal quote for my trailer and gelding will be this year! I think NFU are looking to get out of the equestrian insurance market hense the silly premium quotes.
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Funny you should say that - the person who dealt with me at the office (and she was very nice - it isn't her fault the quote came out that high) said that horse insurance actually makes them a loss due to the cost of the claims. It sounded very much to me like they didn't promote their equestrian insurance too much.
 
I had a quote of them for my daughter when she was a learner, it was a little Aygo she was the mane driver with me as an additional one, £9000 car was only worth £6000, needless to say we went elsewhere and got the same cover for £1,300.
 
Black_Horse_White said:
I had a quote of them for my daughter when she was a learner, it was a little Aygo she was the mane driver with me as an additional one, £9000 car was only worth £6000, needless to say we went elsewhere and got the same cover for £1,300.
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That said, the cost of learner/new driver insurance has little to do with the value of the vehicle they are actually driving and a lot to do with the amount of damage/ compensation payouts to other people that an inexperienced driver may be likely to generate.

(Not that I agree with this at all, but that's the way it is!)
 
My horse insurance (no loss of use) went from 46 a month to 72 this year with NFU. Navicular claim for joint medication once and 1 Tilden. On the plus side they do pay without a fuss. Hope I'm not to blame for Ur high trailer quote lol
 
Some one once told me it stood for No F...... Use !! and I have to say it really does seem to be the case.My girls insurance went up by a stupid amount and I kept on paying in, she has just had a horrid accident and has been in on box rest for the last 3 weeks, and guess what NFU are being a pain over the claim. I recieved a letter from a company called 1st Equine who are now looking at my cliam on behalf of NFU,so that has to be more money that they are having to pay out for someone else to act on their behalf so thats where some of the money is going. Now think after 11 years time to change horse and house insurance
 
My horse insurance renewal with nfu went up a fair amount as have had a bone spavin claim. I am very annoyed with them as I still waiting for them to pay out £50 on the claim since november last year!!
 
We use to have farm insurance and horse with them then switched farm to another firm this year took horses away as well that is well over £5500 they have lost asked for a quote from them this year and well over a grand more.
 
I've just swapped to County Insurance (their website is www.horsebox-insurance.co.uk) for my horsebox insurance, horse insurance and livery yard etc.

My renewal from NFU had come through at over £8K! County Insurance did it for around £4K for the same cover + horsebox breakdown cover!!

I called NFU to let them know that I wouldn't be renewing and they matched the price straight away. I said that I was still changing as if they could have done it for that pice they should have offered it to me in the first place! It just shows how much they were making off me! It's annoying as I'd been a loyal customer and not made many claims.

I think they just bank on the fact that you won't be bothered to look around. Changing over was a lot easier than I thought though!
 
Car insurance I don't know about but as I self insure I must say I can't see how they do anything but lose a fortune on vet fee insurance.
 
I am not an apologist for the insurance companies but a maths teacher. You have to do the sums.
All insurance companies exist to make a profit i.e income must be greater than expenditure. NFU is a mutual therefore the profit is shared amongst its customers.
Read the other posts about other insurance companies not paying out, then look at some of the costs of peoples claims. How much for cloic surgery? We had a mare treated for a mystery infection, we don't insure, cost £2000. As more expensive treatments become avaliable so inevitably the cost of insurance must rise. Horse-owners need to make an informed decision about whether to insure or not. We have 12 horses including a stallion and 7 brood mares, we do not insure, what we save in insurance costs we can then spend on reproctive work that would not be covered anyway. If a horse is injured we just bite the bullet. We use BHS for third party cover.
On the cost of car insurance the same argument applies, but you can lay the blame firmly at the door of claims management companies who the insurance companies sell your detalis to and then they charge exhorbitant fees for car hire and legal fees etc. Ever wondered how these people get your phone nunber. If people keep making all these claims then costs must increase.
 
At one time we had just about all our insurance with NFU - 2 cars, horse, trailer, house and cats. The renewal for the cars came back at such silly money that we had to change, I know the NFU have a good reputation if you have to make a claim but there's a limit to being loyal to a company. The trouble with car insurance is that we're having to subsidise all those non insured drivers out there who bump up the cost of claims and all the people claiming for whiplash injuries if their car so much as goes too fast over a speed bump.

I have to say that I wouldn't swop the pet insurance that we have with them for the cats as that's reasonably priced and we've had to claim a few times - paid out without any problems.
 
They're a joke. I insured my horse through them for the past 5 years and never claimed. My renewal earlier this year had increased by about £30 PER MONTH and that was after they said I got this discount and that coz I'm a long term customer etc. In the end I changed to SEIB who were only £5 more expensive than I was paying NFU originally prior to this renewal increase. When I phoned to say I wouldnt be renewing, they didnt sound like the cared less. I've also heard from lots of people they want out of equestrian insurance. They're going the right way about it anyway!
 
It is really sad, we used them for our cards for about 4 years, they were always competetive. Then they quoted £700 for mine - I went to DirectLine and paid £280. My husband got a quote for £500 for him and DirectLine were £250. Needless to say we moved. NFU said they were expensive because they gave good service, but to be honest I have always had really good services from DirectLine too.
 
Wow! That's a lot ... in the US (where I live) I got a quote from VPI for $95 a month, for my dog! And they wouldn't cover his "preexisting condition" of hip dysplasia. I ended up going with a vet discount program called Pet Assure. I pay 8 dollars a month. (I only save 25% at the vet but there are no exclusions and I think I'm saving a lot more money this way). I don't know if they even have something like that in the UK, maybe Google around for something like "pet insurance alternatives". Good luck!
 
...they think of a number double it then add a zero in my experience! Sadly to insure my horses elsewhere I have to have 2x 5* vettings to get the same cover which costs more than I'd save moving so still stuck with paying the thieving beggars.
 
MagicMelon said:
They're a joke. I insured my horse through them for the past 5 years and never claimed. My renewal earlier this year had increased by about £30 PER MONTH and that was after they said I got this discount and that coz I'm a long term customer etc. In the end I changed to SEIB who were only £5 more expensive than I was paying NFU originally prior to this renewal increase. When I phoned to say I wouldnt be renewing, they didnt sound like the cared less. I've also heard from lots of people they want out of equestrian insurance. They're going the right way about it anyway!
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Well I can't speak for car insurance prices but I have two ponies insured with NFU and mine has only gone up a modest amount over three years, less than £8 per month increase each year for the two of them (no claims). I have shopped around and not found cheaper with other reputable insurers.
 
I have had no problems with them, my premiums this year (for 2 horses) went up by £30 in total, which seems fair.
 
I did my commercial insurance for my business last year with NFU in a bit of a hurry, thought they would be good as I had my horses & car with them. Shopped around this year when its was up for renewal & got the same cover £500 cheaper!! The only reason I left the car with them last year was because I couldn't find cover for the trailer with the car elsewhere & it was really dear to put it on with the horse cover.
 
They quoted over £900 to insure my little lorry......went with the KBIS have charged me 1/4 of this....I also laughed down the phone when they gave me the quote
 
You do need to pick and choose what you insure with which companies. NFU are no more expensive than anyone else for my lorry and breakdown, they are one of the few companies who will insure my Landy, I wouldn't use them for my cars as I can get them insured far cheaper elsewhere and my horse premiums are remarkably reasonable.

They are also no more expensive to insure myhouse than my previous company but in addition cover my land as well - very few other companies would do this.

Being a loyal customer does not pay these days. I change my car insurance most years and usually get cashback and a lower premium, my best year ever was getting £180 cashback on a premium of £236 - or fully comp insurance for £56 for the year. Not with NFU I must add!
 
I have had a couple of really big claims with the NFU & they have never quibbled over anything, & I've another ongoing now (sarcoid). They aren't the cheapest, but the service is worth the extra to me.
 
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