Equine Insurance

glowgirl_2

Hi, can anyone advise my on a decent good value horse insurance company?, I am looking to insure the horse I have just bought my daughter, the insurance should cover vet bills, death, tack etc, I have had two quotes, one on the phone for £246 per year and one online for £208 per year, I have had a read of the insurance section on the main board but cant find anything about equine insurance, also does anyone know of any possible cashback deals? My daughter is already insured with BHS, thanks for any help.

lostinrates

congrats Glowgirl...lucky daughter! I'm pleased for her



I have had great treatment from Pet Plan...covering a death that shouldn't have happened, when I told them I believed I was not covered and they could have ducked out, but they didn't. They also paid over and above insured amount for a successful competition horse on vet's recommendation, when it was choice between a 50/50 chance she'd work again possibly competing or be a paddock ornament. They had alrady funded up to the insured amount for attempts.

glowgirl_2

Thanks lir:) DD keeps bursting into tears of joy - ahhh, Pet Plan are currently on Quidco with either £30 or £50 cashback(cant remember now, my brain is starting fry:o) but the quote I got was £345 a year so although I realise cheapest is not always the best its quite steep compared to the others, I dont need to know figures but how does that compare to your insurance?, I wonder if I've ticked a particular option that has bumped it considerably, probably, I can get tick happy:D

bouncydog1

We have our horse insured with NFU. I did find when looking at the various insurers offering cover that they were all very different. The cover available will also depend on the age of the animal, use, whether or not you have had a 5 star vetting and level of excess that you want to pay.

There are lots of bolt on extras that you can buy, but please ensure that you carefully read the policy cover before simply plumping for the cheapest. E.G. cover for tack will often be excluded if theft is from a communal tackroom -and there are often lock requirements imposed on the policy.

Pre-existing conditions are also almost always excluded.

Have you got horsey friends that you could ask about their own insurance arrangements - that might give you a good steer of the companies to avoid. You may also find that as your daughter is already a member of the BHS she might have public liability cover as part of her membership which you would possibly then not have to buy as part of your horse insurance.

Our policy covers death, vets fees, personal accident for my daughter, and tp liability. We self-insure the tack (locked away at home what is not in use) don't buy loss of use cover because of the limitations on the cover, and self-insure our trailer because it is stored in the open rather than being locked away.

You could also try posting on the horse and hound site. Just google and you should find it.

I'm sure your daughter is ecstatic - look forward to many years of enjoyment and being permanently poor!! Good luck.

glowgirl_2

Thanks, DD is going to ask some of her horsey pals about insurance, she does have public liability with her BHS insurance, thanks for the helpful reply:)

orlao

What is the value (approx) of your new horse? Do you have a vetting certificate? What are you planning to do with them as there are different classes of use? How old? Where is it kept?

Ok:) once you've sorted out those questions you can start comparing.

As a rule, unless it is a very very valuable horse, loss of use is expensive and very difficult to claim.
I insured with NFU for years but have never claimed from them, they were always well known for being easy to claim from if a bit slow to pay out (my vets complaint)
I'm now insured with Petplan and I have to say that they have been fantastic - paid out 4k so far with no complaints and very promptly.

AmTrust, SEIB. Scottish Equestrian, Shearwater,KBIS and Stoneways all have good reps but they have also been expensive quoters for my happy hacks.

AVOID E&L (Equestrian and Leisure) they have an appalling reputation for not paying out and IIRC a 15% excess. Also watch out for some of the smaller companies, I always worry that they might go bust half way through the policy, infact it did happen with one company in the last year or so......

A good way to do is to ask your vet who they will accept direct payments from and then ask those companies for a quote - vets tend to know who's poor at paying out

I might be teaching you to suck eggs:o but I don't know of any horse insurance that offers lifetime cover, all the policies I've seen cover an incident for a maximum of 12 months and then exclude it and often anything that maybe related for a long time afterwards and if the horse's value is over a certain sum (2.5k from memory) will ask for a 5* vetting before covering for vets fees. Tack cover is also restrictive regarding the amount of tack stored in one place, locks, alarms and windows etc - read the small print.Death cover also has a lot of hoops to jump through at a very difficult time so don't rely on it:(

I tend to insure mine for public liability and vets fees - they are the "peace of mind" bits IMHO. If the insurance were to pay out for death, tack loss etc that would be a bonus but I wouldn't be surprised if the didn't IYSWIM. With that in mind, I also insure for the lowest £value that the insurance company will accept because that doesn't affect the vets fees threshold but can reduce your premium a lot!

glowgirl_2

Excellent advice, thank you very much, I'm so glad I posted on here before making a decision, this is all new to me and now I feel much less vulnerable:) I'm going to get another quote from Pet Plan covering just vets fees as I already have public liability with the BHS - thanks to all for the great replies - any other pearls of wisdom are welcome:D

gratefulforhelp_2

Dont touch Norwich Union with someone else's hoofpick! Insured my pony, she was ill and parents battled with them for years to cough up.

trudij

Im with SEIB - and they arent anywhere near as good to deal with now as they used to be - so be wary.... they are nowhere near as bad as e&l, but thats an achievement that not many others can get near!!!

I had my pony insured with Equestrian Direct http://www.horseandponyinsurance.co.uk/

they were very good with the claims I had - my friends are with NFU (wont insure me becuase of my IVA!) and lots of our clients are with them too. Pet Plan are popular, also you could try companies like Lycetts - http://www.lycetts.co.uk/Insurance_Services/Equine/index.php

they have a good reputation (not sure how expensive they are though!!) and there is a lady called Julie Andrews
http://www.horseinsuranceservices.co.uk/

not sure if she is a broker or an insurance company in their own right - we have people with them too.

therees also Scottish Equestrian, who were supposed to be quite good - but Im not sure where you will find them...
http://www.horseponyinsurance.co.uk/
might be it??

and KBIS are also good
http://www.kbis.co.uk/

as are Stoneways
http://www.stonewaysinsurance.co.uk/

and Sheerwater
http://www.shearwater-insurance.co.uk/

sorry to hit you with a lot of them - but it is worth the time to get quotes - but as above - check the small print !!!

How exciting - good luck !!!

glowgirl_2

Thank you very much, I'm going to get some more quotes now from your links, I managed to get the Pet Plan quote right down following the advice above its now the cheapest quote of the day:Tdd and I are like snipers on ebay atm, we have a saddle in our sights:D

bouncydog1

Just seen the note about having a saddle in your sights - please take the time to use a good saddle fitter rather than just buying one you like the look of.

I have seen several horses with "behavioural problems" which have subsequently been identified from a poorly fitting saddle. I am sure that there are some people who have been able to just buy a saddle off the peg and it has fitted, but equally this does not apply to everyone.

I have also seen saddles purchased second hand off the internet that looked great but had damaged trees - your horse has to be comfortable in his tack so this is an area not worth skimping on.

A saddle bought from a saddle fitter does not have to be expensive as they do sell second-hand, but you will have the assurance that it will fit your horse properly and also the back up of the saddlers professional organisation if you do end up with problems (which I sincerely hope you don't).

Sorry to go off point but felt worth mentioning.