Horse insurance? (UK!!)?

Question

Which company is your horse insured with? How do you rate them (value for money, customer service etc.) and how good are they at paying out when you claim. How much do you pay and what is included (value of horse, vet's fees etc.). Thanks

Answer 1

I am with pet plan and have been for the last 17 years

i pay £450 a year

that is for each horse

i have never had a problem with them paying out the vets claim straight from the insurance company

my boys are insured for vets fees

loss of use

third party liability

transporting them

i have a higher loss of use on mine as they compete and are more likely to injure them selves and be out of work

Answer 2

All my 8 horses are with NFU - they may seem a little pricer but they are the only insurers who pay half the livery costs should your horse need to stay at the veterinary's stables/yard.



I only pay £350 a month for the 8 horses (ok the most expensive horse is worth £2000) but i mainly have the insurance for the vet bills

Answer 3

I am with KBIS and have had numerous claims for vet fees and also for dentistry for myself. I have always found them very efficient, obliging and helpful. They advised that unless you have a horse that is doing really well at a specific and specified discipline, i.e. dressage horse, it is never worth insuring for loss of use. As a member of BHS gold level, I get some areas of insurance covered by them so have it removed from KBIS. They also cover my trailer too.

As a note, my vets and several others in the area will not undertake any work on a horse that is insured by E&L!!

Answer 4

I'm English living in Spain. I pay around 100 pound a year which is for 2 horses or mules Value up to 10.000GBP! with 3rd party cover up to one Million, Vets bills up to 1.500GBP Removal and disposal of dead animal 12 GBP more). a 3rd animal can be included for around another 25 GBP. I have claimed and it works fine. But Im in Spain. Here our car insurance is a lot lower and it automatically includes recovery and delivery of car and occupants anywhere in Spain Free! Now you know why I live here. Direct Line are here a few years now and twice the price of the main Spanish company. They started for the dumb Brits, who cant speak Spanish and are to stupid to know the Spanish companies have English speakers. So they pay double and get less coverage! Its the same for a PRE or a donkey! You state the value of animal at time of signing and then argue at its death. But I got good settlements! Spanish Stats, shown in Galope magazine last month here in Spain show that horses are 10 to 1 England v Spain so why do UK companies charge so much when we have a much higher animal injury mortality rate with horses than you guys? Someone is ripping you off! Hope you find this interesting!

Foot Note: If you have trouble with an insurance company it is ALWAYS because you didn't read/understand the contract you signed!

Answer 5

Hello, i dont have a horse here in the UK, but you could definately have a look at the site below...

They have a very useful article on horse insurance and feature the top horse insurance providers like Stoneways, PetPlanEquine as well as E &L.

Good luck and hope you find a good insurance company!

Answer 6

i use NFU. i have vets fee,public liability,i'm insured even on a different horse(not sure why it's in horses name but o-one else is covered to ride them only the owner and any horse you are on) she is covered for death but not loss of use(didn't feel i needed it she is not a horse that i show etc just hack.

she is covered for £1500 and i pay £23.31.a month.

i have claimed on vets.they were very good.

Answer 7

I am with E&L and have been for about 16 years, I have never had to claim so can't comment on them when it comes to paying out. Other than to say their reputation is not great but people I know have not had a problem.

I pay £15 a month for my ponies which includes vtes fees and public liabilty, for my arab i pay about £35 per month which includes everything including loss of use and my TB is on a veteran policy which is vets.public liability.



NFU are also good and several people on my yard are with them

Answer 8

I have two horses with KBIS. They are really great at helping you work out what kind of cover you need and have never tried to get me to take anything I didn't want. When I had to make a claim, the paper work was sent out by return of post and the full amount was paid in days! The premiums are £320 per year per horse, for £5000 vet fees, alternative therapy and £1m (I think) legal liability and the policy covers all riding club/ pony club activities, showing, gymkhanas, hacking, dressage etc. with an excess of £125



My other two horses are veterans and insured with South Essex as thier veteran plan is one of the best I've found, and they didn't insist on a 5* vet certificate. The premiums are £370 per year for the two of them. Again they are covered for all the usual activities but my excess is higher, I found that was the best way to bring the premiums down a bit as in view of thier age (21 and 19) they are not so likely to be injured but more likely to need age related health care. Strangely enough, (do horses become more sensible as they get older?) I've never had to claim (touch wood please!) for either of them where as the other two are everlasting getting into scrapes!



Anyway, I guess it pays to shop around. Decide what kind of cover you need, bear in mind that something simple that you might call the vet for could turn out to need several visits - what does your vet charge for call out? Mine is £30 a shot plus consultation plus treatment plus VAT. IE Touch of mild colic from too much rich grass back in the spring (one vet visit out of hours + one jab) cost me just under £200! Imagine - had it been a bad colic requiring surgery!



What activities are you planning on doing? Check it out because some events, such as polo or trail riding might not be covered, and if your horse was injured you might find yourself in a pickle!



One last point to make, when I registered with my vet, he asked who I was insured with, and promptly warned me that E&L may be the cheapest but they take forever to pay a claim. He insists that if you use E&L then YOU pay the bill and then claim from them. And I kinda agree, after all, if we call the vet to do a job then it's not right for him to be waiting ages to be paid - fair enough, if your vet took 3 weeks to come and see your horse then you'd change vet right? LOLs

Answer 9

We have our four with aimes and have found them very good. I pay about £20 a month per horse. They have always been good at paying any claims and are very good about exclusions.

I have been with pet plan and found them good as well but they were going to charge £40 a month for my new mare while aimes are £20 a month.

Answer 10

I am with eand l and have never had a problem with them. My trailer is also insured with them.