Exclusion 'kicking in' on UK insurance

[Stella2]

I have Flora insurred with NFU. She had her first episode (since I have owned her) of Severe Lymphangitis last October and has had several since then. My policy was up for renewal in June and as I opened the renewal letter I feared the worst, but (I'm guessing because the Vet had not discharged her) they did not exclude the condition (Phew!! especially since she had another bad episode a few weeks ago). The cost of her treatment for this to date is £2500 and I must say NFU have been excellent.

Unfortunately, I received a letter from them this morning saying that they will exclude the condition after October this year :( (Yikes :eek: ). I know there is a maximum payable of £5000 per condition, but I'm suprised that ailments are excluded from cover after a year. I will dig out the policy and read the small print, but I wondered what other members experiences of this sort of thing are.

[MuddyCob]

My horse is also insured with NFU. He had laminitus over 2 years ago now and at the time I phoned up the claims line to ask how to claim. In the end I didn't, as it wasn't worth it as the total cost was only a little over the excess. Still, laminitus has been excluded from my policy since then!

[Stella2]

:( compared to your experience, I guess mine is a great success!

[MuddyCob]

Yes, considering my horse is a greedy pig :rolleyes: laminitis is the one thing he is probably most likely to get again. I swear he puts on weight just by looking a a blade of grass... :( He's currently being ridden 4/5 times a week for at least an hour at a time, more at the weekends, on a very small paddock with not much grass, and still the size of a double decker bus :D :D :D ...anyway, I digress...

[Lgd]

They'll try and exclude anything and everything!

sarah was silly enough to admit to Rolo having juvenile milk warts - so they have exluded all warts AND sarcoids on his policy, despite the fact they have cleared up.

They did twice try and exclude a leg on Peri - she had a gash that required stitching (she was never lame) and was 'skinned' up the inside of her hind leg in a horsebox accident. They did the same with our old pony Gem - punctured hock joint capsule (joint fluid and all :eek: ) but removed all the exclusions when I pointed out that we'd made no claim and the horse/pony was back in full competition work. Suspect you'd need a vets letter to confirm that now but they took your word for it then.

Peri is now the dreaded 16yo when vets fees are either withdrawn or very expensive to maintain. BEIB also tried to drop her value, but have reinstated it when I justifed maintaining it - pointed out that she is wildly underinsured compared to her real value and that she is still competing in advanced dressage. No quibbles, just reinstated her value. The veteran policy which covers accidental external injury & colic only, also has a max horse value of £2.5K so I have decided to put the amount full vets fees would cost (an extra £300 pa) in a contingency account. I've kept tavia's vets fees cover on considering her propensity for doing silly things in the field :rolleyes:

[atillathefun]

My Vet told me Petplan is the only one that will pay for the life of the animal (not the life of the policy).

NFU are getting worse about paying out for stuff - I have a complaint going through with them at the moment because although I pay for legal cover they are not willing to pay legal costs!! They say it is down to them ' which legal costs they pay' not that they tell you that when you take the insurance out.

[Big Ears]

KBIS do a veteran's policy for 16+ which gives you 75% of vets fees and 100% colic cover - much same rate as for under 15s.

I would imagine all policies exclude you after 1 year - the only one that doesn't is the Pet Plan cat and dog one which gives continuous cover for entire life but I don't think there is any horse one which does.

[kayjayhorses]

cant remember who I'm with but my horse 2 yrs ago had a check ligament injury on his off-side fore the insurance got renewed now both his front legs aren't insure how crazy is that, he is 20 now so I'm guessing they are waiting for him to fall apart.

[Sunny D]

I'm with NFU, claimed last year for a kick to the hock, resulting in secere cellulitis and infection. They paid out within 6 weeks of this (think it was about £1800) and I did not have any exclusions.
Am going through another claim now - kick to other leg, broken splint bone, which is an ongoing treatment. Claim forms etc sent back a couple of weeks ago, but have not heard anything yet.
It does say ' provided treatment is in progress on the expiry date of the period of insurance and the limites specified in your policy are not exceeded, we will continue to pay vets fees for up to 12 months after the date the accident happened'.

[eventerbabe]

Bonnie has an exclusion on her policy for laminitis. perfectly understandable as its a re-occurring condition. when we claimed for the first attack they paid out promptly. no complaints there.

NFU were the only insurers willing to insure toby for going under an anaesthetic when he had a hernia operated on just after we got him. they also placed an exclusion on his policy for anything related to the op for 2 years. this has now been lifted and his policy is now exclusion free.

[Stella2]

I'm with NFU, claimed last year for a kick to the hock, resulting in secere cellulitis and infection. They paid out within 6 weeks of this (think it was about £1800) and I did not have any exclusions.
Am going through another claim now - kick to other leg, broken splint bone, which is an ongoing treatment. Claim forms etc sent back a couple of weeks ago, but have not heard anything yet.
It does say ' provided treatment is in progress on the expiry date of the period of insurance and the limites specified in your policy are not exceeded, we will continue to pay vets fees for up to 12 months after the date the accident happened'.

Ahh well, that will be it then. Her fist episode was October 2004 and they are excluding from October 2005 :( I must say that I could not fault their service during dealing with the claim. Not only were they efficient, but please and helpful :)

[xcuddlyponyx]

Im with nfu mutual, wondering whether or not to change to petplan now! Luckily as yet I haven't had to make a claim, are they good? Or is it just recurring cases im confused!

[sidesaddlelady1]

My horse had a op for colic 6 months before I bought him. Knowing this I informed NFU about this and was told that if he had been free for 6 months they would not make an exclusion for colic. Things were fine for 3 years and then that years renewal came and there was an exclusion for colic. I queried this and was told that they had had to change the rules because of expensive claims.

Since none of the other companies I asked for quotes when I bought him would take him on at all due to the previous owner's colic claim I was probably lucky that the NFU were prepared to cover him for the first few years.

When I changed vets recently, I was asked on registration who I was insured with. On being informed that I was with NFU, the vet said "Good - they're the best!" We have recently hadtreatment over a long period of lameness during which the renewal came up. It doesn't appear to have affected the policy and I haven't had to re-claim.

[Jakes Mum]

I have Jake insured with the NFU, and had a claim last year when he was diagnosed with a medial suspensory ligament strain(n/h) and osteoarthritis to his (n/h) fetlock joint which was caused by trauma and not old age (he was 7) or general wear & tare, he had all his other joints checked and he has no signs of arthritis in any of them. The whole claim totalled over £3000 and I must say they were brilliant at dealing with everything.

My policy has just come up for renewal and they have excluded any claims which directly or indirectly arises from, or connected with BOTH of his hind fetlocks, and all arthritic conditions and/or DJD.

They have also put my premium up by 40% as well :eek:

[Supercali]

Our gelding had a strained stifle ligament a couple of years ago and we sent off for claim forms but becuase the vet never completed them (another story!) we never claimed but his stifle was excluded and we rang them and they said it would only be for a year. Anyway 18 months later and it is still excluded and they said we now need a vets report to reinstate it!

I bought my cob in April and he passed his 5 stage vetting and the vet noted a small cut on his heel but it isn't causing any problems. When I sent the vetting form to NFU they rang up and asked about the cut, so I told them that it wasn't even there when I collected him (which was true) but they obviously didn't believe me as his heel has now been excluded!!!!! :mad:

I think that next year I will seriously reconsider using NFU or whether I will insure them for vets fees at all as I have never claimed over the last 7 years for any of my horses :mad:

[notpoodle]

im with the NFU also, but never had to make a claim (fingers crossed!). they did exclude anything to do with sweet itch right from the start though.

julia
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