Getting the most for your money is becoming more and more important. Whilst the reasons for insuring differ for everyone, the rising cost of vet bills is often the driving force for people looking to take out insurance for their horses. There may be ways you can make savings without compromising on what is most important to you. Here are a few ways you could save on your horse insurance:
- The reason most people insure is for the veterinary fee cover. Increasing your excess will bring the cost of this section down. Remember, excesses are paid per incident, so this needs to be an amount you are comfortable paying for each claim if your horse was unlucky enough to have multiple incidents within the same year.
- If loss of animal cover is less important to you, consider underinsuring your horse. With KBIS, you can reduce the sum insured by as much as 50% of the horse’s current market value in order to keep your premium as low as possible. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that if you choose this route and do sadly lose your horse, the maximum you would receive back as part of a claim would be the value you have insured him for.
- Don’t double up. Cover for Public Liability and Personal Accident are optional on a KBIS horse insurance policy. This means if you already have cover elsewhere, perhaps through a membership or affiliation, you do not need to be paying for the same cover twice. It’s worth checking the terms of the cover elsewhere to ensure it will protect you at all times, rather than solely when you are attending events run by the organisation.
- Sometimes, having the most comprehensive cover is not the most cost-effective option if your horse has been unfortunate enough to have a number of previous issues. If the list of exclusions on your horse’s policy is lengthy, weigh up a more limited policy such as Catastrophe Cover available from less than £400 a year.
- Check your insurance matches the activities your horse is participating in. If you’ve dropped down a level for any reason or stopped doing certain activities with your horse, both training at home and whilst competing, it may pay to advise your insurance company of this and see whether it is possible to reduce the class of use to make a saving.
Still not sure what might be best for you and your horse? Call us on 0345 230 2323 and a member of our horse team will be happy to look at the various options with you.