Rider insurance beware!

[Saggyoldclothcatpuss]

I've been browsing through, and have seen rider insurance mentioned here and there. I'd just like to warn all the parents out there. We had rider insurance for both of my kids. Long story short, there was an incident and the other person involved wanted to claim from us. The insurance company basically said, you can't claim against a minor for public liability. So having the rider insurance for the kids was pointless. We now always take out horse insurance when we need cover, and I as the parent, who would ultimately shoulder the burden of any claim against the kids, have BHS membership, which provides me with PLI for any horse I own, handle or work with, and also a free legal helpline.
Thankfully, the other person in our incident didn't have a case against us, but in the event she had, the claim would have passed to me as the responsible adult, and I had no kin of cover whatsoever! A potentially scary situation!

If you have home contents insurance, you may have been/were probably covered under the public liability section on there. I claimed on my home contents insurance for damage my horse did to someone else's property as I didn't have her insured in her own right as she was so old. It was really the yard owner pulling a fast one but I couldn't be bothered to get into the ins and out of it all and put a claim in on my home insurance and let the insurers deal with it.

That's good to know. We weren't at fault in the end, but I had weeks of worry! I find it very wrong that these insurance companies sell useless cover to people!

Thanks for the warning Saggy.

Out of interest, and for future reference, who was your insurer?? Some are worse than others for wriggling out of claims so I was wondering if they're all the same on this [dunno]

E & L (excuses and lies) was the company. I think it is just the law. you can't claim liability against a minor.

Maybe but those guys are pretty notorious for that kind of thing from what I've heard......Arseholes

Worth phoning around some other insurers when you come to re-new to see if the same is true - NFU & Shearwater have both been good IME...though haven't had to make a Public Liability claim for a minor.

I have kids insured.. and me as well for rider insurance .. interesting.

What was the incident they were trying to claim for?

Long story. A stupid woman being where she shouldn't, got kicked. There was a member on here a wile back, whose DP is in insurance who confirmed the no claims against a minor thing.
We don't bother any more, it is the public liability which matters most, and I get that from the bhs which covers all horses i work with, handle or own. Also a free legal helpline, interesting magazines and a free hickstead ticket every year!