[FiB]

Hi all - We have decided that the combined insurance quotes (house plus public liability) are too much - has anyone got separate liability insurance?

Basically we have a small house, nothing fancy and very limited contents, for which we could get insurance for around £200.  We then have 12 acres, with good fencing and a footpath running through one of our 'fields' (its woodland), and 14 sheep, so ideally wed get some PL for this - although we are humming and harring about this - if everything is in good order (ie no negligence on our part) do we need this?  The cheapest combined policy that we have been able to find is £390 , so £190 for the PL (doesnt include, nor do we need any cover for animals machinary or buildings).  Any thoughts? 

[in the hills]

Well, we have been looking into PL, just in case anything unforeseen happened on our land. We only wanted it to cover our 7 in lamb ewes and visiting ram. Our best quote was £275. Oh, that was for our 2 acres an did not cover loss of the animals, just PL. To cover the animals was even more and only covered for things like aircraft crash or lightening strike!!!! We ll take our chance on that one. Most companies would not give us a quote as we were not a working farm,ie. a business. Some said get back to us when your house insurance is due because it will be too costly to quote you on PL alone.Others would not quote unless we also had tractors or barns to cover.So when I said that was our best quote ... it was the only quote!!!

Dont know what to do. Would have at least liked a couple to choose from!!  How many others have insurance or is it something people dont bother with if they are very small scale? Not many companies seem to be able to offer a quote. Does this indicate not much demand?

[Fowgill Farm]

Farmer's Mercantile are supposed to be very good, we are with the NFU but have absolutely everything with them, house, land, animals, OH's business, machinery & vehicles. Our renewal isn't until July but expect it to go up a hefty lump so no doubt will be having a shop around too. I think some of them think that because they already have the policy they can bump up the price and you'll just accept it.
Mandy 

[FiB]

Yep we had quote from Farmers Mercantile - they do 2 flat rate policies for smallholders £200 and £250 I think - Which I thought was great untill I realised it didnt include the house .  Really the only thing I want to insure against is someone sueing us, (if something befalls someone whilst crossing our land, or by some ill luck a sheep escapes and causes a pile up).  It seems vastly overpriced as I have £10m personal liability as a self employed bod working with children fires and tools, and thats well under £200.  I think we are going to have to do without and just make sure our styles, fences etc are faultless to minimise/eliminate our liability.  We were with NFU last year (about £450) and the only other inclusive quote was from FUW (£390).   So, Kwikfit here we come (£220), and pray for no more financial surprises this year (Gearbox went on Van this morning ( bye bye another £500 or so?).  Ho hum.

[robert waddell]

i would be carefull with the cheaper policy's £250 to pay out if somebody sues you for what ever reason
seams reasonable
if you leave nfu and have a claim on the new policy nfu will not take you back a farmer friend was with nfu for everything his renewall was £12000  cant remember what company he went to  it was only half the nfu quote and probably less than half the cover  just need to wait till he has a claim and he has a few every year