Four reasons you should get shoot cancellation insurance

Shooting is, as you may have noticed, rarely cheap. A peg on an average sort of a day can run to many hundreds of pounds. Few of us are so well off that we can afford simply to chuck that sort of money away, so you’d think that every purchased shoot day or peg would be insured against cancellation. But plenty of people still think “that won’t happen to me”.

 

But just imagine that sinking feeling you’d get when you realised that not only had “it” happened, but that you weren’t covered. It’s a double-barrelled blow, too, since not only do you not get your shooting, but you’ve also lost a fair old wedge of the readies to boot.

We spoke to Lycetts, who underwrite the GunsOnPegs Shoot Cancellation Insurance product, to get some examples of unusual claims, to underline just what a wide variety of factors can lead to a day being cancelled, and a claim being made. Shoot Cancellation Insurance covers claims for cancelled days for reasons including adverse weather, breavement, injury or illness, and disruption.

The first thing to point out is that the vast majority of claims are made for days that have been cancelled for reasons of poor weather - fog, snow, tempest, typhoon or tornados (OK, maybe not those last two). However, the weather can play a part even if there’s not a breath of wind or cloud in the sky… indeed, because there’s not a cloud in the sky. Lycetts’ Edmund Sword points out that August grouse days can sometimes fall foul of the weather being too good. “People normally think it is only fog that stops play,” says Edmund, “but actually if it is too hot it can be unsafe for dogs to work that hard, so the day is cancelled.”
 

 

Barring COVID-19, the GunsOnPegs Shoot Cancellation cover insures you against being unable to attend because of an injury or illness. However, it is often a good idea to take out insurance well in advance of the day. Edmund recalls one client who was diagnosed with a hernia several months before a day that he had purchased. “Because he had taken out the insurance well in advance,” says Edmund, “and most importantly, before the diagnosis, he was able to claim for the full amount and wasn’t left out of pocket.

When the worst possible thing has happened, such as losing a loved one, we’re probably not thinking much about shooting. These things are unpredictable, and in these uncertain times that’s even truer than ever. That’s why it can be a small comfort to know that should such a sorry event occur and prevent you from attending a day that you have bought, you’ll be fully reimbursed.

Shooting is under increasing scrutiny and pressure, and this season this is more true than ever. It is fairly rare for shoots to be disrupted by protests or antis, but once they show up, the best thing is to simply pack up and go home, rather than risk altercations. Lycetts see a handful of such claims each season. “It can be a real kick in the stomach if your hard-earned shooting is cancelled because of antis,” says Edmund, “but if you’ve had the foresight to take out Shoot Cancellation Insurance you at least go home knowing that you’ve not lost the money.”

 

Insurance, even if its shooting insurance, isn’t all that sexy. But if you want to avoid being left in the lurch and out of pocket, getting insured ought to be a must for anyone buying shooting. To find out how much it would cost to insure your shooting, get a quote online today.

 

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