If you have several vehicles in your fleet, it’s worth checking that your insurer offers you an 'any vehicle' fleet insurance policy. This means your whole fleet is covered if you need to make claim.
What are the pros & cons of fleet insurance?
Pros:
It’s easier to arrange insurance on multiple vehicles as there’s only 1 renewal date. This saves you time on admin.
Insuring multiple vehicles is usually cheaper than insuring them individually.
You can insure all drivers on every vehicle with an ‘any driver’ policy. Drivers have access to all vehicles, which saves them waiting around for a certain vehicle to be free.
You can add more vehicles as your business grows.
Cons:
A single accident could affect the premiums of all vehicles on the policy. So if you have a driver with a poor driving history, you could put them on a separate policy.
If you don’t update your policy, future claims may be invalid. Especially in larger fleets, vehicles can come and go regularly. So be sure to keep your policy up-to-date.
Cost savings tend to be less significant for smaller fleets.
Having younger drivers on your fleet can push up your costs so it might be worth insuring them separately.
There may be restrictions on how you use your vehicles, for example personal use might not be covered.
How much does fleet insurance cost?
Several factors affect the price you pay for fleet insurance. These include:
- Number of vehicles
- Type of vehicles you own
- Vehicles' class of use
- Claims history of your fleet
- Age of your drivers
The number of vehicles in your fleet impacts your cost. The more vehicles you have, the greater the risk to the insurer.
The type of vehicles in the fleet could change how risky your policy is. For example, a fleet of HGVs might pose a higher risk than a fleet of small cars.
The class of use for your fleet is important. A fleet of vans used by taxi drivers is likely to be more expensive than a fleet of cars used to travel to multiple sites.
The more claims made by drivers in your fleet, the more expensive your policy might be. Particular high-risk drivers might be better off on a separate policy.
The age of your drivers - younger, less experienced drivers are a higher risk and so could drive your fleet insurance policy costs up.
Fleet insurance should work out cheaper than individual insurance, but the cost saving tends to be greatest on larger fleets.
It's worth comparing quotes for commercial fleet insurance as well as for individual policies on your vehicles. Depending on the size of your fleet, it could work out more cost-effective to cover the vehicles individually.
How to get cheaper fleet insurance
When looking at ways to lower the cost of fleet insurance, it’s all about reducing risk. You can do this by:
- Using electric or hybrid vehicles
- Employing drivers with clean records aged 25 and over
- Sending your drivers on an advanced driving course
- Carrying out regular maintenance on your vehicles
- Making drivers responsible for paying their own excess
- Upgrading the security of your fleet
- Considering black box technology
- Installing a dashcam
Electric or hybrid vehicles could reduce your fleet insurance policy costs. The engines on these vehicles generally have less power than in petrol or diesel-powered vehicles, so they’re considered safer by some insurers. Their CO2 emissions are lower too.
Employ drivers with clean records that are over the age of 25 as their costs tend to be lower. Having a younger driver is sometimes unavoidable. But limiting their mileage and only allowing them to drive in the daytime or while accompanied could help to reduce costs.
Sending your drivers on an advanced driving course increases their awareness of hazards and helps eliminate bad driving habits. These courses help improve their skills in fuel efficiency, driving in bad weather conditions and hazard perception. A safer driver is a lower-risk driver, which helps reduce your insurance costs.
Regular maintenance is important for any vehicle. Encourage daily tyre pressure, oil and brake pad checks and keep a regular service record. This can help keep your vehicles in good condition and reduce the risk of needing to make a claim.
Making drivers responsible for paying their own excess could encourage safer driving.
Providing security options for your vehicles overnight, like a CCTV-monitored car park or locked garages, could lower your insurance costs. Immobilisers inside the vehicle also help, even if the initial cost is expensive.
Technology in the vehicle could be beneficial to reducing your costs. A black box assesses the driver of a vehicle to see how safely they drive. The box sends this to the insurer, who adjust their insurance costs accordingly.
Dashboard cameras or dashcams record everything that happens on the road. You can fit these in the front and back of the vehicle and they're provide evidence if there's an accident. Some insurers offer discounts if you have a dashcam installed.
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Types of van insurance
Commercial van insurance
protects your van and its cargo if you use your van for haulage or business use.
Temporary van insurance
gives you cheap, short-term cover from 1 to 28 days for social and business use.
What our van insurance expert says
Need more help?
Am I covered for personal use on a fleet insurance policy?
This may be excluded from any fleet insurance quotes you are given. If you want to include cover for personal use, you may need to include this as an optional extra. You may even be able to add your own private vehicle to the fleet policy.
What’s the difference between business van insurance and fleet insurance?
Business van insurance will cover one single vehicle for business use, whereas a fleet insurance policy can cover all vehicles in your business.
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