What are the pros & cons of fleet insurance?
Pros:
Easier to arrange insurance on multiple vehicles. If your business is reliant on many vehicles, fleet insurance could be the answer.
Only one renewal date so you’ll save time on admin. A business may also get a discount as you’re bulk buying from a single supplier.
Insure all drivers on every vehicle with what’s known as an ‘any driver’ policy. This means that drivers will have access to all vehicles, which saves them waiting around for a certain vehicle to be free.
Cons:
One accident could affect the premiums of all vehicles on the policy. If you do have a particularly accident-prone driver however, it’s probably worth putting them on a separate policy.
If you don’t update your policy and you need to make a claim, it could be invalid. Often with fleets, vehicles come and go so be sure to stay on top of your details.
How to get cheaper fleet insurance
When it comes to cutting the cost of van insurance, it’s all about reducing risk. You can do so by:
- Electric or hybrid vehicles
- Employing drivers with clean records aged of 25 and over
- Sending your drivers on a training course
- Regular maintenance
- Making drivers responsible for paying their own excess
- Adding additional security
Electric or hybrid vehicles may reduce policy prices. The engines on these vehicles generally have less power than regular vehicles, so they’re considered safer by insurers. Their CO2 emissions are lower too.
Employ drivers with clean records that are over the age of 25 as premiums are lower. Having a younger driver is sometimes unavoidable but by limiting their mileage, and only allowing them to drive in the daytime or accompanied could help to reduce costs.
Sending your drivers on a training course will make them aware of hazards and will iron out any potentially unsafe habits. These courses can help improve aspects of driving like fuel efficiency, driving in bad weather conditions and hazard perception.
Regular maintenance is important for any vehicle. Encouraging daily checks on tyre pressures, oil, brake pads and keeping a regular service record will keep your vehicles in good condition.
Making drivers responsible for paying their own excess. This would encourage safe driving. You could also incentivise this by introducing a bonus for your staff if they don’t make a claim.
Providing security options for your vehicles overnight, like a CCTV monitored car park, or locked garages could decrease your insurance costs. Immobilizers inside the vehicle will also help, even if the initial cost is expensive.
Technology in the vehicle could be beneficial to reducing your premiums. A black box can assess each individual driver to see how safely they drive and adjust their premiums accordingly.
Dashboard cameras or dashcams, are also a useful tool as they record everything that happens on the road. These can be fitted in the front and back of the vehicle and are great for providing evidence if there is an accident.
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
If you’ve got a variety of vehicles in your fleet, it’s worth checking that your insurer is offering you an “any vehicle” fleet insurance policy. This will mean your whole fleet is covered if you need to make claim.
Daniel McCulloch
Head of van insurance
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