When it comes to motor fleet insurance, it can be tricky to strike the right balance between service and cost. An insurer that offers a competitive insurance premium is appealing, but it won’t be much good to you if they have a sub-standard, inefficient claims process.
Motor fleet insurance can be costly, so we’ve put together this guide to help you save money on your premium and to help you choose the right motor fleet insurance provider.
What is motor fleet insurance?
Motor fleet insurance is a multi-vehicle insurance policy that covers the different types of vehicles your business owns and uses.
How does motor fleet insurance protect your business?
Motor fleet insurance allows your business to group its vehicle cover together, consolidate its motor insurance costs and spread its risk across multiple vehicles and drivers.
There is a range of motor fleet insurance options to protect your business from any third-party injury or property damage claims caused by your vehicles, vehicle theft or fire damage and vehicle repair or replacement following an incident.
What does motor fleet insurance cover?
The main types of cover are:
Third-Party Liability:
- Third-Party personal injury
- Third-Party damaged property claims
- A legally required minimum level of cover
Third-Party Fire & Theft:
- Vehicle damage by fire
- Theft or attempted theft of your vehicle
- Third-Party personal injury
- Third-Party damaged property claims
Comprehensive:
- Repair & replacement in the event of an accident (wear and tear or faults are not covered by insurance)
- Vehicle damage by fire
- Theft or attempted theft of your vehicle
- Third-Party personal injury
- Third-Party damaged property claims
There are also options available to extend your cover to include personal use, open driving from the age of 21 to 70 or on a named driver’s basis for drivers that fall outside that age bracket.
How to save money on your motor fleet insurance
Motor fleet insurance is one of those things that you simply can’t afford to neglect, and it can be a considerable expense depending on the number of vehicles you have and the type of business you run.
However, there are measures you can take to reduce the cost of your premium:
Improve the security of your fleet
When calculating your premium, insurers will look at factors that contribute to or reduce your associated risk.
Therefore, the number one thing you can do to reduce your premium is to secure your vehicles with the right level of protection, making them as safe as possible from the most common types of claims.
Here are some practical security measures that are easy to implement, yet highly effective:
- Ensure your vehicles are parked in a safe place overnight, such as a garage or a parking lot with CCTV cameras installed
- Fit your vehicles with an alarm to deter thieves
- Install immobiliser devices to prevent thieves from being able to drive your vehicles away
- Install GPS tracking so you have a better chance of getting vehicles back if they are stolen
Build up your claims free years
Building up your number of years claims free is a great way to save some money as it shows insurers that you and your employees are low-risk drivers.
The longer you go without making a claim, the lower your premium will be.
Enforce minimum standards for drivers and assess them
Having drivers with clean records and low penalty points, whether they picked them up driving commercially or privately, will help bring your motor fleet insurance premiums down. Enforcing minimum standards concerning driver claims, incidents and penalty points can be an effective way to reduce your premium and keep it down.
Just make sure to regularly assess your drivers and educate them on what’s expected of them and the ramifications of not adhering to these standards.
In addition, a driver reward programme for safe driving can be a good incentive for employees to encourage and promote safe driving and in turn reduce claims.
Consider a smaller size and smaller engine
Another thing insurers look at when calculating your premium is the size of the vehicle and how costly it will be to replace it in the event of a claim.
In general, the bigger the vehicle and the more power the engine has, the higher you can expect your premium to be. So, before you purchase a vehicle, take the time to consider whether you really need a large one, or whether a smaller one is sufficient for your needs.
Introduce regular driver training
As an employer, you should provide regular driver training sessions to all of your employees.
Driver training will help to ensure that they have a good understanding of what safe driving means in practice and can help to underline the importance of the standards your company expects, as well as improve the likelihood of building up your claims-free history.
Use monitoring systems to assess your drivers
There is a range of technology available to companies with motor fleets that can help you to reduce your accident rate, and identify “problem drivers” – both of which will help in lowering your motor fleet insurance premiums.
On-board vehicle telematics can provide you with everything you need to see exactly how your vehicles are being driven. They can help you to identify which drivers are most likely to speed or brake suddenly, or to drive at hours that might put them at risk of falling asleep at the wheel, and can even help to establish who is liable in the event of an accident.
Consider having fewer named drivers
Your premium can be affected by how many drivers you have on your insurance policy, and usually increases with the number of named drivers. So, if you can get by with fewer named drivers on your policy, it’s worth considering, and using a monitoring system in your fleet can also highlight areas where you can improve its productivity.
Choose the right motor fleet insurance provider
As we’ve mentioned, reducing your motor fleet insurance premiums is important, but choosing the cheapest providers is not always the best route to take. All fleet operators want competitive insurance premiums, but choosing a motor fleet insurer with a slow and ineffective claims service can cost you a lot more in the long run – no matter how low your initial premium might be!
The strategies outlined above will help you save some money on your motor fleet insurance, but the most effective tip we can give you is to simply call us and speak to our team.
At ERM Financial Services, we’ve been protecting our customers with reliable, comprehensive motor fleet insurance coverage since 1993.
We provide perfectly balanced motor fleet insurance for every size of business, including:
- Cover from just two vehicles and up
- Cover for a mixture of vehicle types
- Cover for a wide range of sectors and usages
- Bespoke products, that can be tailored to your business
Our team has the knowledge and the expertise to provide you with the coverage you need, at the right price, and with a service that you can rely on.
So get in touch today and don’t forget to check out our blog and resources pages for more of the latest trends and developments in the commercial insurance industry.