Constantly moving your goods, your own equipment and even your staff can be expensive. Especially if you’re running several vehicles, each insured separately. Having the vehicles on a Fleet Insurance will help you manage and control them better as they will all be insured in one place; simplifying management and potentially reducing costs.
Fleet Basics: what is a fleet?
Simply put a fleet is a multi-vehicle policy that can be made up of combinations of cars, vans, trucks or special types and trailers. Most insurers will want a minimum of 3 to 5 vehicles to set up a “mini fleet” as a starting point.
Driver Basics: who can I insure to drive?
Any Driver – An ‘any driver basis’ which can be convenient as anyone can drive on the owner’s permission (licence permitting) but these can often cost more as it opens insurers to wider risks.
Excluding Drivers Under – An ‘excluding drivers’ under basis’ restricts drivers to those deemed responsible due to age and experience. Normally set at the following ages: 21, 25 or 30 years of age with a caveat of a minimum of 2 years’ experience.
Basis of Adjustment: what about changing vehicles on the cover?
As and When Basis – Whenever a vehicle is changed you advise the insurers and only pay for the cover used, this seems simple in principle but takes a lot of administration and can be costlier in the long run.
Declaration Basis – Designed to save on administration when changing vehicles regularly, this automatically includes vehicles that the client is legally liable for; assuming the Motor Insurance Database has been updated. Costs are worked out by comparing the policy at the declaration point to the previous declaration and then charging a pre-agreed proportion of the premium per vehicle change.
The frequency of declaration will normally be assigned by the insurers, either quarterly, half yearly or annually but will depend on the size of the fleet.
How can I manage a fleet?
There are several ways to lower the costs associated with fleet insurance, which include:
