Whether you are a taxi fleet manager owning a number of private or public hire minibuses, a charity running a fleet of minibuses, or a public service hiring out minibuses to schools, clubs or nursing homes, having specialist minibus insurance in place is critical. Any vehicle with between 6-12 passenger seats that is used for commercial gain will require specialist minibus insurance. As a business running a fleet of minibuses you will be able to benefit from a variety of tailored policies to protect your business for fleets of 3 vehicles to over 500!
Benefits to minibus insurance
Minibus insurance offers you peace of mind should your vehicle be involved in an accident as well as providing breakdown cover and replacement vehicles to ensure your business keeps running like clockwork even when faced with potential threats to continuity. Minibus insurance is available for all types of business such as
- public and private hire minibus insurance
- school minibus insurance
- charity minibus insurance
- nursing home minibus insurance
- church group minibus insurance
- sports club minibus insurance
- commercial minibus insurance
What you need to know about minibus insurance
Insurance is available in the standard options of fully comprehensive, third party only and third party, fire and theft. Minibus insurance costs will mainly be determined by the value of the minibus as this will determine the cost of the vehicle being replaced as well as the cost of parts for repair. In order to find cheap minibus insurance, the number of seats in your minibus will also impact on the cost of the minibus insurance, so it will be cheaper to insure a smaller vehicle when appropriate.
Fleet insurance for a minibus means that insurers will also be interested in the age of the driver of the minibus. Most insurers will charge higher premiums for drivers under the age of 25. However, it is possible to find some specialist brokers who do offer a true any driver policy. It may be that your business will need to insure any driver due to a number of drivers sharing the responsibility of driving a particular vehicle (such as teachers needing to drive school minibuses) and therefore flexible options as alternatives to named policies will be necessary.
Insurers will also want to know how secure your minibus fleet is. Security measures that you implement such as fitting an alarm, immobilisers, and where the vehicle is parked will impact on the level of risk and therefore the cost of your minibus insurance. The best way to avoid any unnecessary claims is to drive safely, secure your minibus as best as you can and not leave any expensive equipment inside it.
Some insurers will even offer discounts for the type of business that you run, for example charities may receive a discount on their premiums. Due to the nature of private hire work, there is increased potential for a large number of injury claims. Premiums for this industry particularly are affected by many factors, such as driving record. If you are looking to carry passengers in your minibus for commercial gain then you will need added liability and to cover passenger’s medical bills and their belongings in the unfortunate event of a collision.
Whatever your needs for minibus insurance it is important to speak with a specialist broker who can offer expertise and advice to tailor your policy to your individual needs.