Getting the best out of your fleet vehicle insurance

To get the best out of your fleet vehicle insurance it is important to take time to evaluate your business needs, not to simply go for the cheapest option, which may not ultimately provide you with the coverage that you need.

Understanding your business and fleet vehicle usage

There are many types of motor fleet insurance policies available, each of which will be suitable to different types of business, differing vehicle types and usage of vehicle.

Understanding exactly what your fleet vehicle insurance policy needs to cover can be overwhelming with differences in policy coverage between business fleet insurance, fleet van insurance, haulage insurance, courier insurance, carriage of own goods, public and private hire insurance, and so on.

This is where a specialist insurance broker can advise and offer their expertise to make sure you have the right fleet vehicle insurance in place when you need it most. Specialist brokers are aware of specific industry requirements and will understand which options will be best suited to your individual business.   

Fleet vehicle insurance relies on detail

Does your underwriter know enough about your fleet vehicle insurance? Lack of detail supplied to your fleet insurance provider or broker can impact on your premiums and the type of cover you receive. This can be detailed in the form of information on vehicles, usage, drivers, or the risk management steps that are being taken to reduce claims.

Fleet operators are not motor fleet insurance specialists and therefore many are unaware of the type of information that can mean the difference in premiums or type of coverage that they receive.

To get the best out of your fleet vehicle insurance you can work with a specialist insurance broker to analyse and assess your risk and claims history to highlight areas for improvement. Analysing your claims experience and understanding where and why claims are occurring can help you to implement a risk improvement plan, which can in turn positively affect your fleet vehicle insurance premiums.

With the use of telematics and other driving technologies, you can now achieve a more accurate understanding of your risks and even share this data with your insurance broker. Providing real-time tracked reports will help indicate the level of insurance cover your business will require to ensure you are properly covered. This evidence will also help to reduce your insurance premiums.

Telematics has the functionality to record driver behaviour and whether you need to improve your drivers training. Good driving behaviours will reduce overall running costs by using less fuel and minimising damage to tyres, brakes and general maintenance of your fleet vehicles. But a risk management program needs to be convincing with proof of steps you are taking to keep your premiums down.

Manage your third party insurance costs to reduce fleet vehicle insurance premiums

Many fleet operators will have processes in place to manage their own drivers when they are involved in accidents, providing replacement vehicles and managing repairs, however less time is taken to consider managing third parties and third party claims tend to skyrocket as a result.

This may not cost your business immediately as a result but these costs will in turn be passed on in the form of higher premiums for your fleet vehicle insurance.

When your driver is at fault it is important to seek to manage both the repair time on the third party vehicle and provision of courtesy car whilst this is in process. Too often with fleet vehicle insurance this process is not managed and if fleet operators want to keep down premiums, they need to be confident that their insurer has a system in place to manage any third-party claims itself.

Stay in good communication with your insurance provider to help manage down time and keep on top of any existing claims to limit the length of time it takes to get issues resolved. 

At Bluedrop, we actively chase our insurers to conclude third party claims as swiftly as possible, therefore mitigating loss and keeping driver’s reserves down. With the help of our expertise, vehicle downtime is minimised, and you can rest assured that we are working to get the best out of your fleet vehicle insurance.