Fleet Insurance Essentials

Posted by Active under Fleet Insurance News

“For fleet insurance quotes please visit our main page motor fleet insurance page. Active, offer fleet cover for commercial vehicles, company car, taxi operator and businesses based in the UK.”

A motor fleet insurance is essentially a vehicle motor policy that combines more than one vehicle under the umbrella of a single policy. There is nothing complicated in obtaining a fleet insurance quotation as the process is very similar that of a single car insurance policy. Similar set of questions apply to fleet risks as to a standard car policy.

Not all insurers offer fleet insurance, so it is important to find companies that specialise in fleet policies. This can easily be done by searching online for fleet insurance by using a search engine such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. Once you have the contact details for a few fleet insurance brokers you can then begin to contact each of the brokers with your fleet insurance requirements. Most professional insurance brokers will have access to a large panel of insurers that compete in the fleet market and will do their best in trying to get the best possible terms and price for your fleet vehicles.

For the fleet brokers to be able to provide you with a firm quote you must declare the correct answers to all the risk questions that will be presented to you. Disclosing all material facts ensures that you will get a firm quotation that will usually be valid for 30 days. You must also read the quote documentation thoroughly to make sure that the fleet insurance policy being offered meets all your demands and needs. The broker will as part of a written quotation enclose their terms of business agreement, demands and needs statement and a policy summary document. Read through all of these documents and if you are unsure or need further clarification contact the fleet insurance company and speak with a professional consultant.

Each fleet insurance brokers quote will vary in some form or way. The common things to check are policy limits, driver limitations; such as excess that applies for accidental damage, fire, theft and windscreen. Also it is common that most fleet brokers will also include some form of motor legal expenses policy that is extremely useful in recovering your policy excesses in the event of non-fault accident claims amongst other things.

Once you have taken out a fleet insurance policy, it is you duty to inform the insurer of any changes that occur regarding the fleet policy. Changes can include, location of where the vehicles are kept, additional vehicles or vehicles to be removed from the policy, accidents etc. This is a small list and in any case if you unsure as to if a change needs to informed or not the best option is to always ring the fleet insurance broker and ask. It really is that simple.

To run a fleet operation successfully a few simple fleet management protocols should be implemented. As an employer you do have a duty of care towards your employees and to your customers and other road users. The vehicles should be kept in a good working order and must be road legal. Driver training is highly recommended as well as ensuring that all drivers have a written policy as to what to do in the event of a claim. Even keeping disposal camera kits in the vehicles can be a valuable tool in assessing how a claim proceeds.

Fleet insurance policies do not follow the concept of no claims bonus as single individual car policies. With a fleet policy at the end of each year you get what is called a fleet claims experience document. This will highlight who the insurer was, average number of vehicles for that policy year, number of claims and the costs of these claims. To keep costs to a minimum any claim that does occur on your fleet must be reported to the insurer immediately as this will help to minimise the costs involved. With early notification the insurers are able to deal with the claim a lot more quickly and usually will result in lower costs to all parties involved.

Insurance for Car Fleet and Van Fleets

Posted by Active under Fleet Insurance News

If you a company owner or run a business and run at least cars/vans for your business operations then you should consider looking at a commercial motor fleet insurance solution. A fleet policy will allow you to all insure all your vehicles including a mixture of car fleets and van fleets under the umbrella of a single motor policy. This obviously has many benefits and advantages than that of insuring each individual car or van on a single policy. The amount of time saved chasing renewals and obtaining individual quotes for each vehicle can alone save a lot of money in terms that the time could be better spent on running your business. Do not automatically assume that a fleet insurance is only available for large companies that operate hundreds of cars. It’s completely the opposite; a car fleet insurance policy is available for individual or business that operates three or more vehicles.

Fleet insurance for cars and vans

One of the main benefits of a company fleet insurance cover is that all the vehicles fall into a single policy. This means that only a single renewal date to remember. You can imagine the amount stress and time it would take to phone or obtain an online quotation for each individual vehicle. With a fleet insurance policy cover it is far easier to manage, add on vehicles, take off vehicles or even amend the drivers. A fleet insurance policy is suitable for almost any type of business including delivery business such as couriers, parcels, taxi or minicab firms, company car fleets, minibus or coach fleet operators, warehouse distribution or even a small corner shop with a few cars and or vans.

Great news for fleet operators is that the claims procedure is far simpler and easier to process. This means that the fleet operator will have their vehicle back on the road back quickly. Some insurers will also provide a guaranteed replacement vehicle in the event of even a fault claim. There will usually be an additional charge for this. It is important that the insurers are made aware of all claims on the fleet insurance policy as quickly as possible even if the claim was fault or non-fault. This helps to reduce the cost of the claim to escalate.

Normally a fleet insurance policy is available to businesses that operate five or more vehicles however some will also start fleet policies from as little as three vehicles. Mini fleet insurance is a great cover for owners with fewer than ten vehicles but for larger fleet operators the best option is to utilise the services of fleet insurance broker who can compare fleet insurance quotes with the whole market.

So, if you are looking for a car fleet insurance policy, a van fleet insurance policy or a mixture of both – even if the fleet consists of special type vehicles such as tippers, articulated vehicles, JCB’s and the like – it is imperative that you give us a call where we can offer and compare insurance premiums with the UK’s finest fleet insurance companies.

Active Insurance is a UK leading provider of fleet insurance solutions.

Fleet Insurance Market Overview 2010

Posted by Active under Fleet Insurance News

Active Motor Fleet Insurance Quote

With the New Year upon us, most but not all insurance companies have now come out fighting for new opportunities such as the fleet insurance market, liability, small to medium enterprise (SME) risks and are looking to explore new markets.

With the atrocious conditions that insurance companies have had to contend with in the taxi insurance market; insurers with vehicle insurance know how, are looking to replace their books with what is perceived to be a more profitable market. Insurers should take note that the very reason taxi insurance became unprofitable was directly due to too many insurers fighting and scrambling for the market share, thereby forcing premiums to a simply unsustainable level. Some of the taxi insurance rates being offered were actually lower than standard car insurance rates.

Insurers, notably HSBC Insurance Company and a few other household name insurers have exited from the taxi insurance market for the time being. But will the same happen with the fleet insurance market? By pulling out of markets, insurers still have to replace these with new ones and it is suspected that fleet insurance may be one of them. This may be good news for buyers of fleet insurance products, but is it? There may be short term rewards to customers as rates, terms and premiums drop but, as the taxi insurance is finding out, the Market will catch a cold and push premiums to, what will then perceived to be draconian percentage increases to recover their losses.

New entrants to the fleet insurance game will hope to gain a share of premiums without any legacy of claims, probably unintentionally push premiums down with the hope of minimal collateral damage. A particular entrant has looked at the fleet insurance market cautiously and is probably right to do so. And what of the investment side of the collected premiums? Can this be offset against discounted or economical underwriting? It was widely presumed almost unanimously that following the Credit Crunch, insurers would have no other option other to actually start making an underwriting profit at source, which has not been the case recently. The early signs are not, apparently.

For 2010, it seems to be business as usual and a continual yo-yoing and cyclical hard and soft Market is still here to stay. Until the next crunch……

For any type of motor fleet insurance quote, contact Active’s commercial insurance department for advice or a quote. Active is the specialist fleet insurance broker for UK businesses and individuals.