Fleet Insurance from Active

Figures released this week have reported that while fleet insurance premiums remained stable in 2007, figures for the second quarter in respect of new business premiums have been steadily rising. The third quarter of 2009 has seen a rise of 2% over the same quarter in 2008. But, despite these figures, renewal premiums have actually decreased as insurers fight with each other to retain their existing client bank, especially as they are aware of those customers risk details.

There always seems to be a tendency for a drop in average premiums between the second and third quarters but even this drop has only been 3.8% compared with the drop reported in 2008 of 6.8%. Whilst this may seem not good news for policyholders, in fact these increases have remained modest. Insurers are continually battling to maintain a profit but, a distinct lack of investment income over 2009,  have sought to retain an underwriting profit without losing policyholders. This is true of almost every class of insurance and is not isolated to fleet insurance. Whilst it is currently very difficut to forecast, expect new business premiums to continue to rise and at a faster rate and expect renewal premiums to rise at their current rate.