Business Fleet Insurance
Businesses with either a commercial vehicle or company car fleet will require Fleet Insurance that is cost-effective.
Businesses with either a commercial vehicle or company car fleet will require Fleet Insurance that is cost-effective, tailored to their fleet needs and handled by an efficient account management team that deals with any claims without fuss.
Commercial fleet insurance policies are available for companies that operate at least 2 vehicles and would like to incorporate both vehicles within the same policy.
Usually, a business will decide to take out a fleet policy, rather than individual policies, if they are looking for increased flexibility with managing their fleet or if they have anticipated taking on additional vehicles, which would warrant insuring the vehicles on a comprehensive fleet policy.
Extensions to standard business fleet cover include fleet breakdown cover, which we can arrange to run alongside your policy if needed.
What is business fleet insurance?
A business fleet insurance policy will cover a group of vehicles under a single policy that are either owned, leased, hired or borrowed by a business. The business can either be a sole trader, partnership or a limited company.
Primarily, the vehicles will be used for business and the cover will usually extend to include Social, Domestic and Pleasure Use. A commercial fleet insurance policy is not suitable for vehicles that are primarily used for personal use or for family fleet policies where there is no requirement for business use.
A commercial fleet policy will cover vehicles of any type including private cars, vans, HGV’s, mini-buses, taxis, special type vehicles and fork lift trucks.
We will provide a competitive insurance quote, from our panel of insurers, for business fleets ranging in size from 2 vehicles to over 500 vehicles. Whether you have a small or large fleet, you are guaranteed the same considered approach to your insurance needs alongside the same, excellent customer service.
Which businesses are able to apply for a fleet insurance policy?
Practically all businesses and driver occupations can be considered for a business fleet policy. We can provide cover to varying industries, such as a sole trader who has just 2 vehicles to a national haulage operator or a large distribution company with hundreds of vehicles.
We use a panel of over 25 insurers to ensure that we can accommodate all risks, and we have chosen our insurance panel carefully in order to best reflect our client’s needs.
No two risks are the same and our panel of insurers include specialist, motor-only insurers, as well as all the household names that you will be familiar with.
What types of business fleet insurance are there?
Typically, classes of use to consider for business fleet insurance include the following:
Social, Domestic and Pleasure use, including Commuting – This would allow a policyholder to commute to and from one permanent place of work. A business car policy would not be suitable in this instance and you would be advised to insure your fleet vehicles individually to obtain the best premiums.
Class 1 Business Use – This would allow the policyholder to use the vehicle for their business or profession and would allow travel to more than one permanent place of work. An area manager may require Class 1 use.
Class 2 Business Use – This would allow the same use as Class 1 but for other drivers named on the policy as well.
Class 3 Business Use – This would provide the widest cover available allowing commercial travel including collection of money.
What does commercial fleet insurance cover?
Commercial fleet insurance will typically provide cover for carriage of own goods or for hire and reward, or for a mixture of both:
Carriage of own goods is a type of commercial vehicle cover that insures drivers to carry and transport goods and equipment that they own themselves, but may use for work purposes.
This would be suitable for a plumber, as a plumber will use his vehicle to carry his own tools and materials, or a wholesaler making deliveries, for example.
Cover for hire and reward is a fleet insurance policy providing cover for drivers transporting people or goods belonging to others in exchange for funds.
This type of cover would be suitable for a haulage company or a taxi firm – a haulage company will charge for delivering goods, just as a taxi company will charge for transporting paying passengers.
What factors are considered in a business fleet insurance policy?
When a fleet policy underwriter is creating a bespoke policy for a fleet, there are a number of factors that need to be considered in order to secure the correct level of cover for the best price. They will look into:
Number and Use of Vehicles
A fleet requiring use for hire and reward will pay significantly more than a fleet that is used for carriage of own goods. The number of vehicles insured on the policy will also be one of the main driving forces behind the premium.
Driver Age Restrictions
Age restrictions will be taken into consideration when rating a fleet policy. A fleet policy will usually cover drivers by age and you could arrange a policy to cover drivers aged over 17, drivers aged over 25 or drivers aged over 30, for example. There are further age restrictions to consider and you should choose this based on your specific needs.
You will pay more for a policy that covers any driver aged over 17 than you would for a policy that covers any driver aged over 30, so it is important that you select the correct driving restriction to avoid overpaying for insurance.
Driver Profile
A full driver profile should be considered at the quotation stage as we can negotiate discounts with some insurers depending on the age of your drivers. A discount would be available if the majority of your drivers were aged over 30.
Even if this restriction did not fit all drivers, it would be cheaper to select the age restriction that fits most of your drivers and then to name any driver on the policy if they fall outside of this age restriction.
For example, if you had a 25 year old driver named Mr Smith, but all of your other drivers were aged over 30, it would be cheaper to take a policy that covered any driver aged over 30 with Mr Smith named on the policy separately, rather than to take out a policy that covered all vehicles for drivers aged over 25.
For this reason, we place a great emphasis on initial data collection. A considered and thoughtful approach to marketing your fleet will result in lower premiums for you.
Vehicle Profile
The vehicle profile will also be an important consideration for a fleet insurance underwriter. An underwriter will consider the cost of repairs (parts and labour) for a particular vehicle, the value of the vehicle, the performance of the vehicle and the level of security, amongst other things.
Claims Experience
One of the main rating criteria for fleet insurance policies is the performance of the fleet expressed by the number of claims made, and the costs of the claims. An underwriter will use your claims experience to calculate your loss ratio, by dividing the total amount paid out in claims by the total amount paid in premium.
For every £1 you spend on fleet insurance, your insurance company pays 35p in administration costs, so the insurer will only break even if your claims loss ratio is less than 65%. You will pay a better premium for your fleet insurance if your insurer is paying out less than 65p in every £1 in claims.
If your insurer is paying out more than this, your premium will generally increase as a result.
Why choose FleetCover for commercial fleet insurance?
Our team of in-house insurance brokers and negotiators have been carefully brought together over many years and are a long-standing unit, which will give you the peace of mind that your insurance is being handled by experts.
Our team consists of ex-fleet insurance underwriters and our staff are all qualified to at least CII standard. We are a Chartered Insurance Broker and are fully committed to the continuous development of our staff, and to providing you with the best levels of customer service.
We offer the following services as standard, as part of our commitment to you:
- Savings on your fleet insurance renewal
- Comprehensive fleet review
- Strategic marketing to our panel of insurers
- In-house claims department
- Access to risk management
- Excellent customer service from our knowledgeable team of experts
- Timely, personal and private advice on your fleet insurance issues
Call us today on 0345 224 5329 to talk about commercial fleet insurance and risk management.
Speak to a expert about Business Fleet Insurance
0345 224 5329FAQs about business fleet insurance
What is contingent liability?
Contingent liability on your fleet insurance policy will protect you if your employees own policy becomes inoperative. You would have made the necessary checks to your employees’ insurance certificate to confirm they have the correct business use insured; however, the employee may have since failed to keep up their direct debit payments and the policy may have been cancelled.
In this instance, the contingent liability cover will protect your company from third party liability claims, but not the employees own vehicle damage.
Can I add a vehicle with occasional business use to my fleet insurance policy?
A fleet insurance policy will often have the facility to include ‘Occasional Business Use’, which will provide cover for your employees’ own vehicles if they do not have a company vehicle or if they are not able to arrange this cover.
This cover will not be operative if the employee is using the vehicle for their own personal use.
Can I get business fleet insurance for a new or small business?
Yes, we insure fleets with as little as 2 vehicles. If you are a new business or a small business and need to cover a small amount of vehicles, but think that you’ll benefit from having a comprehensive business fleet policy in place, we can help.
Does Social, Domestic and Pleasure cover include the commute to work?
A policy that covers Social, Domestic and Pleasure use will most likely not include commuting, so you should take advice on this matter or ensure that you check the policy wording to confirm what is covered.
Most insurers class commuting as additional cover to Social, Domestic and Pleasure use.
