Motor fleet – what to do to get a better price on your vehicles

How to get the best price for your haulage motor fleet

It's important to engage a broker that has a specialism in your industry, and Ascend has a specialist Transportation and Haulage division which has the knowledge and expertise in your sector - but how can you help and work together with your broker to obtain the best cover and premium?

Simon Horton, Transportation and Logistics Director at Ascend, has highlighted three areas where you can reduce your motor fleet premiums:

Claims

Unfortunately, it is inevitable that your business will suffer motor accidents, but you can reduce this risk. Claims management is essential to keeping premiums at a reasonable level and this should be a three way partnership with your broker and insurer. Your claims should be reviewed at least half yearly, but I would recommend quarterly. You can then see trends which may show reoccurring incidents, for drivers, or specific types of accident. Examples could be: hitting stationary vehicles. Does the route go through congested areas? Would smaller vehicles be a better solution? Are time-critical drops causing problems?

Claims reserves are always a contentious subject but, with regular reviews and three-way dialogue, these can be explained and challenged where necessary.

Vehicle Cameras

No one likes to admit they are at fault and driver bonuses may encourage misinterpretation of accident circumstances. Cameras have proved to be extremely useful in obtaining the correct information of the incident; they can help defend claims where a third party is a fault, but also allow fault claims to be dealt with faster and therefore keep any third-party costs down. Insurers can successfully reduce claims costs with fast capture of accident details.

Driver management

Telematics systems are now the norm and fitted to the majority of HGV’s. However, are you utilising the full potential of the information captured by your system? Current technology can provide useful information on driving style and, where harsh braking or acceleration seems to be a normal habit, driver training can be targeted to the specific driver.

Many drivers have bonus arrangements for hitting targets and not having 'fault' accidents. As mentioned above, this can lead to misleading statements on accident circumstances, or even the failure to report claims. Cameras and telematics can help, but looking at restructuring driver bonuses could encourage early reporting.

Premiums will still be calculated on vehicle schedule and claims experience, but the above can have significant effect on your premiums. If insurers can see an active and responsible risk management programme in place, then your broker has the tools to negotiate competitive premiums for you.

Have any questions? please don’t hesitate to contact one of our team

Simon.horton@ascendbrokingold.co.uk  |  Office: 01245 449068  |  Mobile: 07841 020435