If you are looking to cover a range of vehicles owned by the same corporate body, you can do this with a fleet policy. Most corporate entities that do this are business, services or a local government. Occasionally, families with several vehicles may have a private fleet, but these are usually for a small number of vehicles and will be considered the same as a private car policy, so they will not be discussed here.
A company fleet policy is usually very flexible, as it can cover many different drivers, all with different roles, and driving different types of vehicles.
As an example: a company may have a sales force, a delivery force, and maintenance or service personnel who will all need different types of vehicles.
Claim Free Bonus
On a fleet insurance policy, your no claims discount works in a different way to your private car. Firstly, it is generally known as “claims experience”. This is because a large enough fleet will have at least one vehicle involved in an accident every year, so the overall “experience” or “history”, across all the vehicles in the fleet, is taken into account for a “no claims discount”.
What about drivers?
As mentioned above, fleet policies are designed to be flexible. Most insurers will offer the following options:
- Named drivers only
- Any driver over 30
- Any driver over 25
- Any driver, any age
It is worth noting that the last category – any driver, any age needs a little clarification. The category does not give carte blanche to put any Tom, Dick or Harry onto the policy, and there are usually several caveats. To use a company vehicle on this basis a driver must have a clean licence, a claim free driving history and no disabilities or illnesses that would affect their driving.
Fleet Management
This is where a fleet insurance policy differs most from a normal private car or van insurance policy. With a company fleet comes the added responsibility of managing the vehicles and the drivers.
Not all drivers will have clean driving licences or a claim free driving history, and in some of the more severe cases, an employee may choose to try and hide these details, as it could affect their job. However, this is precisely the information an insurer will check in the event of an incident, and they will expect you to have the information available upon request, so it is good practice to copy driving licences on a frequent basis and advise insurers of any changes.
But that’s not all. If an employee is hurt in a road traffic accident whilst on company business, the company may be liable if they have not met their own responsibilities under Employment Law. This means the company must be able to show they have met their duty of care towards their employees by checking vehicles used on company business are safe and roadworthy. This applies to any vehicle used on company business, regardless of who the vehicle actually belongs to. So another policy for vehicles is also required, showing evidence of regular maintenance and safety checks.
A recent report found that small businesses and self employed entrepreneur start-ups have increased 117% in the past year. This is such a brave move in the current economic climate, perhaps people are getting sick of being told “There just aren’t any jobs” and their creating their own niche for themselves.
It’s also an disappointing fact that many small businesses fold in their first year due to lack of funds, poor business modelling, a distorted knowledge of the market or simple naivete. Many, even established companies, can be bankrupted by the wrong or under insurance. Now it seems like it’s just an expensive overhead when you’re just starting out but business insurance should be a priority rather than something you put off ’til later.For example, if you’ve just finished a course in hair and beauty and you’re visiting paying clients for the first time, you’re dealing with quite dangerous chemicals and applying them to people’s heads! It’s only natural that you would want some sort of salon insurance whether you work from home, make visits or have just started your own salon. Of course this is one particular example but it illustrates a point, wherever there is a chance something could happen, insurance is vital to protect you and cover your clients.
If your new enterprise involves you driving for a living, delivering your goods or letting other people drive a vehicle in your fleet then you should think very carefully about the kind of business van insurance you buy; not enough or the wrong sort could leave you facing the kind of bills that mean you can’t take your business forward making you and your staff unemployed and out of pocket.
Car Insurance
Car insurance is one of the most important types of insurance one can have, especially if you take into account just how much many of us rely on our vehicles. More and more insurance companies have started offering great value for money, and when it comes purchasing customers are treated like a VIP south african car insurance.
African Independent is one such insurance company who has gone out of its way to offer affordable insurance premiums, excellent customer service and a hassle free claims process. continue reading »
There is quite a simple answer to this question really. If you dont have business insurance then you really could get into serious money problems if someone tries to bring something against the company. If you are a small company then the first claim put against you could well be the last making the business cease to exist altogether. continue reading »
So how on earth could business insurance actually help everyone be that bit more motivated in the work environment? The thing that is really important to start with is that your employees need to feel safe in the workplace or they just cant or wont do the job.
Maslows hierarchy of needs is one of the best things to follow here as it shows in level two of the hierarchy that level two is comfort which is connected to safety. continue reading »
Research carried out by one of the UK’s largest insurers, Direct Line, has found that many home business owners are leaving their business uncovered by not having the correct business insurance. By not having the correct business insurance, you could find yourself loosing money if your business is unable to trade for a certain amount of time.
Direct Line have discovered that almost 30% of all UK home businsses haven’t got the correct insurance for their business. continue reading »
Most people would have seen one while watching TV, a price comparison website advert, whether it’s an opera singer dancing around a coffee shop, or just Peter Jones walking a shopping trolley around a glass suppermarket, the adverts simply get worse every time one is released.
It was a couple of years ago now that we saw the first price comparison site TV advert, this was back when they only really dealed with car insurance. However, now time has passed and they’ve discovered that the common UK citizen is very lazy, these websites have opened out into other markets such as credit cards, loans, and even small business insurance. continue reading »
If you have ever run a business then you have had to dealwith workers comp insurance companies. Dealing with the non-stop threat of increased rates will make any business owner paranoid.
No doubt you already realize that there are many things that can occur in your business that will cause the workers comp insurance companies to raise your rates. continue reading »
You have probably considered some form of insurance for your business, if like me, you have been self-employed. i used to believe that my home insurance was adequate cover, when working as a freelancer. Thankfully I was never required to put this to the test, otherwise I would almost certainly have found that I was wrong. continue reading »
You have probably considered some form of insurance for your business, if like me, you have been self-employed. i used to believe that my home insurance was adequate cover, when working as a freelancer. Thankfully I was never required to put this to the test, otherwise I would almost certainly have found that I was wrong. continue reading »