Fleet Insurance

What is Fleet Insurance?

Fleet insurance is the combining of the insurance for all your company or organisation vehicles into one insurance policy.

Because commercial, business and public sector motor vehicle fleets require a wide range of vehicle types motor fleets are found in with vehicles of different shapes, manufacturers, sizes and combinations of vehicles. For example a fleet could include:

• Coaches and buses
• Minibus, taxi and limo's
• Car and 4x4's
• Artic Tractors
• Curtainside vehicles
• Flat bed
• Tail lift
• Tipper truck
• HGV
• LGV Van 3.5 ton
• Motorcycles

Combinations of vehicles can be covered under one fleet policy.

Your fleet vehicles must be insured for the purpose they are use for.

• Carriage of own goods
• Goods in transit
• Courier insurance

Definition

The definition of a fleet is usually about 15 vehicles or more, mini-fleets are from 3-15 vehicles.

Depending on the insurer, you can include any range and number of vehicles - from just two to 1,000-plus. Most insurers demand a minimum of 3 - 4 before they will consider you for mini-fleet cover.

Advantages of Fleet Insurance

The benefits of a fleet insurance policy are:

• It's cheaper than taking out a policy for each vehicle
• There's less paperwork and admin
• Only one renewal date to remember and one insurer to deal with
• Correct cover is given to each vehicle so overall risk is better managed
• Cost savings - eg, cheaper windscreen replacement, discounted breakdown insurance, cheaper legal expenses insurance

The downside? The renewal date for the total premium due falls on the same day. Unless you budget for this, it could upset cash flow. Some insurer let you pay by installments, while others charge for this.