Fleet Insurance: Savings Through Safety
Everybody wants to save money on their fleet insurance and get a cheap fleet insurance quote, and over our many years of working in the industry we’ve learnt the tricks of the trade. For example, going for a named driver policy rather than any driver cover can save you money as can ensuring your vehicles are kept secure, both in terms of overnight parking and fitting dashcams and telematics systems.
One of the less well known, or at least less discussed, ways of saving on your fleet cover is through improving the safety of your drivers and their vehicles. Safe drivers driving plus safe vehicles involved in fewer incidents and few incidents equals fewer claims and fewer claims mean lower premiums. To help you get started with improving your fleet’s safety, here are Coversure’s top tips for savings through safety.
Give Your Drivers Extra Training
Most fleet drivers like to think they are good and safe, but with 90% of accidents being down to human error, the evidence simply doesn’t support the assumption. As fleet drivers do more mileage than the average motorist so they are at a far greater risk of having an accident, in fact business drivers are 30-40% more likely to be involved in a crash according to Kent Police figures. Driver training can help you reduce that figure and putting your drivers on regular safety courses can significantly reduce the number of claims you have to make on your fleet insurance. The Royal Society For Prevention Of Accidents (ROSPA) are one of many organisations that run fleet driver safety courses and they come highly recommended.
Check Your Vehicles Regularly
Basic maintenance of vehicles is another easy way to improve safety. A recent GPSS study showed that 20% of accidents had underinflated tyres as a contributory factor – that’s nearly 50,000 avoidable accidents per year in the UK. Other common issues include low oil levels, worn brakes, loose cam belts and loose bolts, all of which can be spotted if your vehicles are given regular inspections. For owners of smaller fleets in particular, cutting back on maintenance may seem like a good way of saving money but in the long-term it simply pushes your chances of problems up and so ends up as a false economy.
Cut Out Grey Fleet Usage
And speaking of false economies, that brings us on to grey fleets. There’s been a lot of industry talk in recent years as to how grey fleets – fleets consisting of private vehicles that are used for business purposes – are a cost rather than a saving, and when it comes to safety this is undoubtedly the case. With a grey fleet, you are reliant on the car’s owner to ensure that its properly maintained, a lack of control that could cost you dear in the event of an accident.
Make Safety Part Of Your Organisation’s Culture
Modern fleet drivers are pressured. Appointments, traffic jams, bad weather and the distractions of modern life can make even the safest driver put his foot down to get the job done. Once upon a time there was little you could do about this until it was too late, but with modern telematics, connected cars and other in-car systems you can monitor your drivers’ performance and can help affect positive change. If you hold regular reviews with your drivers on their driving, sharing the evidence you have and looking to support them in becoming a better, safer driver it can not only save you money on things like fleet insurance, but can improve your business’s performance and even save lives.
In-car distractions such as mobile phones are an increasing cause of accidents. Driver distractions are behind 65% of near-crashes and 80% percent of crashes according to FleetSafe, while 20% admit to being so distracted by in-car gadgets that they have veered out of their lane.
If your organisation takes simple steps like placing a ban on having mobiles on in the car – something legislation is undoubtedly heading toward, rewarding drivers with good safety records and even penalising those with poor ones, then you can make life easier and safer for all.
Reduce The Time Pressures
Of all the safety tips in this blog, this is both the most effective and the hardest to achieve. Pressured drivers are more likely to increase their speed and this is likely to increase their chances of having an accident. An EU report found that a 1 km/h increase in speed showed an increase in accident rates of between 1% and 4% for urban roads and 2.5% and 5.5% for rural roads. Helping your drivers with their time management, providing them with sat navs so they are forewarned of issues and encouraging them to make alternative arrangements, such as moving pulling over and changing appointment times, can all make a difference.
Share Fleet Safety Knowledge
Safety training is great, but bad driving habits will return – that’s just human nature. To make sure that you maintain your fleet drivers good driving habits, try and keep the help, advice and training coming. Email newsletters with tips, links to videos and updates on best practise and legal changes, such as the recent clampdown on the use of mobiles while driving, can all help to keep safe driving at the front of your drivers’ minds.
Like Some More Help?
Well we hope that’s given you some food for thought. If you’d like to know more about saving money on your fleet costs, or would like some help getting the fleet insurance cover that’s right for you, then please contact us. You can call us free on 0800 977 6037, email us by clicking here or get a no-obligation insurance quote here.
Coversure Hull is an independent fleet and business insurance specialist. From our base on the banks of The Humber, we offer comprehensive commercial vehicle cover, with particular focus on fleet and special types, alongside other essential business covers, namely commercial combined and liability.
Since opening in 2005, our combination of superb service and outstanding value for money business policies have established us as the insurer of choice for organisations both large and small.
Coversure Hull: We Mean Business
We have made it our business to protect your business. Whether you need fleet, landlord, liability or commercial combined insurance, we can offer you high quality cover from some of the UK’s leading insurers, all at highly competitive premiums that’s backed by our outstanding cover-to-claim service.
Contact Us Today
For a friendly independent service and great value cover, contact Coversure Hull today. You can call us on Hull (01482) 434343, for free on 0800 977 6037 or you can email us by clicking here.
We look forward to helping you with your requirements.
Andy Price
Managing Director
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