The insurance on our company vans allows any driver over 25 holding a current licence. We recently wanted someone with some points on his licence to use a van occasionally, so I thought I had better check first with the insurers.
I was astonished to discover that the insurance company is not interested in the driving record of any of the drivers. Apparently Norwich Union do not care if we have people with past convictions for dangerous driving, suspensions, or a history of writing off their employers' vehicles. A current licence is the only requirement, and the premium is the same regardless, and private or company business is allowed.
Contrast this attitude with the scrutiny they give to drivers under private vehicle insurance.
Is this standard practice, what is going on?
Would this be a backdoor way for uninsurable drivers to get insurance? Anybody can form a company, so a group of people could form a company (Uninsurable Drivers Ltd !) and then drive their company vehicles.
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I am no expert since I was in Fleet for a limited amount of time.
However, from memory, commercial insurance is rated entirely on the risk experience and company quality.
The thinking being that the previous experience is so important and depends on so many factors that individual drivers are unlikely to affect it.
Maintenance procedures, use of the vehicles, etc are much more relevant.
It is not really a viable way for anybody else to get insurance for a number of reasons;
The quality of the company - you couldn't set up as a one man band and be treated the same way.
Claims experience - without any it is virtually impossible to get commercial insurance.
Company principles - depending on what he was uninsurable for, this would show on a check into the principles - (owner, director, whatever)
Material Disclosure - self-explanatory
Vehicle use - not on company business, not by an employee
and much more.
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It has some similarities to the difference between group and individual life insurance.
Buy life insurance yourself and there's a long form, contact with your GP and possibly a medical. The premium will then reflect any individual risk factors. For comapnies *above a certain size* (key point) the insurer will provide cover without medical evidence and the premium is simply based on the sex/age mix and historic claims experience.
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More strange logic from the insurance industry IMO.
Contrast this 'careless' attitude with my experience, wanting to insure a transit van in addition to my personal car, I had a terrible time finding a company that would even offer insurance - despite max. NCB and clean licence.
When one was found, they would not take my record into account for premium deduction purposes, and 'owner only' driving meant nothing to them.
The premium quoted was very nearly the value of the van, and meant I abandoned what might have been a useful business venture.
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Yes, a good analogy, but it still only partly explains the puzzle. We are a small, recently started recycling company, with no track record of insurance. The insurers didn't want any details about the owners/directors/officers, or about the size of the company.
I am still amazed that the driving record of the van drivers is apparently not a factor. We could hire someone with a long personal record of insurance claims and convictions, and they do not want to know. They don't even want his name.
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I would assume that whilst the insurance company don't want details directly that your company has to collect them.
There used to be a requirement that said essentially you could let anybody drive you wanted to, but that you had to have a driver's detail forms completed first and in your records.
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Yes, obviously we keep records of our drivers, and we don't actually want to employ bad drivers.
But it is ultimately drivers who cause accidents and accidents that create costs for insurance companies.
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I wonder if the insurance companies' lack of interest in driver histories etc is just a way of keeping this particular business highly profitable. No records means lower admin costs.
It's a long while since I was close to fleet administration, but IIRC, the company I worked for about 15 years ago was being charged something like £750 a car with an excess of about £1,000 for a fleet of about 100 cars. And no, the company didn't have a bad claims record.
Money for old rope!!
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>>is just a way of keeping this particular business highly profitable
If that was the intention, then its failed disastrously.
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