Fleet Insurance
I had never heard of a mini fleet before I spoke to my local insurance broker. I always thought that a fleet policy was more appropriate for a larger company with lots of vehicles. I owned only four cars for my health and safety inspectors to use to get to clients for inspections and other meetings. It never occurred to me to find out whether I could be saving money by combining my car insurance policies onto one fleet policy.
I had recently renewed my employer’s liability, public liability and professional indemnity insurance with a new broker. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that I also qualified for an annual insurance assessment from my broker. My broker said he would come to my office to speak to me about all my insurance requirements. The aim of the meeting was to ensure that I was properly covered and that I was not paying more than I needed to.
My first meeting was just 6 months after I had renewed my liability policies. I was looking forward to the meeting; mainly because I was hoping that he would identify an opportunity where I could save money.
Luckily for me all my team were all in the office that day for our weekly progress meeting. My insurance broker had to walk past my four company cars that were outside and marked up with our company livery. As I welcomed my broker in to our office, he took my hand and asked “Are all those cars outside owned by the company?” to which I replied “Yes”. He asked if I had any more and I told him I only had four cars outside. He said he assumed I had a fleet policy which surprised me somewhat. I had insured each vehicle separately. Upon finding this out, my broker said, with big smile on his face, “I am glad I came – I can save you money straight away”.
We settled down to our meeting and he went on to explain that by combining all my individual car insurance policies onto one fleet policy, I could save a considerable amount on my insurance premiums. He told me that fleet policies include mini-fleets, which is defined as a fleet of 3 or more vehicles.
I am very glad that I had my meeting with my insurance broker and now I regularly ring him to check that I am not paying more than I have to. I couldn’t believe that no one had taken the time out to advise me of this before. This just shows that you are not always better off searching for the cheapest insurance deal around. Sometimes invaluable advice from a local insurance broker can save you more money.
