COVERTRADE SERVICES
Motor Fleet Insurance
Every vehicle your business runs on one policy, one renewal date. Fleets from two vehicles upwards.
What Is Motor Fleet Insurance?
Motor fleet insurance puts every vehicle your business runs on one policy, with one renewal date and one premium, instead of a separate policy per vehicle. Cars, vans, tippers, trucks and the mix in between can sit on the same schedule, and vehicles can be added or removed during the year as the business changes rather than each one starting its own twelve months.
The other difference is how it is rated. Separate policies price each vehicle on its own; a fleet policy prices the whole operation on one claims record. Once you are running more than a couple of vehicles that usually works in your favour, and it is why fleet cover tends to make sense earlier than businesses expect.
Most insurers will write a fleet from two vehicles upwards, some from three. That matters, because most of the fleet pages you will find are published by insurers writing for fleets of fifteen, twenty or more. We arrange cover for the small fleets below that line as well as the larger ones. A two-van operation is a fleet as far as we are concerned.
What Does Motor Fleet Insurance Cover?
Third party, fire and theft, or comprehensive
Third party only is the legal minimum and covers injury and damage you cause to others. Comprehensive adds damage to your own vehicles. A fleet does not have to be all one or the other. Older vehicles can sit on third party cover while newer ones are comprehensive, on the same policy.
Any driver, or named drivers
An any-driver policy covers whoever is authorised to drive, within the age and licence limits the insurer sets. Naming drivers is usually cheaper. Which one is right depends on whether the same people always drive the same vehicles.
Tools and goods in the vehicle
A motor policy covers the vehicle, not what is inside it. Tools, stock and customers' goods need cover arranged alongside. Goods in transit, or tools cover under a trades policy. This is the gap we see most often on fleets that were bought on price alone.
A mixed fleet, not just vans
Cars, vans, tippers, flatbeds, HGVs, plant carried on the back and special types can sit on the same policy. They do not all rate the same, and nor does what the vehicle is used for: local delivery, long distance haulage and site work are three different risks.
Hire and reward, if you deliver
Carrying goods for payment, including food delivery, needs hire and reward cover. An ordinary business-use policy does not extend to it, and driving without it is an offence rather than just an uninsured loss. Tell us if any of your vehicles deliver.
How Much Does Motor Fleet Insurance Cost?
As a rule of thumb, fleet cover starts at around £700 to £800 per vehicle a year. Treat that as a floor rather than an average. It is where a clean, straightforward fleet begins.
Two things move it further than most people expect. The first is where the vehicles are based: the same three vans price very differently in a city centre than in a rural postcode. The second is claims history: on a fleet policy one at-fault claim is rated against the whole operation, not against the vehicle that had it.
After that it is the ordinary things: how many vehicles, what type they are, what they carry, how far they travel, and the ages and licences of the people driving them. We are a broker, so we take the whole picture to several insurers rather than accepting the first number back.
Fleet Cover At A Glance
The details businesses ask us about most before they pick up the phone.
- Fleets from two vehicles upwards
- Any-driver or named-driver cover
- Cars, vans, tippers and HGVs on one policy
- Add or remove vehicles mid-term, renewal date unchanged
- Fleets with claims history considered
- Monthly or annual payment
- Out-of-hours claims contact
Is Fleet Insurance Cheaper Than Separate Policies?
Usually, once you are past two or three vehicles, but not automatically, and it is worth understanding why rather than taking it on trust.
Separate policies price each vehicle on its own history. A fleet policy prices the whole operation on one record, which is normally the cheaper way round and removes the administration of staggered renewals and separate certificates. Where it can work against you is the same mechanism in reverse: a serious claim sits against the entire fleet at renewal rather than against one vehicle. If your fleet is small and one vehicle has a poor record, separate policies can still win. We price it both ways when it is close.
Fleets With Claims Behind Them
Claims hurt a fleet more than they hurt a single vehicle, because the whole schedule is rated on one record. A couple of at-fault claims can be enough for an existing insurer to quote a renewal that looks like a refusal, or to decline outright.
That is a market problem rather than a dead end. Some insurers price a distressed fleet on the detail (what happened, who was driving, what changed afterwards) rather than on the claim count alone, and knowing which ones is most of the job. If your fleet has a history, tell us the detail rather than just the number. It is usually what makes the difference between a quote and a decline.
Adding And Removing Vehicles
This is the practical reason most businesses move to a fleet policy. Vehicles come and go mid-term, and on a fleet policy that is an adjustment rather than a new policy: the vehicle goes on cover, the premium is adjusted for the remaining period, and the renewal date does not move.
It also means one renewal to deal with instead of several scattered through the year, and one set of paperwork when a customer or contract asks to see your certificate. Premiums can be paid annually or monthly.
What We Need To Quote
A vehicle list with registrations and values, where the vehicles are kept overnight, who drives them with dates of birth and licence details, what the vehicles are used for, and your claims experience for the last three to five years. If you have an existing schedule and renewal notice, that covers most of it in one go.
Get Your Fleet Quoted
Send us your schedule and claims experience and we will take it to the market. Two vehicles or twenty, and fleets with claims behind them are welcome.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.
Common questions
How many vehicles do you need for fleet insurance?+
Most insurers will write a fleet from two vehicles upwards, and some from three. Below that you are usually looking at individual commercial vehicle policies. The advantage of a fleet policy is one renewal date, one premium and the ability to add or remove vehicles during the year rather than starting a new policy each time.
What does motor fleet insurance cover?+
It covers the vehicles your business runs, whether that is cars, vans or trucks, under a single policy. Cover levels run from third party only up to comprehensive, and the policy can be arranged so any authorised driver is covered rather than named individuals, which suits businesses where different staff use different vehicles.
Can anyone drive a vehicle on fleet insurance?+
Only if the policy is written on an any-driver basis, and even then within limits the insurer sets, typically a minimum age and a minimum period of licence held. Any driver costs more than naming individuals, because the insurer is pricing for a driver it has not seen. If your vehicles are used by whoever is available on the day it is usually worth the difference; if the same few people always drive, naming them is normally cheaper.
Is fleet insurance cheaper than insuring vehicles separately?+
Often, but not always. A fleet policy prices the whole operation on one claims record rather than pricing each vehicle in isolation, which usually works in your favour once you are running several vehicles, and it removes the administration of separate renewals. Where it can cost more is if one bad claim sits against the whole fleet rather than against a single vehicle. It is worth comparing both, which is what we do.
How much is motor fleet insurance per vehicle?+
As a rule of thumb it starts at around £700 to £800 per vehicle a year, and that is a floor rather than an average. Where you actually land depends heavily on where the vehicles are based and what your claims history looks like. The same three vans can price very differently in a city centre than in a rural postcode, and one at-fault claim moves it more than most people expect. Vehicle type, what they carry, and the ages and licences of the drivers do the rest. Call 02382 000820 and we will go to the market for you.
Is motor fleet insurance the same as motor trade insurance?+
No, and the two are often confused. Motor fleet covers vehicles your own business owns and uses. Motor trade road risks covers driving vehicles that belong to customers, which is what a garage, dealer or valeter needs. CoverTrade does not arrange motor trade road risks: if that is what you need, you want a motor trade specialist rather than us.
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Related reading
Guides from our team on the cover discussed on this page.
