COVERTRADE SERVICES

Motor Fleet Insurance

Every vehicle your business runs on one policy, one renewal date. Fleets from two vehicles upwards.

Fleet insurance: quick answers

How many vehicles do you need for fleet insurance?: Two with most insurers, three with some. Cars, vans and trucks can sit on one policy, and the schemes for two to five vehicles are usually called mini fleet.
How much does fleet insurance cost?: Cover starts at around £700 to £800 per vehicle a year. Where you land depends mostly on where the vehicles are kept and your claims history.
Why is fleet insurance cheaper for several vehicles?: One policy rates the whole operation on one claims record and spreads the fixed costs across every vehicle, instead of each vehicle carrying its own minimum premium.
What do I need to get a fleet quote?: The vehicle list with registrations and values, where they are kept overnight, who drives them, what they are used for, and three to five years of claims. An existing schedule covers most of it.
Who do you arrange fleet insurance for?: Mostly trade businesses: scaffolders, roofers, construction and groundworks firms, telecoms and fire protection engineers, plumbers and heating engineers. Two vans or twenty mixed vehicles.
What fleet cover don't you arrange?: Motor trade road risks for customers' vehicles, and family fleets of privately owned cars. Both are specialist markets, and we will say so rather than take the enquiry.

Figures checked against the policies we have arranged: October 2026. They are not a quote.

What Is Motor Fleet Insurance?

The definition is straightforward: 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 motor fleet insurance 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 motor fleet insurance in the UK 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.

CALL 02382 000820 GET A QUOTE TODAY

What Does A Motor Fleet Insurance Policy 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. The comparison worth making is not comprehensive against third party in the abstract, but the difference in premium against what the vehicle is actually worth: below about two thousand pounds of value the extra premium often buys very little.

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. Most any-driver wordings set a minimum age of twenty-five and a minimum of twelve months' licence held, and a driver outside those limits is not covered simply because the policy says any driver.

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.

The sections that vary by insurer

Windscreen cover, a replacement vehicle, recovery, foreign use and uninsured loss recovery appear on most commercial motor wordings but not all of them, and the limits differ enough to matter. Personal accident cover for drivers is sometimes included and sometimes an extra. None of these should be assumed from the fact that a policy is comprehensive, which is why we present the schedule rather than a summary when there is a choice to make.

How Much Does Motor Fleet Insurance Cost?

Motor fleet insurance 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.

These are premiums we have arranged for other fleets and are not a quote. Yours depends on your own circumstances. Call 02382 000820 for a realistic figure for your fleet.

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
Mini fleet schemes for 2 to 5 vehicles
Monthly or annual payment
Out-of-hours claims contact

How To Choose A Motor Fleet Insurance Broker

Fleet looks like a commodity and is not, because the things that decide whether the policy works are settled before the price is quoted and none of them show up on a comparison screen. These are the questions worth asking any broker before you appoint one, and they are the questions that tell you which UK broker is right for your fleet rather than simply cheapest this year.

How many insurers will actually see the risk? Fleet is a market where two insurers can be thousands apart on the same vehicle list, because each one's appetite for your trade, your postcode and your claims record is different. A broker approaching one insurer is quoting a scheme, not broking a risk.
Will they present your claims history, or just submit it? This is the single biggest difference in outcome on a fleet with losses behind it. A claims summary with no explanation gets rated on the count. The same claims with what happened, who was driving and what changed afterwards get rated on the detail.
Have they asked what is inside the vehicles? A broker who takes a vehicle list and nothing else has not established whether your tools, your stock or your customers' goods are covered anywhere. That gap is found at the claim.
Who maintains the Motor Insurance Database entries? Vehicles come and go on a fleet all year. Ask whose job it is to keep the database current and how quickly a change is processed, because an uninsured-looking vehicle is a seizure risk even when cover is genuinely in force.
What happens at 4pm on a Friday when a vehicle is written off? Ask for the out-of-hours arrangement specifically, and who you speak to. Fleet claims do not wait for Monday and a courtesy vehicle that arrives three days late costs more than the excess.
Are they independent, and are they authorised? Check the firm on the Financial Services Register. It takes a minute and tells you what the website cannot.

For what it is worth on our side: we are an independent broker authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, we approach the commercial motor market rather than one insurer, we take claims histories to underwriters with the detail attached, and we will tell you when your fleet would be better placed elsewhere. Motor trade road risks is the clearest example of that, and we say so below rather than taking the enquiry.

Which Fleets We Arrange Insurance For

What the vehicles do matters more to an underwriter than how many there are. If you are asking who insures fleets in your trade, this is the honest answer from our side: these are the shapes that come up most often on our own fleet book, and each is rated differently.

Scaffolding contractors. The largest single group of fleets we place. Flatbeds and HGVs carrying tube and boards, loaded and unloaded at the roadside all day, which is a different risk from a van that parks and stays parked. Load security and what the vehicle is carrying are both underwriting questions here.
Construction and groundworks. Mixed fleets of pickups, tippers and plant carriers moving between sites, often with several drivers to a vehicle and a seasonal pattern to the mileage.
Roofing contractors. Vans and tippers with materials and waste, and the same any-driver question most trades have once there is more than one crew.
Fire protection and telecoms engineers. Van fleets running long motorway mileage on service and installation rounds, where annual mileage per vehicle is the figure that moves the premium most.
Solar, plumbing, heating and drainage. Smaller van fleets, often two to five vehicles, which is where mini fleet schemes usually beat the same vehicles quoted individually.
Tradesman van fleets generally. If you run vans for a trade and there is more than one of them, this is the product, whatever the trade is called. Tradesman van insurance quoted one vehicle at a time is the thing a fleet policy replaces.
Food and delivery vehicles. Where goods are carried for payment, hire and reward has to be on the policy, and we ask about it before quoting rather than after.

Two things we do not arrange, so you are not wasting a phone call: motor trade road risks for vehicles belonging to customers, and family or private fleet policies for cars owned by individuals rather than a business. Both are specialist markets and neither is ours.

What Insurers Ask Before They Quote A Fleet

None of this is a formality. Each answer changes the premium or whether an insurer will look at the risk at all, and an inaccurate one on the schedule is what turns a claim into an argument. Having these to hand is the difference between terms this week and a fortnight of emails.

The vehicle list: registration, make and model, year, value and gross weight for each one.
What each vehicle is used for, and whether anything is carried for payment.
Where they are kept overnight, by postcode, and whether that is a yard, a compound or a driver's home.
Annual mileage per vehicle, which on a service or engineering fleet does more to the premium than the vehicle values do.
Every driver: name, date of birth, licence type and how long held, plus endorsements and any disqualifications.
Whether you want any driver or named drivers, and if any driver, the minimum age you can live with.
Claims experience for three to five years, with the detail on each one rather than the count.
Trade and turnover, because appetite for a fleet varies by what the business does.
Any telematics or camera systems fitted, and whether you check licences, both of which some insurers rate for.
Whether the fleet travels abroad, and how often.

If you already have a schedule and a renewal notice, that covers most of the list in one go and is the quickest way to start.

The Claims A Fleet Actually Sees

Fleet underwriting is shaped by a short list of losses that recur, and most of them are low value and frequent rather than catastrophic. Frequency is what insurers price, which is why a fleet with six small bumps can be rated harder than one with a single large claim.

Reversing and manoeuvring damage. The defining fleet claim. Yards, sites and loading areas, usually at low speed and usually the driver's fault, and the single loss type that reversing cameras and sensors demonstrably reduce.
Third party injury claims. The expensive end. A single injury claim can outweigh everything else on the record, and it is the reason third party limits and legal support matter more than the vehicle damage sections.
Theft of the vehicle, and theft from it. Two different things. The vehicle is the motor policy; the tools inside it are not, and that is where fleets bought on price discover the gap.
Windscreens and glass. High frequency, low value, and often outside the claims record depending on the wording, which is worth knowing before you decide whether to claim.
Load and overhead strikes. Tippers with the body up, crane arms, and bridge strikes. Common enough in construction and scaffolding fleets that some insurers ask about height awareness training.
Escape of load. Material coming off a flatbed is a third party claim and a prosecution risk at the same time, and load security is one of the few areas where an insurer may impose a condition.

Motor Fleet Policy Or Individual Vehicle Policies? How To Compare Them

Usually the fleet policy wins once you are past two or three vehicles, but not automatically, and it is worth understanding why rather than taking it on trust. Which route is best for your business comes down to the arithmetic below rather than to a rule, which is why we quote motor fleet insurance policies alongside the individual alternative when the answer is close.

Why is fleet insurance cheaper for multiple vehicles? Because separate policies price each vehicle on its own history, and each one carries its own set of fixed costs and its own minimum premium. A motor fleet policy prices the whole operation on one record, spreads those fixed costs across the fleet, and rates the good vehicles and the bad ones together. On a fleet of five vans with one poor record between them, averaging is what saves the money.

It also removes the administration of staggered renewals, separate certificates and separate no-claims records, which is the part businesses notice first.

Where it works 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, and a driver with a heavily endorsed licence is sometimes cheaper insured on their own than added to an any-driver fleet. We price it both ways when it is close, and tell you which is which.

How Many Vehicles Or Cars Do You Need For Fleet Insurance?

Two, with most insurers. Some set the floor at three, and a few will only look at fleets of five or more, which is why the answer you get depends entirely on who is asked. Fleet insurance for 2 vehicles is a real market rather than a favour, and the schemes built for it are usually called mini fleet.

The same threshold applies to cars as to vans. A business running two cars, or a car and a van, is a fleet for these purposes, and mixed fleets of cars, vans and heavier vehicles sit on one policy. What matters is that the vehicles belong to the business and are used for it, not what shape they are.

Below two vehicles you are in individual commercial vehicle territory. It is worth asking the question again as soon as the second vehicle arrives, because businesses commonly run three or four separate policies for years without realising a single motor fleet policy was available from the second one.

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.

What genuinely helps a distressed fleet presentation: a driver who has left, cameras fitted since, a licence checking routine introduced, reversing assistance added, or a yard reorganised so vehicles no longer reverse into a blind corner. Underwriters price the future, and a change they can see is evidence about it. A promise is not.

Adding And Removing Vehicles On A Motor Fleet Policy

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.

Larger fleets are sometimes written on a declaration basis instead, where the premium is based on a declared number of vehicle years and adjusted at the end of the period against what the fleet actually was. It removes the paperwork of individual adjustments, and it means the year-end figure is a settlement rather than a surprise, provided the records behind it are accurate. Either way, tell us about a change on the day it happens: that is what keeps the Motor Insurance Database right.

Motor Fleet Insurance And Motor Trade Fleet Insurance Are Not The Same Thing

These get searched interchangeably and they are different products. Motor fleet covers vehicles your own business owns and uses. Motor trade road risks, sometimes called motor trade fleet insurance, covers driving vehicles that belong to your customers, which is what a garage, dealer, valeter or recovery operator needs.

The distinction is not academic. If you drive customers' vehicles and hold only a motor fleet policy, those journeys are uninsured, and the fact that you have a fleet policy in force does not help. It is one of the few coverage gaps where the consequence is a prosecution as well as an unpaid claim.

CoverTrade does not arrange motor trade road risks. If that is what you need, a motor trade specialist is the right call and we would rather say so now. If you run vehicles for your own business, whether that is two vans or twenty mixed vehicles, that is squarely what this page is about.

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.

CALL 02382 000820 GET A QUOTE TODAY

Cover that often goes with this

The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.

Mini fleet insuranceTwo to five vehicles, priced on a scheme built for that size.
Truck & HGV insuranceTippers, flatbeds and lorry loaders, on their own or on the fleet.
Haulage insuranceIf any vehicle carries other people's goods for payment.
Tradesman insuranceA motor policy covers the vehicle, not the tools inside it.
Commercial combined insurancePremises, stock and liability alongside the fleet.

Common questions

How many vehicles do you need for fleet insurance?+

Most insurers will write a motor 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.

How many cars do you need for fleet insurance?+

The same threshold applies whether the vehicles are cars or vans: two upwards with most insurers, three with some. Cars, vans and trucks can sit on the same motor fleet policy, so a business running two cars and a van is a fleet as far as the market is concerned. Private cars owned by family members rather than the business are a different product, and not one we arrange.

What is a motor fleet combined policy?+

A motor fleet combined policy puts the vehicles and the covers that travel with them into one contract instead of several. The motor section insures the vehicles themselves, and alongside it sit the things a motor policy does not reach: goods in transit, tools and plant carried in the vehicles, and in some wordings liability arising away from the vehicle. The attraction is one insurer, one renewal and no argument about which policy a loss belongs to. What is actually included varies between insurers, so it is worth reading the schedule rather than the brochure.

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. What is inside the vehicle is not covered by the motor policy and needs arranging alongside.

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.

What is mini fleet insurance?+

Mini fleet is what several insurers call their product for the smallest fleets, usually two to five vehicles, and a few will stretch it further. It is an ordinary motor fleet policy written on a scheme built for that size, which is why it is often keener than the same vehicles quoted individually. We place mini fleet business as well as larger fleets, so the question of which route is cheaper gets answered by quoting it rather than assuming.

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.

Who should move from separate vehicle policies to a motor fleet policy?+

Any business running two or more of its own vehicles is worth quoting both ways, and there are two situations where the fleet route almost always wins. The first is where different staff drive different vehicles, because an any-driver fleet policy removes the constant naming and re-naming. The second is where vehicles change during the year, because adjustments on one policy are far less work than starting and cancelling several. If you have one van and one car on separate renewals and no plans to grow, the saving is smaller and it is fair to say so.

Which cover is best for a small fleet, comprehensive or third party?+

It depends on what the vehicles are worth rather than on the size of the fleet, and a fleet can be a mixture of both on one policy. Comprehensive is usually best for a vehicle whose loss you could not absorb, and the newer and more valuable the vehicle the clearer that is. On an older van worth a couple of thousand pounds the extra premium can approach what you would recover, and third party fire and theft is a reasonable choice. We quote it both ways on request so the decision is made on the difference rather than on a general rule.

What documents do I need to apply for fleet insurance?+

A vehicle schedule (registration, make, model, value and gross weight for each), driver details with dates of birth and licence history, where the vehicles are kept overnight, and claims experience for three to five years. Insurers usually want that claims experience as a letter from your current insurer rather than your own summary, so ask for it a few weeks before renewal. Your current schedule and renewal notice cover most of the rest.

How do I get small fleet insurance for a construction company?+

Start with the vehicle list and decide whether you want any driver or named drivers, since on a construction fleet with several crews any driver is usually the answer. Then get your claims experience from your current insurer, and note anything carried on the vehicles: tools, plant and materials are not covered by the motor policy and need cover alongside it. Tippers, crane arms and flatbeds should be declared as such. With that to hand, call 02382 000820 and we will take it to the insurers who write construction fleets. A fleet of eight vans and pickups is a routine risk for them.

Do fleet vehicles have to be on the Motor Insurance Database?+

Yes. Every insured vehicle has to appear on the Motor Insurance Database, and on a fleet policy keeping it current is a shared job between you and whoever administers the policy. It matters more than it sounds: a vehicle missing from the database can be flagged as uninsured under Continuous Insurance Enforcement and seized by police even though cover is genuinely in force. Telling us about a change on the day it happens is what prevents that.

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