DEDICATED claims and accident management companies are focusing on the fleet sector as changes in the insurance market bring about a decline in their traditional sources of business. Referrals from high street brokers are falling as direct insurance takes a growing share of the personal business, leading accident management companies to offer their specialist skills to new markets.

But Ipswich-based accident and claims management company Town & Country Assistance believes a number of fleets will want a highly specialised service, preferring to use a master of one trade than a jack of all.

'This is all we do, so we have to be very good at it,' said Wayne Gardner, Town & Country Assistance's sales and business development director. 'We have to offer what customers want, when they want it, and on their terms. We offer an independent service, not a bolted-on service to a contract hire deal. Too many things today are prescriptive, but we are able to offer services on a modular basis for fleets, and we are geared up to provide exactly what the client needs.'

He argued that it made little sense for fleets to use a host of suppliers when procuring an accident management service, in the way that they may shop around when sourcing vehicles, because uniform, high quality information on a fleet's claims record is a prerequisite for establishing a risk management policy.