Insight - insurance, maintenance and risk management

Insurance: Take control now to ensure lower premiums

by Denny Payton, Partner Corclaim, Harvey Ingram LLP

As the “will it, won’t it” debate continues as to whether the predicted rise in motor premiums happens, every insurance manager should treat this warning as a shot across the bows, irrespective of what the market actually does.

When the motor insurance market hardens, it will mean difficulty for corporates with rising premiums.

Hence, it is essential that fleet, risk and insurance managers take control of their claims exposure now, in order to ensure a reduction in insurance cost.

This would include having a structured risk management programme, looking to reduce the number of incidents through data analysis allowing them to identify driver training needs, vehicle-specific issues and site-specific trends.

To achieve the level of control required and to provide the data needed for a targeted risk management programme, it is often necessary to move away from a conventional programme or to take higher deductibles.

While this may seem like a radical move, with the right support the change can be trouble-free, delivering visible financial benefits in the short, medium and long term.

By taking more control, there will not only be the financial benefit of the savings made on the overall indemnity spend, there will also be savings on reduced premiums.

Some corporates may not have the option of self-insurance or taking higher deductibles and may be forced down a conventional path, but the work to get the risk managed properly will never be wasted and will provide good grounds for negotiation.

Maintenance: Punctures becoming a major problem for fleets

by Frank Flynn, information manager, RAC

We are seeing a growing trend of call-outs from fleet drivers with a puncture or a flat tyre, but no spare wheel.

In fact, 8.8% of breakdowns attended by RAC last year were for these reasons and more than 24,000 were not carrying a spare.

One large fleet operator has had nearly 500 call-outs in just one month for this type of breakdown, which shows the potential scale of the problem.

A number of manufacturers no longer supply a spare wheel, or even a space-saving, narrow spare wheel, as standard.

This is due to the demand for extra space in a vehicle, as well as the fuel cost savings and reduction in CO2 emissions achieved by reducing weight.

The supply of sealant kits can help fleet drivers conduct a basic repair which means they are not stranded.

However, with fleet operators understandably keen to reduce costs and respond to the growing pressure to both free-up space to carry additional goods and reduce fuel consumption, RAC has also implemented a roadside solution – a multi-fit wheel carried by all our patrols.

Patrols can often repair tyres on the spot if it’s a simple ‘nail in the tread’ situation but if the damage is more serious and a spare tyre is absent, a ‘full lift’ recovery is required, as transporting a vehicle with one tyre completely deflated or worse can be very problematic.

The multi-fit wheel fits most types of vehicles and enables patrols to load them on to their rapid deployment trailers.

This means the vehicle can be immediately transported to the nearest tyre specialist or dealer.

Risk management: Let’s use common sense over health and safety

by Graham Hurdle, managing director, E-Training World

It is high time more business leaders spoke out in favour of common sense when it comes to health and safety related issues as we head towards an increasingly litigious and mollycoddled society which will cost fleet operators dear.

As a business which specialises in helping fleet operators improve their risk management, I hear the concerns of many company directors worried by the rising threat of prosecution.

In nearly all cases, these are reputable firms that would never knowingly put any employees or other road users at risk.

We’ve reached that ridiculous stage whereby businesses are having to document the obvious, such as ‘don’t drink and drive on company business’ and ‘make sure you are sitting with your seat adjusted correctly’, in fear of repercussions if a driver has an accident while at work or makes a claim.

Many will agree that this is not fuelled by a genuine desire to improve safety at work, but by the safety compliance market which is one of the fastest growing in the UK.

I believe the sector’s demand for financial growth is outweighing its actual purpose of creating a safer world.

It’s high time that the fleet sector campaigned for a more sensible approach to road safety which ensures that safe working practices are a requirement but whereby common sense prevails.

If we allow the health and safety sector to continue as it is, I can see many fleet operators quickly reaching a stage whereby they simply allocate budget for the avoidance of prosecution, rather than spending pro-actively on meaningful and essential safety initiatives.