Fleets have been urged by Arval to mitigate insurance premium increases by working to improve their driver safety record.
The leasing and fleet management company says that reducing claims is the surest way to managing rising insurance costs, which have increased by up to an estimated 8% this year.
David Watts, Arval fleet consultant, explained: “A significant proportion, certainly more than half, of the typical fleet insurance premium is based on previous claims history, usually across the previous three years.
“On this basis, the most effective way to contain any potential premium increase is to improve your road safety record. Reducing the number and the severity of collisions in which your vehicles are involved will impact the overall cost of claims and, over time, have an effect on the premium itself.
“Organisations achieve this by embedding road safety into the culture of their business, further developing their existing work-related road risk management programme or, where one does not exist, creating the necessary framework.”
Key points that needed to be covered, explained Watts, included raising awareness of good driving practices, reviewing claims and incident data, looking at performance against safety targets and making line managers accountable for the driving behaviours of their direct reports.
“This last point is very important,” he continued. “The line manager is often the best person to influence behavioural change in drivers in accordance with company objectives.
“Of course, those managers need to be effectively supported with an engaging programme of driver communications on a variety of road safety issues, spelling out its impact on the business through mediums such as information documents, workshops, seminars, training and social media.”
An alternative route to minimising premium increases is offered by Arval in the form of Arval Total Care, said Watts, a product package which includes insurance within the monthly lease rate and is therefore fixed throughout the term.
“By taking this route, you know that your insurance costs will be ‘locked in’ for the duration of the lease and is included in a convenient, single monthly payment,” he said.
john4870 - 15/05/2017 10:18
The single most effective way to cut costs is to train high-risk drivers to understand the most common collisions and how to avoid getting involved in them.- something that is never covered in learner driver training. Just because it was the other driver's fault doesn't make it acceptable to crash!