As was revealed in a recent
survey (by Tom Tom Business), 40% of fleets suffered insurance premium rises in
the last year and 24% admit they don’t really know what they’re required to do
in terms of managing road risk.
These statistics combined are
very illuminating because they imply that despite rising insurance premiums,
many fleets don’t know what to do about it.
It was only a matter of time
before fleet premiums started to go in the same direction as retail premiums
and this research appears to indicate a significant proportion of fleets are
going to have to dig deeper or buy less insurance by increasing policy excesses
or lowering cover levels.
The truth is that risk will
inevitably transfer to the fleet from the Insurer if less cover is bought and
it is in this scenario that fleets need to look ever more closely at how their
drivers behave on the road when driving fleet vehicles under fleet insurance.
The main issue for a fleet is how
to make sure that savings (including reduced claim experience) are not
swallowed up by the cost of achieving those savings? In other words, what is the point in spending
money on a road risk management program if the cost exceeds its benefit?
Additionally, as a relatively new
concept for fleets, how do you know if your particular type of risk program
will result in the scale of savings a fleet would be happy with?
It is easy to have sympathy with
these points of view because this area of risk management is not mandated
through statute and if it were not so closely associated to insurance costs, a
fleet could rely on luck to avoid prosecution if it all goes wrong!
What seem to be missing are one
or two key factors that would make investing in road risk reduction a more
palatable and justified decision.
Factors such as an element of risk-sharing between risk management
supplier and the fleet so that a service provider can participate financially
in the success of the program and the contrary if risk increases.
Alternatively, the fleet can make
savings through aggregating a number of related risk services through one provider
to cut cost and also to gain the benefit of all risk data being in one
receptacle so that planning and accountability can be optimised.
Finally, a fleet needs a partner
who has risk reduction as its core mission.
A service provider that doesn’t just sell risk tools as stand-alone
products but one that brings the results to life by identifying and presenting
improvement opportunities from real data and who has a genuine interest in
seeing the fleet enjoy the benefit of reduced accident frequency and cost.
If this approach appeals to you
then please contact us here or by calling 0113 2248898.
