Fleet News has a radical theory about motor fleet insurance premiums. Apparently the better you manage risk, the lower your premiums.
Improved risk management, the paper claims, can get fleet managers lower premiums even when premiums in general are going up.
All fleets, the paper claims, “will face pressure on insurance premiums as cars become more expensive to repair and personal injury costs escalate.”
Andrew Fletcher, commercial motor underwriting manager at Groupama Insurances, told the paper: “Most fleet insurers have had an unprofitable time in recent years‚ they need to improve their underwriting results by increasing premiums.”
For every £100 of motor insurance premiums in 2006, insurers paid out £111 in claims and expenses. Meanwhile “accident claims costs are rising, with average parts and repairs costs increasing from £592 in 2005 to £708 in 2007,” with a further 17% predicted by 2013.
Fleet managers can cut costs by self-insuring a broker claims ‚ cutting out the insurer’s 20% profit margin and overheads. But of course, Aon’s Allan Briscoe warns stiltedly, “it is vital that your claims history is understood and the firm is committed to a full risk management programme.”
A culture of zero acceptability for accidents is recommended, and even charging a proportion of at-fault accident claims costs to the drivers responsible.
Next week in Bankstone News: how to boil an egg.
