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A brief overview of the transport industry's insurance trends makes gloomy reading — but there are some new deals coming through designed to get those sky-high premiums back down to earth.
• Insurance, for most hauliers, is a necessary evil. The number of claims and accidents continues to rise and the number of insurance firms willing to take on vehicle underwriting is, at best, remaining static.
Barry Etchefls of Clarkson Puclde, the Freight Transport Association's recommended insurance brokers, says fewer and fewer names at Lloyds are willing to take on vehicle risks, so premiums are going up because there is less competition for the transport industry's insurance business. "The bad risks have very few places to go now," he says.
Accidents claims were up 18% last year in the transport industry and show no signs of reducing. Insurance premiums are a major overhead for many haulage firms today, and the industry's bad record is not helping to bring them down.
Against this background, Clarkson Puclde has introduced a new scheme to try and help the more professional firms keep their premiums in check. Transport companies which fit their vehicles with vehicle protection equipment — steering locks, diesel fuel line cut-outs, extra strong locks on box van bodies or electronic alarm systems — will get a premium discount of 5%. The insurers think that this scheme is probably the first of its type in the transport market.
Clarkson Puclde has also in
troduced a 5% discount for FTA member companies which use the association's regular fleet maintenance and inspection service. According to Etchells, "We think firms using the inspection service get fewer breakdowns, fewer accidents and spill or damage fewer goods in transit." Reducing the risk is the name of the game.
General Accident upped its commercial vehicle insurance rates by a whopping 30% last year says the Road Haulage Association's brokers, RHA Insurance Services. In February of this year they rose by another 7% and General Accident is in line with the rest of the market. RHA Insurance Services predict that premiums will continue to increase this year, at about the same pace.
Goods in Transit insurance is becoming an even bigger headache, especially for hauliers based in the major conurbations. If you have to park your truck overnight in cities like Liverpool, London, Manchester or Glasgow, Goods in Transit cover can be impossible to acquire.
RHA Insurance Services says there has been no identifiable increase in the number of claims for stolen trucks over the past 12 months and that there has been a definite slowing down in the rate of company failures in the industry compared with four to five years ago.