INSURANCE MARKET REVIEW
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These include vehicle insurance (Fleetcover); cargo, insurance (Thnicover), and transit goods insurance (Transitcover). It also insures medical expenses, HGV licence loss and legal expenses.
Like RHAIS, FTAIS admits that, its premiums are not the cheapest, but it claims to offer "Bank of England-style cover". It adds that following a movement to dearer premiums in the past three years, its premiums have become more competitive in the past 12 months.
Joe Arastay is only too aware of this competitive edge. His insurance service, Harlow, Essex-based Cobra Insurance, has been running for just six months. And though he says business is booming, he is aware that his experience is limited and that things might change.
He gets an average of 10 enquiries a day, and underwrites two-thirds of them. He says that while lots of high-street brokers offer standard motor insurance, there are few haulage specialists, and this makes business easier to win.
All his clients are owner-operators, many starting in business. He says he is disappointed that no larger operators have approached him but puts this down to the fact that he is not established enough. Once known, he hopes to pick up larger fleet deals.
Arastay specialises in haulage and coaches, and his packages are backed by big insurance companies such as Lloyds, Guardian Royal Exchange, General Accident and Norwich Union. His goods-in transit-insurance is underwritten by Lloyds and R E Heathcock.
Crossways Insurance has been trading since 1977 and has been specialising in haulage since 1982, when it recruited two brokers with experience of the industry. The Hornchurch, Essex-based firm has 400 customers across the UK — one of its biggest is in Belfast.
Director Glenn 13remerman agrees that there are no more than 20 specialist haulage brokers in the country, and that the market is softening. After four years of increasing premiums, there are bargains to be had for operators.
"In the past six months there has been a lot of rate-cutting," he says. "Companies are beginning to underwrite more cheaply than they should. A haulier running a fleet with good claims experience should be looking to decrease his premiums this year."
Insurance is one of the biggest headaches a new owner-operator faces, warns Stuart Broadhurst, insurance broker with Shropshire-based Coverwell. He says many hauliers are "up to the hilt with finance payments," and that Coverwell's rates are as good as any in the trade.
Premiums are set, he says, after a tussle between manipulative insurance companies who know the hauliers' quandary, and operators who risk putting their business in jeopardy by trying to keep their premiums to a minimum.
Coverwell was formed in 1974 and has been specialising in haulage since 1983. Today about 83% of its customers are in road transport, and more than half of these are owner-operators. It provides cover for vehicles and goods in transit in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.
Insurance to the Middle East is a problem for international operators. Although this is a growing market for UK hauliers, green cards are not acceptable in most countries there, and separate cover has to be arranged for goods in transit or for import.
Andrew Weir Insurance Brokers began by providing insurance for its own shipping, and branched into cover for hauliers carrying high-value loads, such as spirits, from its boats. Part of a 102-year old group, its sister companies include a shipping line_
The firm deals directly in the Lloyds market through a Lloyds broker, and claims to be one of the few UK insurance companies which can offer services to haulier in Eire. Laws in the Republic prevent most brokers dealing unless they have a base there.
Roberts & Davis deals only in vehicle cover. Its packages include loss-of-use cover, where a replacement vehicle is provided after an accident, fire or theft; and loss-of-value, where the insurer pays the difference between the write-off and new value of a written off truck which is less than five years old.
Like many haulage specialists, it offers packages with monthly payments — a big plus for the small operator who cannot afford a big annual premium. Customers can come to it through their own brokers. Its policies are underwritten by Lloyds and the other major insurance companies.
Brian Padfield, proprietor of Southern Insurance of Mere, Wiltshire, worked as a garage accountant for 20 years before forming his company eight yeas ago. Most of his customers are owner-operators, although he also covers fleets (more than seven trucks).
He deals with 15 underwriting insurance companies and says he will not use one which puts a limit on level of risk. Several insurers, he warns will not cover damage to a truck off the road, for example in a quarry or building site.
He says the market is "very competitive" and that most customers phone for at least three quotes from different brokers. Padfield works nights and days, seven days a week.
He once delivered a green card to an operator in Marlborough, 1001un away, at midnight because the truck had to be at Poole by the next morning.
by Murdo Morrison