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Succeeding with excess
Page 18
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AS A COMMERCIAL insurance broker that specialises in the transport industry. I felt I had to write in response to the Letter of the Week from Chris Arnold (Drivers are mired in a Catch-22 situation thanks to insurance firms; CM, 3 September).
He is right to say that most insurance firms prefer to offer cover for drivers who are over 25, under 65 and have at least two years' relevant experience of the type of vehicle to be driven. This begs the question: how do I get the experience in the first place?
Fortunately, there is a pretty straightforward solution. The vast majority of motor fleet insurers will agree to insure drivers who are either 25 or have fewer than two years' experience — they simply need to be asked in the right way.
Chris Arnold sounds like the sort of driver most insurers should be desperately keen to cover, and I have no doubt that 90% of fleet underwriters would be happy to offer terms.The majority of insurers will increase the excess while Mr Arnold drives for the first year or so after passing his test — the typical example would be that if a fleet policy had a standard £250 excess, while the inexperienced driver would have an excess of £750.
My suggestion to Mr Arnold is to approach firms and offer to pay any increased excess in the unlikely event of an accident.
I have several clients who adopt this policy. If, for whatever reason, an insurance company applies an additional excess or premium because of a driver's track record, age or experience, they give the driver the opportunity to agree to pay the additional excess.
Peter Blanc Regional managing director Oval Insurance Braking
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