As a business, small or large, if you or your workers are going to be involved in any type of driving activity to run the business, you need to take out commercial vehicle insurance to protect your business and employees in the event of an accident.

When looking for commercial vehicle insurance, you may often wonder why an insurance broker or agent has to ask such a wide variety of questions on everything from your car type to mileage, location, and use, among others.

Of course, these details are what ensure you receive the most accurate and tailored quote for your business needs and are the factors that typically determine the value of your premium.

Here are some of the key factors that affect your quote:

Claims

In the risk assessment, insurance providers have to consider who your primary drivers are within your business and learn of their past driving history and claims because, as with any driver, the amount of claims you have on your existing insurance policy has an impact on the quote you will receive from your current or future insurance provider.

The higher the claims rates your drivers have, the higher you can expect your commercial insurance quote to be.

This is specifically because, for insurance providers, it can indicate the care and safety your drivers take on the road.

Stating an accurate claims history is particularly important to make sure you are being transparent with your provider, as insurance brokers determine how much of a risk you or your drivers may cause in respect of yourself and other road users.

Mileage

Take time to consider how much mileage you or your employees will be estimated to drive from the start date of the policy.

This is an important factor for insurance companies to take into account, specifically, because those who drive short distances and drive for shorter periods are deemed less likely to be involved in an accident, thus reducing the level of risk that the driver will have to issue a claim.

Therefore, when providing information on how much mileage your employees expect to drive upon the commencement of your commercial vehicle policy, it is important to accurately estimate your mileage, ensuring a representative insurance quote.

Location

Insurance companies consider the locations you will have your vehicles parked at when providing you with an insurance quote as many factors surrounding where the cars will be parked can pose risks to your vehicle, which need to be assessed when estimating a quote for your business.

Factors such as levels of crime, traffic trends and population density, among others, all create risks that can be posed to your vehicle(s), resulting in the potential for a claim.

However, these perceived risks vary from location to location, thus making it important for an insurance company to take vehicle locations into account.

Use for vehicles

Businesses need vehicles for a variety of reasons, which is an important detail to include when completing your insurance quote for commercial insurance.

Although it may not be top of mind as to how it affects your insurance quote, how your vehicles are intended to be used is an additional factor that your insurance provider must assess to determine risk.

For example, if you are a pharmaceutical company, you may be involved with transporting fragile or hazardous goods in your vehicle, which is deemed as much more high risk than that of a driver who may only travel for a sales meeting.

Excess

When completing a quote for vehicle insurance, you need to consider your excess, i.e. in the event of an accident, the amount that you are willing to pay on your behalf before the insurance company pays out the remainder.

If you are willing to pay a higher excess in the event of an accident, it will often result in a lower insurance quote, as you are taking away greater risk from the insurance broker or agent.

Policy type

As to be expected, the type of insurance policy you are looking for is going to cause your insurance to be higher or lower.

As a business looking for a vehicle insurance quote, you may expect to pay a higher insurance premium than that of a personal lines insurance quote because you are likely to need additional coverage for goods or medical expenses in the event of an accident, meaning insurance providers have to make a quote assessing this greater liability.

Typically, third-party or third-party fire and theft will result in a lower insurance quote as the cover is specifically based on accidents, damage or theft caused by a third party in comparison to a fully comprehensive insurance policy which will provide cover for third-party damage in addition to any personally caused accident or damage.

Your policy selection, in combination with the aforementioned factors, results in a higher or lower quote.

At MDRB, we can help you to find the best insurance quote possible to suit your needs, whether commercial or personal.

To enquire about a personal or commercial car insurance quote, please feel free to contact us here.

To stay informed of all the latest updates, follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.