Take Precautions!

If your van is your business then proper insurance is an absolute must, however, don’t be caught out by having to pay additional costs for things like windscreen replacement which are included with some van insurance policies. Shop around on-line and you may be pleasantly surprised at what is included or can be included on your van insurance policy.

Some insurance companies are offering some great cheap van insurance policies to keep you and your business on the road which include cover for audio equipment, your electronic navigation systems and fixed car phones, these are well worth looking into and giving serious consideration to, especially if your business relies on emergency call out services for your customers.

Opportunist thieves are having great fun at the petrol stations at the moment, you pop in to pay for your fuel, leave the keys in the ignition and before you realise what’s happening some rotten blighter (or words to that effect!) has jumped in and driven away your van! These types of incidents began with thieves stealing cars, but now they realise that the contents of your van may be just the type of thing that’s easy to sell on the black market.

The police may find your van torched or trashed somewhere, however, the likelihood of finding your tools or equipment are a different story. The logical thing to do is make sure you lock your van before going to pay for your fuel, the other logical thing to do is make sure you have your van and its contents covered by a good van insurance policy so that you can carry on working even if you are subjected to theft.

Noise Pollution Issue

A local news programme in the south of the country has reported that the noise from tail gates and unloading of lorries is causing noise pollution problems in residential areas. It wasn’t just tailgates that were seen to be causing an environmental issue here, the carrying crates ‘rattling’ were also seen to be a problem, outside smokers spilling onto the streets from nightclubs and pubs were also under fire for increasing the amount of noise.

With many people lobbying against the large super markets on the outskirts of towns taking the lion’s share of trade complaints such as these are not helping to keep local traders open in my opinion. Unloading lorries and trucks is usually carried out as quickly as possible due to limited unloading times, surely a little disruption can be tolerated by local residents?

The police have no specific powers regarding noise pollution, this falls under the Environmental Health Authority responsibility who have dedicated folk who record and monitor noise levels. I feel this is yet another ‘dig’ at lorries driving and delivering in towns. How do these people expect deliveries to be made, surely noise such as this is part and parcel of living in a town? The supermarket in question did offer their apologies and were taking the complaints seriously, but at the end of the day there is probably little they can do to lessen this type of noise from their delivery vehicles.

Your HGV insurance covers many eventualities, however, I really don’t think noise pollution of dropping tailgates is going to be included!

Lower HGV Insurance with Tracking Devices

Fitting tracking devices to a Heavy Goods Vehicle can help lower the cost of the insurance for your employers, but beware they can also track where you go and the routes you take! It’s not really a ‘big brother‘ type of approach where employers spend hours looking at every road you travel to see whether you are indeed using the most direct routes to save on fuel and time, however, if you are a new driver they might well use the tracking as a way of ensuring you have their best interests at heart!

A friend of mine got his knuckles well and truly wrapped when he diverted a short distance to stop off for a comfort break, well that’s what he called it! The company looked at the tracking and pinpointed the road and place he had stopped, you can guess that it was not on his route, his ‘quick’ diversion added both considerable time and mileage which his firm quickly identified! He was lucky is as much as he didn’t loose his job, but with firms constantly looking for ways to save money I suggest that if a ‘quick’ diversion is taken to try and make it part of your planned route!

Tracking devices and alarms certainly have their place in helping with both driver safety and lowering the cost of HGV insurance, many owner-drivers are having them fitted to help the police located stolen HGVs and although the chances of finding the vehicle undamaged and the goods still in-situ are some what remote, at least the HGV insurance companies reward you for attempting to reduce the number of claims you or your company makes for both the vehicle and the goods by offering you cheaper HGV insurance policies.

Taxi Insurance Brokers Welcoming New and Expanding Businesses

A recent TV interview with entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson intimated that it’s not all doom and gloom with the economic crisis for people starting new businesses in the UK. Quite the reverse in some cases with people being able to start out with new incentives, some very competitive deals and loads of advice to help them put the British economy back on its feet.

With impending jobs cuts and redundancies being made starting a new business may be more preferable to some than desperately trying to find a suitable job. Taxi driving is becoming a new way of life for many, with new taxis companies offering competitive rates in a variety of different vehicles to meet the growing demand for travelling in a unique taxi style.

Many taxi insurance brokers are welcoming new drivers and expanding businesses offering insurance cover for all types of both private and public hire vehicles including minibuses and black cabs.

For those hoping to take advantage of local authority schemes to take and collect children from schools the extra Public Liability taxi insurance is well worth considering, in fact many local authorities will not award contracts for taxis that do not have this extra cover.

If you are considering starting up in the taxi business you should give some considerable thought to having a taxi insurance which also includes personal assault as well as public liability cover. The rise in reported assaults on taxi drivers is sadly ever increasing, however, many taxis are introducing a CCTV style cameras inside their cabs which not only appear to be reducing the number of assaults but also very effective evidence for prosecution and taxi insurance claims.

Make Sure Your Taxi has Insurance

We are all very aware that Christmas is approaching fast, the Government will once again be launching new anti- Drink Driving campaigns in an attempt to reduce the amount of drink, driving accidents and fatalities during the festive season.

This is seen by many as the ideal opportunity to make some extra cash by posing as taxis drivers. The major concerns are that these so called taxis drivers do not have a taxi licence nor do they have taxi insurance on their cars. Without an official taxi license these people are acting illegally and should they become involved in an accident the innocent passengers will have no insurance cover at all.

The point I’m trying to make here is two fold, definitely use a taxi rather than drive when going out to drink, however make sure the taxi you chose is running a legitimate service with a local authority license and has proper taxi insurance.

Ideally choosing a taxi company which has a good reputation from Yellow pages or on-line should be relatively simple. Once the taxi arrives you could also check that he or she has photo identity and taxi license registration, but don’t be fooled too easily, these unscrupulous people fake ID!

For anyone who is thinking of taking advantage of the influx of people using taxis over the festive season, then I say that’s great, just as long as you do it legally and get both a license and taxi insurance before you pick up your first client.

Dartford Crossing Charges

The increase in charges at the Dartford Crossing. A massive 22% rise for hauliers as prices rise from £2.90 to £3.70 for multi-axle goods vehicles. The good news is that the crossing remains free of charge between 10.p.m and 6.a.m.

Originally the intention was to use the tolls only until the crossing had been paid for, I believe the word toll has been replaced by charges in an attempt to reduce traffic congestion! The Freight Transport Association believe the charges should cease rather than increase.

Fuel prices may be coming down slowly, but it seems to me that as soon as a saving, however slight is made, it’s taken away and replaced with yet another additional payment! With the Dartford Crossing being one of the most important roads in the UK the increase will be paid, albeit grudgingly, by the thousands of drivers every day who use it. What makes the increase even more hard to swallow is that no one seems to know exactly where all the money goes to!

Further good news is that HGV insurance has never been more competitive, on-line insurance companies and brokers are all vying for your attention, as such there are some reasonably priced HGV insurance policies around at the moment, with different options and cover to suit all needs including like-for-like policies and offers of refunds if you find the same policy at a cheaper price elsewhere, so it is well worth looking at your existing policy and switching companies if necessary to obtain the best cover and price to help reduce your overheads.

Choose Flexible Taxi Insurance

After my post yesterday about my findings on  cheap taxi insurance, here is some more info.

Flexibility is probably one of the most important factors when choosing which company or broker to use when insuring your taxi or taxi fleet. Many insurers offer some very comprehensive cheap deals which include essentials such as breakdown cover, courtesy vehicles, different payment options to help spread the cost and cover to include substantial Public Liability Insurance.

With the increase in people trying to jump out of taxis which do not have automatic locking devices additional taxi insurance which covers monies carried may also be worth considering if you are unable to get back to the office or home to safely deposit excess takings.

You also need to give consideration to making sure personal injury is also included or at least an option, no one likes to think that they may be subjected to assault or violence, unfortunately it is becoming an increasing problem in many large towns and cities particularly for private taxis which do not have security dividers. At the end of the day your safety is paramount and there are some steps you can take to help keep yourself safe.

Installing video equipment may act as a deterrent as well as keeping in contact with your fellow drivers via radios. Not so easy if you are operating on your own as equipment can be a costly initial outlay, however, I believe its worth investing in for peace of mind, I admit a video won’t stop the most determined thieves but at least if you do have to make a taxi insurance claim the footage may be a useful source of evidence.

Advice on Cheap Taxi Insurance

As everyone may be feeling the pinch over Christmas, i’m thinking about becoming a taxi driver to earn some extra pennies, so here are my findings on searching for taxi insurance.

Choosing cheap taxi insurance is a great idea however, I think it’s best to check the voluntary excess as you may find yourself paying quite a lot of money should you make a claim. The majority of insurers have a relatively low voluntary excess, but it is possible to increase the excess and lower the taxi insurance premiums to save money, unless you have an accident of course and make a claim to find yourself forking out to have minor repairs carried out which are lower than the excess, its well worth asking to make sure you know what voluntary excess your policy has.

Cheaper insurance can also be offered by insurers if you have proven years of taxi driving, this is generally calculated by the number of years you have held your local authority taxi badge. Further taxi insurance savings can be made if the taxi is insured for one driver only and that one driver is also the owner. Taxi firms which have a number of taxis may benefit further by having fleet taxi insurance rather than an individual policy for each vehicle.

If you are new to taxi driving no claims discounts earned on private vehicles are typically taken into consideration, however private vehicle no claims discounts rarely transfers in their entirety to taxi insurance, but like the ad on TV ‘every little helps‘ and a combination of looking at different aspects and deals being offered by insurers there are some very competitive taxi insurance policies available on the market at the moment.

Accidents do Happen

Historically courier insurance has been an area of insurance which was seen as second-rate and many insurers would not give consideration to such enquiries, with the dramatic increase in courier services providing reliable and timely deliveries many businesses are electing to use couriers rather than the Royal Mail.

Finding the cheapest and most competitive courier insurance is relatively simple with the influx of on-line insurance companies and brokers, however, courier service insurance in the UK is regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA), therefore you should make sure where the insurance company is based otherwise the insurance policy they offer may not meet the UK regulations and when you make a claim you may find that your insurance doesn’t cover you, which can potentially mean disaster for you and your company.

Some excellent cheap courier insurance deals are available on-line and to save you time many brokers will do the ‘leg work’ for you to find the most competitive price to meet your needs making your life even easier. Goods in Transit, parcels and packages and even insurance for undisclosed package content is widely available for all types of courier vans, dispatch riders and motor bikes.

With Christmas courier deliveries expecting to rise sharply over the next few weeks making sure you have the right courier insurance may seem like a huge expense, but at the end of the day accidents and incidents do happen, spreading the cost of your courier insurance by opting for monthly installments rather than compromising on the amount of insurance cover is a far better option in my opinion.

Top Gear HGV’s hilarious!

Renault Magnum

Top Gear aired their 1st show of the new series last night and what a great way to start off!

As an occasional driver of HGV’s this had me in stitches seeing the boys tearing round in those truck’s, the “Stealth” Renault Magnum was genius.

The power sliding section of the challenge was brilliant, the stig’s trucker cousin, and especially when Clarkson fell off the seat and ended up with “a gear lever up his @rse!”

After the power sliding, the obstacle challenge was also very funny, firstly Hammond drives through a portacabin, followed by May into lots of bottled water and finally Jezza into a brick wall!

Clarkson apparently left the truck in screaming agony, he obviously made a full recovery to host the show this week.

I thought it was brilliant that captain slow won a challenge in a slow vehicle for a change, loved the piano being propped up on “gentlemen’s reading material”.

I hope that the beeb had adequate hgv insurance for those lorries. Ha ha! Love that show.