Having the Correct Motor Trade Insurance For Your Business

Public Liability insurance cover is needed if anyone in the motor trade business invites a member of the public onto their premises. This includes business such as:

* Buying and selling of any type of motor vehicle from showrooms or forecourts.
* Garages and workshops which repair vehicles for payment or reward, including business who restore vintage vehicles.
* Driving any kind of vehicle on a public road, this includes motor trade businesses who run on trade plates.
*Breakers or scrap yards.

Basically anyone who operates a motor trade business and allows members of the public onto their premises, forecourt or any part of their land or property needs to ensure they have appropriate public liability cover included on their insurance policy.

Additionally if you have employees you will also need to Employer’s Liability cover as this is a legal requirement in the UK irrespective of how many employees you have.

A recent TV advertising campaign featuring Sir Allen Sugar shows a motor trade business which has an ‘apprentice’ learning one of the many motor trade professions, as such businesses who have apprentices working on government training schemes will also have to ensure they have appropriate cover before they can take advantage of these schemes. If you are unsure of the type of insurance apprentices need you can find out either from the training company delivering the training or from the Learning Skills Council.

Check with companies who specialise in motor trade insurance to ensure your business is meeting legal requirements and that you don’t get caught out if an employee or member of the public harms or injurers themselves whilst they are on your premises.

Clarkson Fails Twice!

The recent TV showing of Jeremy Clarkson taking a scooter driving test in Vietnam has hilarious! Not only did he look extremely uncomfortable perched on the scooter he just couldn’t keep within the white lines on the figure of eight and failed the test! However, in Vietnam you are allowed to re-take the driving test straight away and yet again Clarkson managed to fail much to the amusement of his colleagues!

If only the motor bike driving test was that simple in the UK or maybe not? Although there are quite literally thousands of scooters driven by people from all walks of live in Vietnam their road conditions, rules and regulations are very different to the UK.

The number of mopeds being driven around UK towns has increased due to many fast food outlets offering home deliveries. The vast majority of the drivers are running on L plates and many have few or little driving skills or experience as anyone who has either followed or been subjected to their near side over taking will fully appreciate!

Business which offer home deliveries will however be able to take full advantage of low cost insurance premiums if they have numerous delivery mopeds. They only down side is that as many of the delivery personnel are very young their age may mean higher costs, so it can be a bit of a ’catch twenty-two situation.

The easiest way to find cheap courier or fleet insurance to go online and carry out some simple researches to find insurance companies who offer insurance to meet business needs at the most competitive prices.

Can Price Comparison Sites Save You Money?

The use of comparison web sites is becoming an increasingly popular way to obtain insurance quotes and while some insurance companies advertise on TV that they can’t be found on any comparison sites others say they do! So how do they work?

Comparison web sites do charge the insurance companies for their services, however, due to the advertising and the increased number of people who are asking for online quotes via a comparison site, the commissions are not necessarily passed onto the consumer or they are included in premiums whether you go to them direct or via a comparison site!

There are some basic key points that you need to check before choosing which insurance company to use. Some may seem very cheap and yet they often only include the very basic cover or have high excess. By the time you have added optional extras such as a courtesy vehicle or legal cover you may not be making the savings you first thought.

Whether you use a comparison site or not you should always spend time and shop around for the best deals and only buy the insurance and optional extras you need!

This is also advisable if you are looking for HGV insurance. However, in order to ensure you are getting the exact cover you require it is advisable to use an insurance company which specialises in HGV insurance.

This may sound very obvious, but with people trying to make big savings on their premiums cutting corners can be a very costly error. Choose an insurer who will offer you a quote that meets legal requirements and your business needs to ensure you have the correct type of cover.

President Obama’s New Cadillac-‘The Beast’

President Obama arrived in London yesterday with a cavalcade of vehicles so large that they were unable to all actually get inside Downing Strret!

Obama’s new Presidential Limousine has been custom-designed to protect the his life with updated security features which are kept securely under wraps. It of course has elements such as run flat tyres and the doors are as thick as a 747’s.

Inside luxury exudes from all quarters making this limousine truly ‘fit for purpose’. While the security of the Barrack and Michelle Obama is paramount during their visit to the UK one has to wonder just how many thousands of dollars it must have cost to bring the entire motorcade into the country?

With the one Cadillac costing $250K the entire fleet would run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many will argue that these are not the most fuel efficient vehicles to be driving around in with the current global economic situation, not to mention the affects this fleet will be making on the environment.

This new presidential Cadillac is nick named ‘The Beast’ by the US Secret Service, which seems very apt for a vehicle of this size.

You may not have a vehicle quite as high tech as ‘The Beast’ but if you own a fleet of luxury limousines probably the most cost effective way to insure them is with a fleet insurance policy. This can be tailored to meet the needs of each of the luxury cars you own and operate, with many optional extras such as European cover should your fleet operate on the continent as well as in the UK.

BBC’s Watchdog Highlight Concerns Over Mini Steering Pump Failures

Last night’s BBC Watchdog programme highlighted the problems some BMW Mini owners are experiencing with unexpected and potential safety issues regarding sudden loss of the steering control.

The Mini celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. It continues to be a very popular car, however many people have experienced some very close calls when without warning they go to steer round a corner only to find that the steering pump has failed, leaving it virtually impossible to steer the car safely. People shared their ‘near miss’ incidents and their concern for their own and others safety.

BMW Mini sat that it is not a fault, however people are paying up to £800 to have steering pumps replaced as most cars having this problem are no longer under warranty. Minis built between 2001-2007 appear to be the most susceptible.

Repairers are having a field day, with one repairer saying he receives 2 calls a day from people asking for steering pumps to be replaced. VOSA has also become involved, but after carrying out their own tests they say the car is still safe to drive even if the steering pump does fail.

Independent motoring experts suggest that the Minis are re-called as a safety precaution. BMW Mini confirmed that all newly built Minis have a new design of steering pump fitted.

It will be interesting (?) where one would stand if a steering pump fails and as a result an accident car or van insurance claim is made. Would a no claims discount be ‘lost’ through no direct fault of the driver it was proven that the steering pump failed?

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.

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.