Car breakdowns are inconvenient at the best of times, but for companies that rely heavily on travel for work, vehicle downtime can lead to serious loss of money and can affect both present and future potential business - if your customers decide to go elsewhere in the meantime.

In order to protect your ‘on-the-road’ business assets, we have summarised some of the key considerations that you need to bear in mind when you next take out a vehicle insurance policy.

What is fleet insurance?
Underinsuring or over-insuring your vehicles can cause any number of problems - most notably legal ones! - and yet finding the right policy for each and every one of your company vehicles individually can be time-consuming, expensive, and difficult to manage.

Fleet insurance policies solve this problem by offering companies the opportunity to protect all commercial vehicles under one policy with one provider.

This means that there is less administrative hassle, and only one policy renewal date necessary to maintain your vehicle coverage. A fleet insurance policy could also save you money as each car receives a discounted price.

Who could benefit from these policies?
These policies are not just suitable for companies with large car fleets. Any SME or small business with two or more company vehicles can acquire a fleet insurance policy. Regardless of whether you own cars, vans, motorbikes, taxis, minivans, or HGVs, your policy can be tailored to match your company’s requirements. 

Furthermore, this flexibility is not solely restricted to company vehicles. You can also decide how you wish to handle insurance for different drivers working at your firm. Having a valid UK license is a prerequisite, of course, but you can create your own criteria based on age or other relevant factors. Placing an age restriction at 23, for instance, could help lower the cost of your overall cover.

Types of fleet insurance
When it comes to insuring your company cars, never opt for the cheapest cover! Whilst this may seem tempting at the time, you could leave yourself open to high financial loss further down the line.

As is the case with personal insurance policies, there are three main levels of coverage ranging from complete to partial cover. A comprehensive policy offers the highest level of protection, whereas third party, fire and theft offers mid-level protection, and third party only offers basic cover.

Another key consideration concerns the nature of your business and your vehicle usage. Whilst a tradesman would be better suited to a ‘carriage of own goods’ policy, a fleet of taxi's would need public or private hire insurance.