Grey Fleet Business Insurance Background

Insurance premiums will continue to increase due, to a large extent, to personal injury claims (PIC) and the increased emphasis on accidents whilst driving at work.   In addition, cover is being scaled down and an increasing number of circumstances are being excluded.  For example claims for any contractual or foreseeable loss or loss due to negligence may be challenged.  It is inevitable that insurance companies will focus on these areas to recover their costs and are naturally restricting the cover provided for business use.  

 Under new legislation police now identify whether drivers are ‘at work’ when they routinely stop drivers or attend accidents.  Where police investigate ‘at work’ accidents and they find a corporate responsibility it will allow insurance companies to make a recovery claim easier.  It is our view that in these cases insurance companies will seek to recover their costs directly from the employer rather than the driver because they perceive a greater opportunity for success.

 Where they find that the driver’s own insurance does not provide adequate cover they will have a legitimate and legal right to pursue the claim against the employer.  These occurrences will escalate and become common practice once a precedent has been established.

 We have experienced considerable difficulty establishing whether drivers have proper cover.  Knowles Associates operates an owner driver registration scheme for our clients under which we check all documentation including insurance certificates.  We have found that it is incredibly difficult to determine whether cover for the employer’s business is included and because of the potential liability we are unable to agree that business cover exists in many cases.  This is because there is no standard definition within the insurance industry for employer’s business cover and because most internet and direct line insurance use standard documents that do not automatically include business cover.

 A further problem is the increasing number of drivers that pay for insurance by monthly payments.  The problem here is that we could check the policy document in one month and the next month the policy could lapse because payment has not been made. 

 At all times the employer is liable for the insurance of any vehicle whilst it is being used at work and under current legislation that responsibility can not be delegated to the employee.

Background Information | Cover Options

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