Recent figures released by the DVLA suggest that there are as many as 10,000 drivers operating on UK roads despite going past the upper limit of permissible points before your license is taken away from you.
This could prove a potential worry for employers across the country who have many drivers working for them and have no facility to keep tabs on how each of its registered drivers points record is affecting the overall fleet van insurance policy.
It goes without saying that (most) employers would probably not even consider employing a van driver if their license was close to the maximum license point limit, such as at eight or nine points. Especially with the effect that having points has on your van insurance premium.
According to one insurance questions and answers forum, an individual’s insurance premium can be affected by 5% if they only have the odd one point on their license. However, the more points a driver gets added to his or her license, the more likely an automotive insurance broker will see them as a higher risk.
Therefore, the percentage rise in your van driver’s insurance policy, if he is picking up points since you employed, is not incremental, but exponential. That is to say, if a driver has one point on their license, you can expect your van insurance premium to rise by 5% over the norm (according the aforementioned forum).
For having attracted 4 points, however, the rise in your van insurance quote will not be 4 points x 5% = base policy +20% as you would expect. More likely, according to this one source, your new van insurance estimate is likely to be 50% higher than you would expect to pay for a similar driver with a clean license.
The reason given for the current amount of drivers being allowed to drive is because every case in question has ‘exceptional’ circumstances behind the reasons why the drivers have accrued so many points.
However, the view of four out of five drivers is that there should be no exceptions to the twelve point rule. Not only for the safety of other road users but drivers with such poor histories raise insurance premiums for others. By failing to obtain their own cover due to their accrued points, insurance firms have to pay out on third party claims for uninsured drivers and subsequently pass on those costs to the majority of law-abiding road users who do take out their insurance premiums as legally required.
If you are worried about the rise in your insurance but unsure of how to go about keeping tabs on them without causing offence, new products on the market help organisations link directly to the DVLA so that any rises in van insurance quotes can be pinpointed down to drivers who may be upsetting the apple cart.
If you’re experiencing unforeseen rises in your premiums, see how much you could save on your next fleet van insurance quote, by choosing from over 60 insurance firms using our bespoke online form.