One of the most frustrating aspects considered by fleet managers is when drivers have minor incidents which are border line whether to repair and pay the cost out of their budget or risk the cheap van insurance by claiming through their broker. Each incident in its own rite mat not be sizeable, but when you’re talking about a fleet, the immeasurable costs of off-road time and loss of van insurance discounts can soon start to really pile up.
In order to address this issue, however, Interactive Fleet Management has compiled a guide to coincide with its interactive Driver-Link fleet management program. As experts in handling every aspect of running and improving a company’s fleet efficiency, they have a first hand insight into the amount of time spent dealing with van insurance companies in light of any claim for such minor incidents. This is just another of the unseen costs that can make a fleet manager think twice about whether a cheap van insurance policy is cost effective time management for their organisation when specialists such as Interactive Fleet Management can streamline such operations.
The guide, overall, is made up of smaller modules, each concentrating on individual aspects to deliver safer that, as a consequence, help achieve cheaper van insurance in the long term. Rather than aim this initiative at the operatives back at base, this new paper is targeted towards drivers, who are having more and more aspects to consider in their daily duties than ever before.
A combination of this and, especially after a driver has been doing the job for some time, complacency can set in causing the van driver to take their eye of the ball. This has been highlighted as one of the major contributions to minor incidents and, thus, more expensive van insurance quotes when it’s time for renewal. In particular, the report looks at reverse parking, so that there’s never the need to pull out backwards blind, underlining that patience is a virtue and not everyone on the roads spends as much time on the road as they do, leaving adequate distance between the van driver and the vehicle in front, extending that distance in winter and, in line with the patience aspect, some gaps are just plain too small to fit the van through, so don’t try!
Operations director Jayne Pett, for Interactive Fleet Management, reiterated the lack of support that drivers get in what can be a very single handed job at times. In order to keep overall costs low, van drivers have to be mindful of fuel efficiency and journey planning, checking both the loads of their commercial vehicle and its ongoing condition.
The first module, covering winter driving, she said had been ‘hugely popular’ and, irrespective of what their office was doing, many van drivers had approached them direct, whereas those fleet managers who did take up the offer of the guide ensured all their drivers were in possession of a copy. We, too, await ours to bring the utmost in safe, sensible driving to you to ensure you continue to avail yourself of the cheapest van insurance possible.
For your free copy of the Driver-Link guide, you can e-mail Amanda Hodges and request one on [email protected]