Motor Trade Insurance premiums have recently risen – on average by 15-20% in the last 3 months – and leading underwriters are attributing these rises to an increase in motor insurance claims payouts. Where private car insurance premiums rise motor trade tends to follow suit. It wasn’t too long before they followed private car drivers in paying more. But while the average Jo has to put up with his annual increase motor traders can still save money when compared to private policies. This is because trade policies can include multiple vehicles for the same price.

Motor trade has traditionally been seen as a more cost effective way to ensure multiple vehicles. There has recently been  a huge increase in part time motor traders who have dipped their toes into buying and selling second hand vehicles. Their experience is generally favourable and most have said they would not want to go back to a private insurance policy.

Effectively if a part time motor trader is selling between 6 and ten vehicles a year the profit they could potentially make could at the very least  cover the cost of next year’s motor trade premium!

Motor trade combined insurance policies are a much more time and cost effective way for people who run their own businesses within the motor trade sector to have all their needs covered on one policy. Historically traders were having the insurances they need covered by different under writers and different brokers.

Many underwriters now have the capacity to cover everything from public and employers liability to tools & premises cover to road risk and stock of vehicles cover in one stand alone policy. Many full time and part time motor traders are seeing the benefit of this as it not only brings down the overall premiums but now means they can have one point of contact with one broker.

Motor trade combined policies can be of benefit to sole proprietors as well as larger companies that employ differing numbers of staff. Combined policies not only cover motor trade dealers and mechanics but can also cover; mobile mechanics, valeters, windscreen repairers, collection and delivery agents and LPG converters to name but a few.

Starting your own mechanical workshop? Opening your own car dealership? You need to ensure you have the right motor trade insurance policy that will protect your new business when you need it most.

Taking the most basic packages available may not offer you or your business the protection you need.  The basic packages that are required include third party and third party, fire and theft. As a business owner you can see that these packages are not going to protect you should you have an accident in a client’s vehicle. Another  cover missing could be for liability should a client slip and fall on your premises.

Looking for cheaply priced cover is practical, yet you need to consider all the options available on offer and determine what you need and what you don’t need before signing anything.

Have you considered if you are going to test drive cars or are you going to enable some staff members to help you out? With your road risks cover, you are able to drive customer vehicles without the stress or worry of whether you are legal. The advantage of being able to add multiple drivers to the policy gives you time to concentrate on your business while staff members can also be on the road.

Be aware when you decide to add multiple drivers that there are ways of reducing this cost.  Firstly choose drivers that are over 25 years old – this is because the majority of accidents on UK roads are caused by people younger than 25 years old.  Ensure the staff member has a cleanish driving licence and that they have no pending convictions against them.  Lastly if they already have a no claims bonus on their personal auto cover, it may help reduce your cost of including them on the policy.

If you are opening a car dealership, you may require demonstration cover – this is so you can let customers try before they buy. Another essential cover is public liability. Public liability insurance can save you a fortune of money in the long run.  If a customer visits your workshop or dealership and trips or falls injuring themselves  you could have some hefty claims against you for injuries, loss of income and even mental distress caused by the accident. This type of cover protects your business against these claims and is important to have in any business.

As you start up your new business it is so important to take the time to research the policies available to you and ensure that you are getting the right motor trade insurance policy that will keep your business protected at all times.

If you would like any further information on the best policy for you, get in touch with one of our team and they will give you all the assistance needed.

Owning a motor business, such as a mechanical workshop or car dealership, means that you need to protect your vehicles, your customer vehicles and your reputation.  Reputation is imperative in this market and by not dealing with a claim properly you could find that your business doesn’t last very long. This is why motor trade insurance can protect you when you need it most.

Getting good cover for your business can save you lots of money in the long run.  As a trader you will need to drive client vehicles to see what work needs doing and drive them again once work is complete.  Now while the only cover required by law is basic third party cover, it is obvious to anyone that this will not be enough should you be involved in an accident.

The UK works on the TORT system which means that should you be responsible for an accident you are financially liable for all the costs for repairs, medical and building that you may have damaged.  As a business damaging a client’s car if you only have the basic cover leaves you paying for that car out of your own pocket – possibly putting major financial strain on you.

Choose a number of staff members to help you test drive customers cars and place them on your road risks cover as multiple drivers.  As long as they are over twenty five and have clean(ish!)  licences your premiums won’t be hit as hard as if they are younger drivers who are considered a high risk to insurance companies.

You can include your spouse and private vehicles onto your business policy, which means you can save even more money and do away with your private cover all together.

If you are a car dealer, whether on a full or part time basis, this type of cover can protect your business as much as it would a mechanical workshop.  If you are buying cars with the intention to sell, all your hard earned money is sitting in those for sale vehicles.  You will need to drive the vehicles to ensure they are good enough to purchase.  Also, potential customers will want to drive them before buying to ensure they are what they want.  For this you need demonstration cover, it protects your assets and ensures that all financials are paid should you client be involved in an accident while test driving a car.

Owning a motor business is hard work. Your reputation needs to be impeccable in order to get repeat business and referrals, which you probably rely on.  Protect your reputation, customer vehicles and your own vehicles with a motor traders insurance policy.

As with any part of your business, when it comes to expenses you want to save as much money as possible in order to increase profit margins. That being said cutting corners is not the way to go, but tailoring your motor trade insurance quote can save you lots of money in the long run.

These types of policies are usually generic and are related to your specific industry – the broker might not care if you sell cars or if you repair them, they will hopefully offer you a policy that covers just about everything and then some.

Before you even contact a broker, it’s advisable to know exactly what you need from your policy.  You need to know if you are going to allow staff members to drive customer vehicles or if you are going to take that responsibility on your own.

Once you have determined exactly what you need and what you expect from your policy, you can start contacting brokers and getting quotes.  Tell them exactly what you need and when you receive the quotes double check them.

Often if you are going to be selling cars you won’t need some of the cover offered to mechanics and vice versa.  A mechanic will definitely not need demonstration cover unless he intends selling cars and as a car dealer you need to ensure that they have included demonstration cover (an optional extra on most policies) on the policy.

If you have decided to include staff members to the policy to drive customer vehicles to see what work needs doing and then again to confirm the work has been carried out successfully, it’s important to follow a couple of guidelines that will help you keep down your costs.

Firstly the drivers you choose should be over twenty five years old, under this age is considered high risk as the majority of accidents in the UK are caused by younger drivers.  You also need to ensure that your staff have clean driving licences and limited convictions against them.  They should also not have any criminal convictions against them.  Any driving experience they have may help.

The same applies to you, when taking out this cover make sure the broker is aware that you have no criminal convictions, a cleanish licence, you are over twenty five and how long you have had a no claims bonus for!  These all go towards reducing your premium and saving you money – this is why tailoring your motor trade insurance quote can save you money.

As a motor trade insurance broker we were more than interested to read the recent results of a study by Autoglass which astonishingly showed a third of van and truck drivers admitted to having had up to 30 near collisions in the past twelve months! – (and all this was because of the mess on the dashboard of their vehicle!)

The interesting survey of 2,000 white van and truck drivers found many different hazards/obstructions on the drivers dashboard, including 34% of drivers admitting to having fast food packaging on their dashboard, 24% having cuddly toys or tacky accessories, 21% newspapers and 19% coffee cups!

These dashboard distractions have led to 33% of van drivers and 34% of truck drivers admitting they had between 11 and 30 near misses in the past year.

Despite the near misses the drivers don’t seem to be fazed, with 10% admitting they never cleared the clutter from their dashboard.

If you’re reading this and you’re a motor trader – have a good look at your dashboard today and see what can be tidied away.  A two minute clear up now could save a whole lot of trouble in the future.  Do you really need a copy of last week’s newspaper, or all those coffee cups?

Think Insurance is a leading provider of Motor Trade Insurance in the UK.

For more information regarding this article, or to compare Motor Trade Insurance quotations, contact Think Insurance on 0844 573 2850.

While insurers are still recovering from the surprise of the European Court of Justice ruling on gender discrimination, plans to wipe out similar discrimination based on a persons age have also now been revealed by the government in the UK.

With the dust only just settling from the European Court’s decision, the Government’s latest proposals will make it difficult for insurance companies to use a customers age as a rating factor when determining prices.

Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone said at the announcement of the proposal: “It’s high time we put an end to outdated stereotypes based on age and recognised the valuable contributions that people of all ages can make to our society and economy.

“When older people are turned away from the market place through unfair treatment, the economy misses out on increased business and revenue.”

Insurance companies rating has always used previous claims experience as a starting point for setting their rates, and in nearly all classes of insurance, age is a major factor to claims cost and frequency.  In order to be able to provide insurance for people whose age may present a hugely increased risk, prices realistically have to be set at a higher level.

If the legislation takes effect in April 2012 as announced, and with the gender ruling coming into effect some eight months later, insurers face enormous challenges during 2011 to design new and reliable pricing structures.  The end result will mean that almost everybody will suffer from increased premiums rather than receiving a price based upon the risk they bring to the insurer.

A spokesperson for Think Insurance, a leading motor trade insurance broker, warned of the potential price hikes: “In the motor insurance sector, age, gender and location have always formed the main part of insurance pricing.

“It is still fair to say that age can still be used to underwrite the risk and calculate the end price, these proposals put a massive pressure on insurers to be able to provide evidence that the factor of age does effect claims statistics.

“Vast changes will have to be put in place, which are likely to change insurance as a whole, aside from the potential costs involved in implementing these changes.

“If you take an 18 year old motor trader as the example.  Most even less cautious underwriters will usually run a mile, but if they have flakey claims results to back up their reluctance to provide cover, does this mean they would be obliged to take on the risk?”

And to add more fuel to the fire, Featherstone has stated that the “economy misses out on increased business and revenue” due to age-related penalisation, yet the proposals will allow benefits for certain age groups to continue, such as free bus travel for over 60s and holidays for under 30s.

So does the Government sincerely have the interests of people who feel they are discriminated against at heart, or is this simply a scheme to boost the economy?

Think Insurance is a leading provider of Motor Trade Insurance in the UK.
For more information regarding this article, or to compare Motor Trade Insurance quotes, contact Think Insurance on 0844 573 2850.

Selling cars seems like an easy way to make money, whether you are considering opening a car sales dealership, full time or part time on weekends, motor trade insurance is a must.

Selling cars may mean that you will be required to drive customer vehicles before purchase to determine if you want to buy them. Your personal auto cover does not cover you for this and you will need road risks cover.

A benefit with road risks cover is you can include multiple drivers. So if you have a reliable staff member who has been with you for a while, you can include them as a driver – taking the burden off yourself when it comes to purchasing vehicles for resale.

Always bear in mind when taking road risks cover that you and your  driver should generally be over 25 years old and have no criminal convictions.  Also having no claims bonus on your personal auto cover can lower the premiums considerably as you will be considered a low risks driver.

When a prospective buyer arrives to look at a vehicle they may expect to drive the car and determine if they want to purchase it or not.  Not being able to offer them this service can be detrimental to your business and can lose you a lot of customers.

Demonstration cover gives you the ability to offer customers a chance to test drive any vehicle before purchase.

Another important consideration is liability cover.  Accidents can happen at any time and a customer visiting your premises and falling can cost you dearly in medical bills and loss of income.  Being prepared can save your business a fortune in the long run.

Combined cover is a good alternative for any business who has intentions of selling cars – you can cover your building, road risks, demonstration cover, liability and so much more under one plan – making it easy to budget for and only one premium to pay.

The decision to open a car retailing business is an exciting prospect but if you get all your cover before you start  then you are reducing the amount of things that can go wrong.

Not having to worry about theft or accidents can give you peace of mind and give you more time to concentrate on selling.  This is why motor traders insurance is a must when you are going into car sales.