Starting up business - insurance question

Tiger_greeneyes

My husband has been looking for a job for two and a half years and got so despondent that he's now starting up a business himself. He had to wait until May to do this due to regulations that he needed his driving license for over 12 months as he will be will be doing private hire - basically a taxi driver without doing the knowledge that qualifies him to pick up passengers off the street. He'll be doing that over time.

He's passed all the rigorous criteria with flying colours, police checks, driving supervision, local council requirements - and we're picking up a car on Friday. The car is everything that the local council want - x no. of seats, age, mileage, the list goes on.

He was advised the insurance would be in the region of £1,500 - which we feel we could pay monthly, we've had lots of cards made up and they will be posted through people's doors when he's got everything in place.

However, he's been shopping for insurance quotes and they range from £3,500 to £5,000 and they're saying it's because he's not had his license for two years. This is a big blow because we have already spent just about everything we have to actually get him into work and off the dole. We're worried that we might not make the insurance payments if he doesn't get enough work.

It's not as though he's only 18 - he's 37 in a few days and drove commercial vehicles for years through work - and apart from one incident back in his teens on work experience with a forklift truck where he glued all the managers Merc's and BMW's cars to the car park tarmac, he's not even had a minor dink in over 15 years. I know this doesn't count but I'm just putting everyone in the full picture so you can possibly help advise better - he's not young and green, is what I'm trying to say. He's passed the stringent driving tests required by the council.

Is there anything we can do to convince insurance companies that he's responsible and mature - or is there any schemes through the government to help new businesses - or anything anyone knows of that would help us to be able to lower or or be able to afford this huge insurance bill?

No wonder the country is in a state with no jobs - just for my husband to take the initiative to actually become employed, it looks like our overall investment will come to just under £13,000 (his current car isn't suitable as it doesn't have individual seats in the back) which we'd never have been able to do without my inheritance from my lovely Mum.

Thank you...

chalkie99

I don't know if this will help or not but nothing ventured .....

I am registered at http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk which is free to sign up for - you might find the site useful anyway.

My van insurance has just fallen due and the renewal had gone up by a huge amount. I managed to get a much cheaper quote through a another member there who arranges discounts for members of that forum.

He was a very helpful chap so maybe sign up there and send him a PM - his User Name is TheGuru2010.

Hope you get sorted.

paddyrg

In fairness, you can't really blame 'the country' for your husband being poorly advised on insurance costs because whoever advised him didn't know he hadn't got much experience under his license.

InsideInsurance

TheGuru2010 works for http://www.occommercial.co.uk/ Certainly a very friendly broker and were able to come up with good prices when I used them but I ended up getting a "who you know" discount from an insurer I'd previously done work for.

There are lots of companies that offer taxi insurance, unfortunately very few, if any, have quote and buy online systems and so it is a case of trawling around and speaking to brokers to discuss the matter.

Tiger_greeneyes

paddyrg wrote: »

In fairness, you can't really blame 'the country' for your husband being poorly advised on insurance costs because whoever advised him didn't know he hadn't got much experience under his license.

Did I miss something? Where did I blame the country for poor insurance advice? If you actually read my post, you'll find I was actually remarking on how difficult it is/can be for people to gain employment or start up in self-employment these days.

Is that the most helpful contribution you have or did you just fancy having a pop at someone today?

Tiger_greeneyes

chalkie99 wrote: »

I don't know if this will help or not but nothing ventured .....

I am registered at http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk which is free to sign up for - you might find the site useful anyway.

My van insurance has just fallen due and the renewal had gone up by a huge amount. I managed to get a much cheaper quote through a another member there who arranges discounts for members of that forum.

He was a very helpful chap so maybe sign up there and send him a PM - his User Name is TheGuru2010.

Hope you get sorted.

Thank you for that information, I'm going to register on the Business Forums and see if I can speak with TheGuru2010 - he sounds like a very good next-port-of-call. It's crazy how all insurance has gone through the roof in the last six months isn't it. I'm glad you got such good insurance on your van, these things can make or break a business can't they

Tiger_greeneyes

InsideInsurance wrote: »

TheGuru2010 works for http://www.occommercial.co.uk/ Certainly a very friendly broker and were able to come up with good prices when I used them but I ended up getting a "who you know" discount from an insurer I'd previously done work for.

There are lots of companies that offer taxi insurance, unfortunately very few, if any, have quote and buy online systems and so it is a case of trawling around and speaking to brokers to discuss the matter.

Thank you! TheGuru2010 definitely sounds like a really useful person to know! I'm feeling really optimistic as he's been mentioned twice now! Much appreciated

Savvy_Sue

I would second the advice to find a good broker, either from the recommendations here or elsewhere! It's always worthwhile doing so when you have an 'unusual' situation.

However, just a bit confused:

Tiger_greeneyes wrote: »

He had to wait until May to do this due to regulations that he needed his driving license for over 12 months

<snip>

because he's not had his license for two years.

<snip>

he's 37 in a few days and drove commercial vehicles for years through work

I can't tie these three bits together! Not that I can help further even if I could, IYSWIM.

InsideInsurance

I must admit I assumed the License he hadnt had for 2 years was his taxi badge

Savvy_Sue

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I must admit I assumed the License he hadnt had for 2 years was his taxi badge

Ah, that would make sense. I don't know how these things work, of course, but it just seems a bit odd that you have to get a licence / badge, do nothing with it for a year, and only THEN start to use it.

Tiger_greeneyes

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I would second the advice to find a good broker, either from the recommendations here or elsewhere! It's always worthwhile doing so when you have an 'unusual' situation.

However, just a bit confused:

I can't tie these three bits together! Not that I can help further even if I could, IYSWIM.

I gave all the information I thought might be of some relevance as I'm not up on commercial insurance. For instance if my husband needed to have his license for three years before some insurance companies would help then surely it's better to add that piece of information in the OP to save people from having to ask questions?

To help you piece everything together, everything I put in my OP was in fact relevant to the insurance companies we've since spoken to - ie his age and the length of time he's had his license.

Hope that helps