Chauffeur / private hire insurance

Spiderham

Carman wrote: »

am now thinking of becoming Polish and re-entering Britain to get the benefits!!

Gotta love a bit of casual xenophobia. I don't think this is fair or relevant and think you should be ashamed of yourself for the comment.

Back to the insurance. Couriers will drive a lot, more miles = more chance of a claims third party claim. You have no track record, so can't get any experience discount. As a courier there will also (probably) be some element of commercial cover, plus you are likely to be carrying goods of value half the time so increased amount at risk. If the premium was overstated, someone else would be willing to do it at a cheaper level, as you have seen from the options you've looked at commercial driver insurance is a lot more expensive for a new start-up, it's just something you will have to build into your business plan.

Carman_2

That quote for courier insurance was just very basic for legal purposes and I do understand that the reason for these now abnormally high premiums are from the third party 'ambulance chasers' as it were. However having been in the motor trade for 30 years and able to get a full traders policy for repairs/driving customers cars etc. and any driver, all for £700 to £800 I think the quotes I've had for private hire and courier work are extortionate. It has to be said that by far the most expensive are the large companies that advertise a lot as being competitive and some slightly lower quotes were got by contacting local brokers. However all the premiums are just far too high to be able to run a small business in any sort of profit and as I've said before elsewhere it does beg the question of how many people who are in the rough looking focus estates are actually properly insured for the work, public liability and goods in transit.
As for the xenophobia..........if you live in an area where there are a lot of these EU immigrants, then you'll know that nothing can ever be exaggerated with the tricks these people get up to. It's just fact I'm afraid, not that any right minded person likes it, but it's what's happening in some areas of this country!

dacouch

You cannot get a motortrade policy that covers any driver for £800.

I know and work with plenty of Polish, they are all here to work hard and have a better life which plenty of British people do in places such as Spain, Dubai etc etc.

All of the Polish I have met have been very nice and love the UK, no doubt there are some that do things wrong. You're forgetting that there are plenty of British people who also do things wrong.

There are many reasons why private hire insurance is expensive, if Insurers were profiteering then like any other industry a business would spot an opportunity and undercut the rest of the market. This does on occassion happen due to the high premiums PH attracts, the companies normally last about a year before getting hit with the claims and then exit the market

taxi73

£2500 isn't a bad quote for a start up P/H.I have a P/H vehicle myself and ours was £1006 fully comp last year but we are experienced P/H drivers both clean licences.
The prices start to drop after you've been running accident free and with P/H you are best going to a specialist broker.Unfortunately,as a P/H driver your previous no claims history doesn't really count towards your P/H insurance.
Believe me P/H drivers and Chauffeur drivers in our area are licensed by the council so they certainly can't get away with not having the right insurance.Perhaps get in touch with the taxi licensing dept at your council as they will know what firms are issuing insurance.All business insurance is expensive to start with but can reduce once you are established.I find using the web useless for our taxi insurance as there are very few firms that do it now.
I have no experience with courier services so cannot comment on that.Good luck whatever you do.

CKhalvashi

raskazz wrote: »

As a new private hire venture £2500 sounds like a good quote - anything involving hire use (except the more sedate and seasonal wedding/funeral hire) tends to cost a fortunte in claims. What doesn't help is that insurers who know nothing about the market tend to jump in blind due to the higher premiums, this holds down premiums in the market.

I've seen drivers pay £5k to get through the Hackney test (I don't have/want an operators license), £10k to buy a car (I don't allow anything older than about 07 to come onto our fleet now), and £7-8k to get insurance, so your quote isn't as bad.

The above is normally for the younger end of drivers, however, but I'm paying about £1400 for a Mondeo.....By the time you're 65 (this is on a '56' Peugeot 407), you're looking at about £1100.

Insurance is always negotiable (I talked mine down from £2200), so call up and ask for a quote to be made cheaper!

CK

Carman_2

Thanks for all the comments and more reasonable quote prices that I can now use as ammunition when trying again for p/h or courier insurance. I'll let you know if I get anywhere.
BTW my motor trader's policy costs £73 per month, all in!

dacouch

Carman wrote: »

Thanks for all the comments and more reasonable quote prices that I can now use as ammunition when trying again for p/h or courier insurance. I'll let you know if I get anywhere.
BTW my motor trader's policy costs £73 per month, all in!

But it does not cover any driver, it may cover anyone for a genuine test drive with you accompanying them, but this is not any driver

Carman_2

Any driver.......although do have to be working for me.
This is beginning to sound like a pantomine........oh yes it is, oh no it isn't! lol

dacouch

Carman wrote: »

Any driver.......although do have to be working for me.
This is beginning to sound like a pantomine........oh yes it is, oh no it isn't! lol

That's different than saying any driver as it's only your employees.

Besides there are restrictions on what your employees can drive your or your customers vehicles for.