Cheap Courier Insurance Tips

Do you want to know how to get cheap courier insurance? Well, there are two ways you might go about this.

Firstly you could get quotes from specialist insurers; and instead of contacting one company to find you the right policy at the right price, why not seek the services of a panel of specialists to compete for your business?

How do I get these quotes?

By clicking on the button above and providing a few details you could get quotes from some of the best specialist insurers in the UK, to compare premiums and benefits.

Companies you get quotes from may include these top insurance providers:

How Can I Reduce The Premiums?

Insurers base their premiums on what they see as the likelihood of you being involved in a fault claim; and the likely cost to them of settling any claims. So; the second way of finding cheaper is to prepare your proposal to the insurers carefully, and to do that you need to know what the main factors they take into consideration, when working out your quote, are. These include:

• The vehicle you will be using
• The kind of deliveries you will be making
• The area that you will be delivering in
• Your driving experience
• Your track record
• The type of goods you will be carrying
• The type of cover you want to buy.

So, let's look at all of these in order:

What kind of vehicle will you be using?

The smaller the vehicle you drive, and the less powerful the engine, the less damage it is likely to cause in an accident, and the lower the likely third party claim would be for your insurer. So, obviously, a moped or a scooter is likely to be cheaper to insure than a large van.

However; for delivering many products these means of transport are completely impractical. A scooter may be acceptable for delivering the odd pizza or hot takeout meal in a university town but for anything bigger than that it could be useless.

There is also your own personal safety to consider. Scooter riders almost inevitably come out worse in a collision with other vehicles; a car or van driver may suffer a bent wing whilst the scooter rider could get broken limbs or worse.

There is also the comfort angle to consider. Driving a car or van with goods in the rear is a lot more comfortable and less tiring - and therefore safer - than riding on two wheels with panniers that can upset the balance of the vehicle, or a heavy backpack that can cause shoulder strain.

So: your choice of vehicle depends on cost, practicality, and safety concerns; and these all need to be taken into consideration before making your decision.

How to pick the right car or van

Insurers are of course concerned with the size and power of your vehicle but these are not the only concerns. If you are involved in a fault accident and you have comprehensive cover they will want to get your vehicle repaired as quickly and economically as possible so they will be interested in:

• Are spares easily available? For some rarer cars they have to be imported which can add to delays and garaging costs.
• Are spares reasonably priced? Even some really cheap cars can have very expensive spare parts; that is one of the ways that manufacturers can turn a profit.
• Is the vehicle easy to repair? Some are designed to have body parts replaced easily, others can need more extensive replacement work.
• Is the vehicle valuable? A written off cheap runabout is less costly to replace than the latest high tech model packed with extras.
• Does it have a good safety record? Modern cars usually benefit from safety features such as airbags, anti-lock brakes, stability control, and a host of other features; but as usual some are better than others.

Fortunately the insurers can rely on checking which insurance group your vehicle is in; these are calculated based on many factors and range from 1 to 50. The higher the rating, the more you can expect to pay for insuring it. You can check insurance groups at Thatcham research.

What kind of deliveries will you be making?

There is a lot of difference between a driver picking up goods from the same depot every morning, and delivering them to one of a few familiar destinations; and, say, someone working for a company like Yodel who makes dozens of deliveries every day to a variety of often unfamiliar addresses.

This last person could be under greater time pressure to complete all the expected deliveries despite the almost inevitable delays, and be regularly distracted by a satnav, and so is likely to face higher premiums.

Which area will you be driving in?

Long distance driving by motorway may be frustrating because of unexpected holdups but it is relatively safe, as is driving through quiet towns in the country. Big cities contain hazards such as traffic congestion, parking difficulties and confusing road layouts so their accident rates are correspondingly higher, which means higher premiums. Simple.

How much driving experience have you had?

Statistically, the younger you are and the less experience you have had on the road the more likely you are to have an accident.

You might reduce premiums with some insurers by having a 'black box' tracking device fitted to your vehicle but bear in mind that this can work both ways; drive carefully within the rules of the road and your premiums could reduce but exceed the odd speed limit , corner sharply or brake too hard, too often, and they could increase, or you could even be refused any more cover at all.

What is your track record on the road?

This is something you simply can't hide. If you have had convictions for driving or even criminal offences, or claims, there will be records of them that the insurers can check, so it's vital to admit to them right at the outset; insurers are not happy if they find errors in proposal forms, even if they are accidental. Just take it easy in the future and you should be able to build up a decent record and earn a good no claims bonus.

What type of goods will you be carrying?

If the goods are perishable in the short term - good examples are urgently required body organs or, at another extreme, hot food - you are likely to be under greater pressure to deliver them quickly and so more likely to take the odd risk. Generally speaking, the less urgent the deliveries are, the lower the premium is likely to be.

If the products you carry are hazardous in any way, cover may be more difficult (and therefore more expensive) to arrange.

What type of cover do you want to buy?

You will have to have hire and reward insurance; that is unavoidable; but often you can choose between comprehensive or third party cover.

Don't just assume, though, that third party fire and theft, or even third party only, is automatically cheaper than comprehensive cover; this may have been the case a decade ago but insurers soon realised that for various reasons people who took out those policies had more claims than their comprehensively covered clients, so they increased the premiums.

It is not unknown, now, for comprehensive cover to actually be the cheapest option, despite offering better benefits.

So to conclude:

Now that you are aware of the factors that are likely to affect your premium, the next step is to get some quotes to compare, which you can do by clicking the quotes button. Do it now.