What Is Fleet Insurance? | HNI

Many companies have a fleet of vehicles to help them run their businesses. From trucks to taxis to construction vehicles, fleet vehicles are pretty crucial to so many industries and businesses. But if you’re using fleet vehicles, you should also make sure your entire fleet is insured. After all, insurance is there to help protect your business and help you stay afloat should something happen. But to insure your fleet, do you have to get insurance for every vehicle? Nope. That’s where fleet insurance comes in. 

Fleet insurance is an auto insurance policy that covers all of a company’s fleet of vehicles instead of having to insure each individual one. Think about it: getting car insurance for every single vehicle at your company—whatever industry you work in—adds up quickly, but fleet insurance provides an easy alternative. Instead, you get one insurance policy for all the vehicles, and they’re all covered under one premium your company pays. It’s a policy designed for the companies who rely on fleets in any way to get business done. 

How Does It Work? 

Insurance is crucial for all vehicles—especially work related vehicles. If a vehicle gets in an accident, there are many expenses the vehicle owner will need to cover: vehicle repairs for every car involved, lost merchandise and time, medical bills, and more. An expensive accident could be something the owner can’t afford out-of-pocket, which is why insurance is so important. Insurance provides the coverage for the company, so they can stay in business should an accident happen. And accidents do happen. 

Fleet insurance is a way for you to cover all your vehicles in one policy and protect your business from financial liability and trouble if—and when—something happens. When you buy a fleet insurance policy, it covers all of your vehicles. The vehicles don’t all have to be the same, and you don’t insure the individual drivers themselves either—it’s all in the one policy. This type of insurance covers any vehicles used to keep your business going. Some of these might include: 

• Large trucks used for shipping and transport
• Machinery (including forklifts) used in construction
• Everyday cars and vans used for transport or delivery or other operations
• Cargo vans

However the vehicles are used for your company, your fleet insurance will cover them. 

Who Has Access to Fleet Insurance? 

Fleet insurance can help so many companies, and it can be used by more companies than a lot of people realize. For a lot of policies, fleet insurance is for any company that has a fleet of 2 or more vehicles. More specifically, the basic requirements for most fleet insurance policies are really only two things: must be used by a business and must have a fleet of two or more vehicles. On average, fleet insurance is used to cover 2–500 vehicles, but some plans may require you to have more than two vehicles. 

A company in any industry can get fleet insurance, but some industries may require a more specific type of fleet insurance. For example, if you have a taxi fleet, you’ll need to get taxi-specific fleet insurance instead of a generic fleet insurance policy. 

The type of fleet insurance you need will depend on the size of your fleet. Small to medium sized fleets won’t need as much coverage, so you can use a small fleet insurance policy, sometimes called a “mini fleet.” These policies are ideal if you have only a few vehicles you use to help your business operate. They’re also generally great for small businesses in general.

 If you have a large fleet, there are large fleet insurance policies to help you get the right amount of coverage. Companies with hundreds or thousands of vehicles will benefit from a larger policy with more coverage. If you’re not sure which type of fleet insurance your business needs, talk with your insurance provider to see what would provide you with the best coverage. 

What Does Fleet Insurance Cover? 

Since fleet insurance covers all of your vehicles instead of typical auto insurance, what does fleet insurance cover? In general, fleet insurance covers three areas, depending on the policy you choose: 

• Physical damage. Physical damage is any kind of damage that happens to a vehicle that wasn’t caused by another driver. From hail damage to theft to vandalism, physical damage coverage will help you keep your vehicles in tip top shape. 
• Collision damage. Collision damage is the damage your vehicle sustains if it’s hit by another driver. With collision coverage, if your vehicles are involved in an accident, you’ll be ready to cover the expenses. The more vehicles in your fleet, the greater the chances you’ll need good collision protection. 
• Motorist coverage. Not all drivers are insured, and your vehicles could be involved in an accident with an uninsured driver. With motorist coverage, you can avoid having to pay out-of-pocket expenses for any uninsured accidents. 

In addition, it’s important to consider the types of coverage. Like with typical car insurance, you can choose from the same three types: 

• Comprehensive coverage. Comprehensive covers any damages to your vehicles, other drivers’ vehicles, and injuries for anyone involved—no matter who’s at fault. Basically, comprehensive coverage has it all. 
• Third party fire and theft coverage. This type of coverage protects your vehicles from fire and theft that happens at any point. In addition, this coverage will also cover damages to third party vehicles. 
• Third party only coverage. Third party coverage will pay for damages to other people’s vehicles and property, as well as any injuries to any party involved in an accident. 

As with car insurance, you’ll get to choose coverage options for your policy based on what your company needs. For example, you might not need motorist coverage for a forklift because that will only be used on site with an extremely low chance of a collision with an uninsured motorist. But a delivery van that’s parked in an uncovered lot may benefit from comprehensive coverage to keep it safe from all kinds of risk. 

What Are the Benefits of Fleet Insurance? 

Fleet insurance is so beneficial for most industries and most companies that use vehicles of any kind. These are some of the key benefits of fleet insurance: 

• Simplicity and efficiency. Sure, you can always make sure your vehicles are covered with insurance by buying individual policies. But that’s a lot to keep track of with even a small-sized fleet. Fleet insurance keeps it all simple and efficient by helping you use one policy instead of many. 
• Affordability. Using lots of policies can also add up. Fleet insurance can help give you bargaining power to keep your premiums as low as possible to help you save on insurance. Your fleet is worth more to an insurer, so you can often find better deals. 
• Flexibility. Fleet insurance gives you control over exactly how you want your vehicles and drivers covered. You can choose which vehicles you want covered and in what ways—as well as what drivers will have access to what vehicles. 
• Inclusivity. Some drivers (due to age, background, or other factors) can’t get insured individually—or even if they can, their premiums are very high. Fleet insurance is a great way to cover these drivers and all other drivers because it’s inclusive across the board for all of your drivers. 

The Bottom Line

Overall, fleet insurance is a great way for you to protect your fleet and keep all your vehicles and drivers covered. It’s simple, efficient, inclusive, and affordable. Looking to find the right fleet insurance for your company. Contact us, and we’ll help you get started!