A truck is involved in an accident on the way to a delivery. Thankfully, the driver is safe, but the vehicle needs repairs and could be off the road for weeks. Worse yet two vans hit each other in the yard or a severe storm wrecks havoc on your fleet.
For a transport business, these scenarios create a much bigger problem than repairing the vehicles. There are deliveries to reschedule, customers to keep informed, drivers to manage and a workload that still needs to be covered.
It’s why transport business insurance is about more than protecting vehicles - it’s about understanding what could happen to the rest of your business if something goes wrong.
Commercial Motor: Protecting the Vehicle
Commercial motor insurance most often covers accidental damage, theft and damage to other vehicles or property. And when your vehicles are at the heart of your operation the right commercial motor insurance is a must.
Consider a business with five trucks. If one is damaged and unavailable, can another take over its deliveries? Can you access a suitable replacement or hire vehicle? And what happens to the jobs already booked while repairs are underway?
As Safeguard's Daniel Bullock explains: “When we talk to transport business owners, we don't just look at the value of the vehicles. We look at what those vehicles actually do for the business. If one comes off the road, understanding the flow-on effect is just as important.”
Whether you have one commercial vehicle or a larger fleet, it’s worth keeping your vehicle and driver information up to date and knowing what options you have if a vehicle is suddenly off the road.
Business Interruption: Protecting the Operation
Now imagine a severe storm damages your depot and several vehicles, making it difficult to operate as normal.
Repairing the damage is one thing. Keeping the business running in the meantime is another. Deliveries could be delayed or cancelled, customers may go elsewhere and revenue can fall while wages, rent and other expenses keep coming.
Business interruption insurance helps protect your business financially when certain insured events interrupt normal operations. For example, storm damage might leave vehicles inaccessible, or a fire could temporarily close your depot.
Depending on your cover and what has happened, Business Interruption insurance may help replace lost profit and cover certain ongoing expenses while you work towards getting the business back to normal.
Public Liability: Risk Beyond the Road
Not every transport risk happens behind the wheel. With your drivers and employees spending time at depots, warehouses, loading docks and customer premises things can also go wrong away from the road.
Owners of transport businesses need to understand what happens if a driver accidentally damages a customer’s property while unloading, or someone is injured walking around a warehouse.
Public liability insurance can help protect your business if you’re found liable for certain injuries to other people or damage to their property.
It’s another reason why protecting a transport business involves looking beyond commercial vehicle insurance alone.
Looking at the Whole Transport Business
Commercial Motor, Business Interruption and Public Liability protect different parts of a transport business. The important thing is understanding how those covers work together and whether they still match the way you operate.
“Transport businesses are dynamic - fleets change, contracts change and the way you operate changes. Your insurance needs to keep pace, which is why regularly reviewing the whole program, rather than individual policies in isolation, is so important,” Daniel says.
Keep Your Business on the Road
Think about what has changed in your business since you last reviewed your insurance. Maybe you’ve added vehicles, taken on a major contract, started travelling different routes or begun delivering to new customer sites. Changes like these can also change what you need from your insurance.
Talk to Safeguard Insurance Brokers about whether your transport insurance still reflects the way your business operates today.