Insurance is the safety net there to protect you and your finances from any incidents or claims that could result in you having to pay a hefty sum if deemed responsible. Particularly of paramount importance to taxi drivers due to the constant risky nature of the job, there are many different taxi insurance policies that work together to ensure you are always fully covered both on and off the roads. Here we’ll look at five ways taxi drivers can save money on their taxi insurance.
Type of policy
When taking out taxi insurance you will have to choose between either a named driver policy or an any driver policy. Any driver means you are allowing any of your staff over the age of 21 to drive any vehicle registered to the company and for this reason is considered as a higher risk by taxi insurance brokers so priced higher than a named driver policy which means each taxi has a specific named driver registered to drive that specific vehicle. The latter is considered less of a risk so it is your first option for cheaper taxi insurance.
Clean driving record
If you have no driving convictions to your name then your taxi insurance greatly benefits from this. Taxi insurance brokers will view you as less of a risk than those drivers with convictions and points on their licence and this results in potentially huge reductions on the cost of your taxi insurance premiums. There are even more savings to be had with named driver policies if the named drivers have clean driving records.
No Claims Bonus
You are eligible for a No Claims Bonus once you are the policyholder of your taxi insurance. The idea behind this reward scheme is to provide discounts for taxi drivers who are not involved in any collisions or accidents for a specified length of time, usually a year. Over time, this can save you a lot of money on your taxi insurance and the discounts can improve year on year if you maintain your safe driving.
Monthly payments
For the vast majority of insurance payments, paying on a monthly basis can work out more expensive that the specified initial fee, and taxi insurance is no different. However, this isn’t all bad news in terms of cutting costs and saving you money. Monthly payments are a much more practical option for spreading your taxi insurance costs over the course of 12 months. Rather than being unable to afford a hefty, outright sum as an upfront payment which could leave you without insurance and therefore illegal for you to drive on the roads, you can pay a smaller amount monthly as you’re earning and this way your work doesn’t suffer and you’re always covered.
Switching to a fleet policy
For those taxi drivers who run a taxi firm which sees the day-to-day operation of a number of vehicles, a taxi fleet insurance is the best option for you. All vehicles registered to the company will be covered under a single fleet policy which means a shorter stack of documents and, more importantly, a larger amount of money saved. This is also where a named driver fleet policy can really benefit you and if these drivers have good, past driving records. A final note for saving money on taxi fleet insurance is that vehicles with a lot of mileage are best insured separately to the rest of the fleet as this can usually get you a much better deal.