As the owner or manager of a PCV fleet (either coaches or buses), it’s unlikely that dealing with your insurance fills you with excitement. For many, arranging coach or bus insurance is both time consuming and a significant expenditure for your business.

As well as insuring your vehicles, you also need to strongly consider public liability insurance to protect your drivers and passengers (and perhaps employers’ liability insurance if you employ drivers).

The best route to take for specialist PCV insurance is to go to a specialist broker. There are 3 very good reasons for this.

1) Price – specialist coach / bus insurance brokers are insuring fleets all the time and therefore have daily contact with a number of underwriters. This means specially negotiated rates (and policy features) and securing the biggest discounts available. The best coach insurance brokers will have access to both the London underwriting market and composite insurers. This means that you only need to deal with one company, and they will shop around for you.

2) Coach/ Bus insurance knowledge – it’s vital that your insurer understands your business requirements. PCV insurance can be complex, with a host of different vehicles, drivers and liability insurance to throw into the mix. Why go to a “normal” insurer when you can use a specialist that will instantly understand your business issues and will know the best route to both save you money and ensure that your vehicles, drivers and passengers are fully covered. “Any driver” policies are the most popular to give you maximum flexibility. The right level of Public Liability insurance – a minimum of £1 million – is vital to protect your passengers and other road-users, and goods in transit insurance is normally only a small increase on your total premium.

3) Service – as a professional, your PCV(s) are your livelihood and you require first class service. For example, it’s vital you get a replacement vehicle in the event of a non-fault accident and a 24/7 accident helpline to get everything sorted straight away.

County Insurance – who operate the brands “insureCOACH and insureBUS” – are experts on PCV insurance and have nearly £10million worth of hire and reward insurance policies alone.

Director David Herd gives us his take. “There are so many advantages of using a specialist broker such as ourselves and the fact that we have a renewal rate of over 90% is testament to that. For starters, in 9 out of 10 cases we can comfortably beat any other quote and this is simply down to our buying power and relationships with underwriters. They know the quality of our clients and are happy to give new business discounts and competitive renewal prices based on our history”

David continues “Don’t underestimate the advantage of a knowledgeable broker either. Many have found out the hard way. We have had so many customers that have been sent around the houses by non-experts and have been relieved when we have taken control of the account and given meaningful advice on the best insurance policy and risk management for your fleet”

“Simply put, we can save you considerable time and money. Plus the customer service you’ll get throughout the life of your policy will be excellent – we’ll do all the work prior to your renewal and make sure you continue to get the best insurance deal available.

Leaving you to get on with running your business in a challenging economy”

David concludes “We like to think that we are a little different from the larger insurers. We are a medium sized company with no shiny offices and low overheads, meaning we can pass these savings onto our customers. Our bread and butter is attracting and retaining PCV clients by getting the best rates and policy terms for both single vehicles and larger fleets – by focusing on the hire and reward market, we have become one of the biggest players in the market”