Taxi Driver Online

The best way to get the cheapest insurance quote is to email as many brokers around the country about 3-4 weeks before your renewal is due, ENCLOSING FULL DETAILS & asking for a quote.

I have been doing this for about 7 years now & every year without exception, I have saved £150-£300 on my renewal quote and the first year I did it I saved almost £900.

The system takes about a day to set-up, but it is well worth doing & the insurance brokers don't like. Once you have set it up, all that needs to be done each year is to update your details & send that year's emails off.

I regularly send off between 70 & 80 emails each year. It takes about 30 minutes, saves me countless hour phoning brokers & I just sit back waiting for the quotes which come via email & quite a few through the post. I usually get somewhere between 45-60% response

The way to set it up initially is;

1. Go through all the taxi trade magazine & newspaper adverts & input all the email adresses of taxi insurance brokers that you can find. Call up the ones that do not publish an email address. Group these email addresses into batches of 25 addresses per group. You need to do this if your email provider has a maximum number of addresses you can send an email to. The limit with my email provider is 25.

2. Get one or two blank insurance proposal forms & create a Word Document to include all the information that an insurance broker would need to be able to give you a quote. (My document is four pages long & I have never had an insurance broker call me to ask for further details or information before they can quote.)

3. Create a short standard email, which is retained in your 'drafts' from year to year, updated & sent with the Word Document containing your full details for an insurance quote.

4. Sit back & wait.

Although this system takes some time to set up, IT REALLY DOES WORK!!

Try it & I bet you won't regret it!!

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Do you insure just one vehicle or a fleet?
The problem I may have with this is that my policy is a fleet policy so to get a quote I need my claims history from my existing insurer. You would not believe how difficult that can be.

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Grandad,

Get your claims history from your insurer & then update it yourself as you go.

That way you have a record.

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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Disagree with other members' views;
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I don't think that an insurer would accept you own updates.

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Grandad,

You do have a right to your own claims history.

Try a FoI request next time, perhaps that may have better results.

The reluctance of insurers to provide claims history in a timely fashion to fleet owners is a well known delaying tactic to leave the policy holder with as little time as possible to get alternative quotes.

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

I find it very frustrating trying to get my claims history from them. I don't think it is the actual insureres that are the problem, it is the brokers. They just give me a load of bolony to delay actually providing the info. For the last 2 years I haven't even seen my claims history before my renewal has become due. Don't get me wrong, I still think I am getting a reasonable deal from my broker but I would like the oportunity to do as you sugest.

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Grandad,

An insurance company will prepare the renewal premium and generate the claims experience at least 2/3 weeks before renewal date. There is a statutory requirement by the Financial Services Authority known as TCF i.e Treating Customers Fairly. There is no excuse for the claims experience not being available. It will be a delaying tactic. You are entitled to this information. You must shout loud for it!

Top tip. If you are looking for a fleet quote limit yourself to no more than 4 brokers. Reason being there is such a limited number of insurance cos offering fleets now that will cover the market anyway. I have had underwriters say to me "I have seen this enquiry from 8 brokers so am not going to quote".

2 Jobs, for a bog standard individual policy how much of the market would the average broker cover and to what extent is there an overlap?

I mean, presumably there's no point in me getting quotes from eight brokers (say) because I'd just be getting the same best quote several times over?

I've only ever asked two or three on the basis that I'll probably be covering all sources and thus would be getting the cheapest quote just by doing that.

In fact for a few years I've just taken the renewal premium offered by my broker because it's seemed reasonable, but in view of last year's hike I may look around a bit more next time round.

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Caledonian Cabbie

Hi Caledonian Cabbie

Not such a easy answer on single vehicle quotes. Reason being a broker can negotiate an exclusive deal with an insurer but that same insurer may also negotiate different deals with other brokers. You can therefore get quotes from the same insurer and sometimes vastly different rates from different brokers!

Equity Red Star were particularly good at that! NU/Aviva had deals allover the place but have now cut it down significantly. There are some companies like LV, Service, and Octane that have a very limited number of brokers but who can quote most LA's. Others like KGM will give a broker a local "franchise" so they may be able to only quote for LA's in their immediate vicinity. LV allow their brokkers to quote nationally but give a "local broker" price advantage.

With a contracting market I would suggest talking to your mates and find out a couple of good local taxi specialist brokers roughly in your area. Not all will advertise in PHTM. The Quotiva website is very good. Your enquiry will be sent to 5 brokers who have "filtered" the type of enquiry they want.

With taxi insurance getting more difficult, building a relationship with a good local broker can pay dividends. The bigger brokers tend to be just call centre robots but none the less have their place. If you like continuity in who you talk to, a local broker is probably best.

Cover varies too. For example, LV's NCB Protection really is very good. Most PNCB's alow 2 claims in 5 years. There is no limit with LV. Their policy also includes £10 PL and claims guarantees. LV do give a "local broker" premium advantage so worth looking for.

Hope that helps.

ten quid wont buy much

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Brokers keen to make a sale will take a lower commision to reduce the cost to the punter

my policy states "!insurance cost £1360" but im only paying £1300 cos i told the broker i could get it elsewhere for £1250....

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Gingers get middled when Im tryping too fist.

A broker can always make a commercial decision to reduce their commission to make a sale. Brings to mind the old insurance saying though"writing for profit is sanity, writing for volume is vanity" but equally 1/2 a cake is better than none.

Bit like doing airport runs at very cheap rates although sometimes we are all pleased just to have the order regardless. A satisfied customer can bring in more at full rate by recommendation as we all know.

Top tip when asking for discounts, name the broker and preferably the insurance co offering you the best deal. This makes the request for a better deal more credible. When people say to us they have had a quote £50 less than we quoted but can't remember who from, we respectfully point out they won't be calling them back anyway then.

The margins on insurance aren't a great as often thought and again the broker will want to stay in business. Likewise when I'm driving the PH, if someone starts to haggle at the end of the journey my response is, fare is what it says on the meter! Set by council, not me.

If you were offered £1250 elsewhere, why are you still paying £1300?

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Grandad,