While there is no quick fix to get better insurance rates, there are several things you can do to put yourself in a better situation long-term when you meet with your insurance provider.
By Mark Murrell
It is no secret that it has been a tough truck insurance market the past several years. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to get a discounted rate or be viewed as a safe fleet by your insurance company. As a provider of online training for the trucking industry, we work closely with insurance companies, so we understand the challenges companies are presented with when it comes time for policy renewal. In this article, we will discuss some things you can do to set yourself up for long-term success when it comes to safety and your overall standing with your insurance provider.
Safety Data
Most companies are using safety technologies to monitor driving behavior, yet not enough are using the information collected from these technologies to their advantage when it comes time for renewals. Before you meet with your insurance provider, analyze safety data so you can discuss your safety scores and trends in driver-related incidents. Having this information available for your provider shows them you are being proactive in your fleet safety approach. And with this information, you can make informed decisions to improve in areas you are coming up short.
Insurance providers consider how a company is trending during the renewal process. If a fleet has good overall safety scores, but they have experienced an uptick in safety incidents reported in recent months, their provider could use that against them.
Conversely, if a company has an average or below-average safety score but has recently shown a steady decrease in incidents, it will tell the insurance provider that the fleet is heading in the right direction.
That leads to benchmarking—another tool to help your efforts. Tracking your fleet safety scores with other similar operations is something all fleets should be doing. It can help companies gauge how well their safety programs are compared to others in the industry.
Policy Verses Process
Less is more when it comes to safety policies. Be concise. The way they are written and followed by management is noticed by insurance providers. Two common problems with policies are: 1) they follow the minimum requirements set by their insurance provider or 2) they are too lengthy, rules are too stringent, and/or they need to be updated. Both policy characteristics present several red flags.
If your company follows the bare minimum policies, your insurance provider expects that is not enough. When they asses your risk level, they will wonder why you are not doing more to address safe practices within your fleet. Think of it as receiving a C on a test in school instead of an A. Technically, C is a passing grade, but a C does not show strong performance.
On the other hand, if your policies are pages long with specific rules the company and drivers need to follow, that is also a
problem. If you have a 100-page policy book, will your drivers actually read all of the material and comprehend everything? After a driver reads through it all, they will likely have forgotten what was covered a few pages ago. Often these policies were written years before, and some of the material may be outdated.
A better approach is to have policies that cover general rules along with an established and documented process on how the company handles policy violations as they come up. Actions speak louder than words. For example, a fleet safety committee can evaluate a policy violation and consider all the factors about the incident and driver history to determine the proper way to handle the problem. Not every incident warrants a ‘yes or no’ type ruling.
Let’s say, for example, you have a driver with a clean record that has been with the company for 20 years and is considered your top driver. If that driver is involved in their first serious incident and you have a strict policy that says that the driver must be terminated, what do you do? Do you fire the driver who, up until then, had been a shining star and lose one of your most experienced drivers? Or do you keep them on and go against the policy? It is a lose-lose situation because you either lose one of your best drivers or ignore your policy which might be questioned when you meet with your insurance, agency.
By having a process in place to evaluate violations, you can determine the appropriate action that should take place. You will not be locked in. Not only can this help with operations, but it is also something your insurance provider and other agencies want to see.
Driver Training
There is a lot of free content and videos available online that fleets are using to help train their drivers. If you do a Google search on specific types of training, all sorts of results will populate. While some of the content is good, there is a lot that is not, so safety managers need to compare and contrast. Bottom line: check for quality first.
That said, one of the biggest problems companies have with using these free resources is that it can be difficult to document
the training you are assigning drivers. If you assign drivers videos on YouTube to watch and there is no documentation on when they watched and/or do not have a follow-up activity, such as a quiz, to document that they retained the information, what is the point?
When you meet with an insurance provider, they want to see proof of training and documentation that drivers are being
assigned, completing, and passing course material.
Company Culture
Good company culture is vital to how safely a company operates. Many will claim they have open-door policies to address driver concerns, but do they practice what they preach? Often, the answer is no. Fostering meaningful relationships with your drivers and understanding their needs is essential. From the top company executive to drivers, everyone needs to have the same level of understanding of what is expected regarding safety. Driver surveys are a great way to understand what is working and what is not when it comes to a variety of driver-related topics. If you do them, take the results to heart. Use the information to better your company. You are much more likely to retain quality, safe drivers if you create a company culture where drivers want to be. If you do not, you will be in a constant cycle of hiring new drivers.
As many companies will attest, it has been a tough insurance market for the last several years. While there is no quick fix to get better insurance rates, there are several things you can do to put yourself in a better situation long-term when you meet with your insurance provider. | WA
Mark Murrell is President of CarriersEdge, a leading provider of online driver training for the trucking industry. For more information, visit www.carriersedge.com.