Kindly advise on Hire & reward insurance.

[Alex Nate]

Hello,

Thank you all for your excellent posts on starting a man and van business.
However, I have been looking on insurance quotes for hire and rewards and the lowest I've received was over 4K!
Is this the norm?
Is courier the correct job description for this line of work or delivery driver? By no means, am I looking to be a local courier delivering 100s of parcels daily.
I was lining more towards less than 5 drops doing long distance nationally but when I mention 'light haulage', the quotes seem to be more!
I would truly appreciate some help on the matter and be direct in the right direction.

Thank you

 

[cts1975]

Don't mention the word 'courier' when asking for insurance quotes. Tell them you are a 'Transport Company'. You are also not doing multidrop. You need van insurance with 'Goods in Transit' cover, you don't need 'hire or reward'.

 

[Alex Nate]

Thank you for your response.
Pardon me if I'm wrong but I thought 'hire and reward' was needed if carrying goods that aren't my own.
What woul the job title be for a transport company?

Thank you.

 

[cts1975]

The vehicle will need to be insured. You can have 'goods in transit' as part of that or a separate policy. Just don't be steered in to expensive courier multi drop policies.
Just tell them you transport and deliver goods.
Shop round insurance is really competitive - be hard nosed and play brokers off one and other.
The reality is that you will be dealing with items that don't warrant high value insurance cover. It's likely that there will be an excess on the policy anyway. The majority of 'Man & Van' type work will be collecting & delivering things people have bought on GumTree/FB/EBay etc.
We are talking about £100 wardrobes, £200 pool tables etc. Tell people you cover things up to the value of say £500 if they are damaged in transit.
Just inspect things before you load them and take pictures or call the customer and explain any damage before you load the items.
It's the type of industry were you are competing with people doing it on the side in uninsured vehicles for payment in cash.