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Courier insurance is crucial for the successful ruining of any type of courier business.The goods that you are in charge of may be valuable or if not valuable can be sold quickly for a decent margin on the Black or Gray markets, making your cargo attractive to thieves that specialise in the theft of courier goods. Put bluntly being in the courier business puts you at an extra risk of being the victim of a crime that involves the disappearance of your goods thanks to the cunning of a thief.
All businesses carry some risks that are inherent to them, and the courier industry is no exception. If you are planning to set up a courier business, then you must be prepared to take on those risks and how you can deal with them such that your interests are not compromised. That can be done with the help of courier insurance.
Insurance Types
Normally insurance needed is of two types the first to cover the vehicle and the second the goods. The first one which is mandatory allows you to use your vehicles on the UK roads for daily business and is basic vehicle insurance. This policy provides protection to your vehicle which maybe a bike, a car, a small van or large van should it be involved in an accident. Courier vehicles are crucial to the successful running of any courier business and as such you should also consider adding breakdown cover to reduce any time off the road as a result mechanical failure.
Levels of Cover
With insurance it is important to have the right level of cover without over insuring or indeed being under insured. Over insurance means that you have included elements of a policy that you do not need or are unnecessary. Under insurance clearly means you do not have sufficient cover so should a time time arrive to make a claim you will be disappointed to realise that you have been under insured and maybe to an extent that you have to shoulder most of the costs. Putting your business in such a situation could easily result in bankruptcy especially if third party claims are extensive and include medical bills. If you employee staff then with only a few exceptions you will legally need to take out employee liability insurance.
Courier Vehicle Insurance Available in 3 levels
- Third party only. Covers you for any damage made to the property of a third party including or any injuries that may result.
- Third party plus Fire & Theft
- Comprehensive
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Goods in Transit knows as GIT Insurance
Put simply GIT insurance covers the goods that you are in temporary charge of on behalf of a third part (the owner of the goods). So whilst your standard vehicle insurance covers your vehicle, goods in transit insurance cover abbreviated to GIT covers your for damage to the goods that you or your company are hauling or transporting.
It is important to be aware that this insurance can be very particular and does come with common exclusions for example dangerous chemicals would not normally be included. some insurers may only provide partial cover for items deemed an easy target for theft electronic items would normally fall into this category.
Undoubtedly you will come across some haulage requests that have you questioning if you would be covered as fall outside the boundaries of the normal cargo range that your business has been responsible for in the past. On these occasions one way to proceed would be as follows. First check with your insurer if you will be covered if not you could then suggest to the potential customer to provide their own GIT cover.
Public Liability
Any business that has contact with the public leave themselves open to public liability claims, for example if the goods that you are transporting were to fall out the rear and cause injury to passing pedestrians or fellow motorists. In brief public liability insurance helps protect your business against claims lodged by the public for damages caused by your business operations. Not having this insurance is not an advisable option as during your business, there are many things that can and will go wrong. These have the potential to hamper your business operations and cause losses to your customers which they would want to recover from you. If you have to settle these claims out of your pocket the impact on your business would be severe and consider the time, effort and focus that are necessary should it go legal, you will also soon lose business credibility. A carefully built up business can thus come crumbling down pretty quickly should you fail to buy the necessary cover.
What is the Cost of Courier Insurance?
What is the cost of courier insurance depends on a multitude of factors some of which you do have control over. Like all vehicle insurance courier vans, bikes and cars are broken down into insurance categories or groups. The normal range is 1 to 20 , category 1 contains vehicles that are in general the cheapest to insure. The main factors that are used to determine which group are the price and size of the courier vehicle. This is followed by the average costs to repaid said vehicle when damaged and the price of spare parts.