HOW many times have we all heard or wondered this?
We have been asked this question many times and the answer to the question is the same every time.
They can.
Basically there are three components to having a young truck driver approved by an insurer.
If you follow these three steps and, as long as the young driver has a good driving history and is fully licensed, you should have a bit more success.
- Always have the new driver provide you with evidence that they do actually have the appropriate licence for the vehicle they will be driving, along with an up-to-date print-out of their driving history and points accumulation from the relevant roads and traffic authority of the licence issuer’s state.
It will also be to your benefit to request these from your drivers on a regular basis because it is very easy to run out of points without knowing and, as we all should know, no licence means no insurance.
- Before you allow anyone to drive your vehicle, ask your broker whether it is a requirement under your policy to advise the insurer of any new driver.
If it is, and if it is, ask the broker to approach your insurer and ask for their acceptance of the driver.
You will find that some insurers will decline young/inexperienced drivers and some insurers may approve them with restrictions on what they can do and where they can go.
Then there may be some insurers that automatically accept younger inexperienced drivers under their policy with a combination of additional excesses.
- Be realistic. Just like you, insurers also believe more younger operators need to be brought into the industry but please keep in mind that if the young driver makes a mistake and writesyour truck off, it may cost you a couple of thousand dollars in excesses.
But your insurance company may have to fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars, not only to you but any other third party that may have been involved.
The young will make mistakes, we all make mistakes, it is part of the learning process.
Until such time as “road craft” and “defensive driving” etc. are made to be a mandatory requirement before a licence is issued to the young and new drivers, it should remain the right of the insurers to determine who they (the insurers) are prepared to take on as a financial risk.
Important: all answers and information contained within this article should be considered as general advice only. This advice should only be considered as general in nature and its intent is only to prompt the readers to investigate their own individual insurances. It has been prepared without taking into account the readers own individual objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of that, before acting on the above advice, the client or any persons should consider its appropriateness (having regard to their objectives, needs and financial situation) and seek further independent advice from their own financial adviser.
