Haulage Insurance

When choosing a haulage insurance policy, it’s important not to just buy on price, albeit price is always an important consideration. Look closely at other things too like:

• Making sure the insurer is financially sound and will be there to pay a claim should things go wrong.
• Making sure the cover provides the protection you need; that there is no ‘small print’ that takes away vital protection.
• Whether your broker has been recommended to you and is a haulage insurance expert meaning you can rely on the advice they give.
• What sort of service you can expect from your broker and insurer should you need to make a claim.

Exactly how much each operator must pay varies from insurer to insurer and depends on a variety of factors. These may include:

• Whether any of your trucks are of exceptional value.
• Where your trucks are driven and whether they go abroad.
• The nature of your business activities and whether you ever visit hazardous sites or carry hazardous loads.
• The profile of your drivers in terms of age and experience, and accident and conviction history.
• Whether you have telematics devices or camera systems deployed actively to monitor and improve driving style and behaviour.

A haulier running up to five vehicles will usually see their trucks rated individually. Above that number of trucks, policies tend to be fleet-rated, whereby the premium depends significantly on past claims experience across your truck fleet.

Yes. If you would prefer to spread the cost of your haulage fleet business insurance policy, you have the option of setting up a Direct Debit to pay your premium in equal monthly instalments (subject to acceptance).

To find out details, please read our dedicated direct debit page.

Haulage insurance policies do much more than simply provide you with protection again loss or damage to your trucks. They provide haulage operators with cover above and beyond what they are legally required to have when driving a vehicle on the road which is unlimited cover for third-party injury or death, and cover for damage to third-party property for an amount not less than £1.2 million.

The haulage policies we offer are particularly designed for road haulage businesses running HGVs. If your fleet includes lighter vehicles used for courier work, we can help you too.

Most customers buy comprehensive cover though more limited third-party fire and theft, and third-party only coverage is available too. Cover is of course available for trailers as well as tractor units.

As well as HGV motor fleet haulage insurance cover, we can also arrange other essential covers for haulage operators like goods-in-transit hauliers’ liability insurance, public and employers’ liability, property and business interruption insurance, as well as a range of other important covers such as commercial legal expenses and cyber insurance.

If you have an employee, or employees, even if only occasionally, or temporarily, then you are legally required to have employers' liability insurance. (Unless an exemption applies, such as family businesses where every employee is a close family member, providing they are not incorporated as a limited company.)

We can offer employers’ liability cover alongside your haulage insurance policy and the other essential non-motor business insurance covers.

Find out more information about the Employers’ Liability
(Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969.

Yes. At Towergate, we know starting up a business can be expensive and insurance cover adds to the cost.

We’ll work with you depending on your circumstances to find the very best discounts we can for you, such as introductory discounts and no-claims discounts for companies using drivers with a claim-free driving history.

Care needs to be taken when taking out haulage insurance to make sure the cover you are buying is what you need and that there are no exclusions that are detrimental to the cover you need.

In addition to exclusions such as war risks, damage or contamination caused by radioactive materials, and terrorism, exclusions under a haulage insurance policy typically include:

• Claims arising out of agreements, unless a claim would have been accepted in any case
• Claims whilst your vehicle is being:

• • Used for any purpose that the certificate of insurance does not allow, such as racing and speed testing.
  • Driven by someone not allowed to drive by the certificate of insurance, such as someone who does not have the permission of the policyholder.
  • Driven by you if you do not hold a licence to drive the vehicle or you are disqualified from having such a licence.
  • Driven with your permission by someone who you know does not hold a licence to drive the vehicle unless that person has held a licence and is not disqualified from getting one.

• Claims involving a vehicle being driven ‘airside’ (here at Towergate, we know how important ‘airside’ cover can be for some hauliers and can usually arrange that cover when it’s needed).

Yes, you can. We pride ourselves on our ability to insure a wide array of trucks, lorries and HGVs including vehicles used for heavy haulage.

Speak to one of our haulage insurance advisers for more information.