Insurance Premiums on the Rise

Whether you own your own vehicle, or if you manage a company which has a lot of vehicles – such as bus or coach companies, then you are probably aware of insurance premiums going up year after year. It seems as though these insurance companies make up numbers and are just trying to get as much money out of their customers as possible but there are different reasons for them going up.

One of the reasons is due to the rise in crime that is happening in the country. Particularly in the case of buses and coaches, where they are transporting the general public, they are seen as vulnerable to vandalism and other acts of anti-social behaviour. In fact, buses and coaches are at higher risk of vandalism because they come into contact with more people over the course of a day. Not only that, but with the amount of people that buses transport every day, it’s getting harder and harder for the driver to keep an eye on everyone who is riding their bus or coach.

Insurance companies are aware of these facts, and so have decided to raise insurance premiums for buses and coaches – simply because these are the vehicles which are more susceptible to damage and therefore owners are more likely to make claims. It’s not entirely fair, but the insurance companies have to make their money somehow.

Another reason that insurance premiums have risen in recent years is that there is a lack of drivers in the industry. You may be wondering why this would affect the amount of insurance that people are paying, but to insurance companies, less drivers mean that the existing drivers are stretched thinner than ever before. This mean that are likely to be driving longer hours, longer routes and doing more hours without breaks. Because of this, bus and coach drivers are more likely to be tired and therefore more likely to make mistakes. Obviously, if you manage a bus or coach company, or are even a driver yourself, you will know what the proper precautions are but the insurance companies don’t see it this way, unfortunately.

Tired drivers are far more likely to make mistakes and do things which will cause accidents. This is true of any driver and not just bus and coach drivers, but unfortunately these are the drivers who are worst affects because they are driving bigger vehicles, and are responsible for the lives of more people. This means that if they make mistakes, the consequences are likely to be more far reaching than that of a normal driver. So the insurance premiums go up.

It seems unfair that the bus and coach companies are taking the brunt of the rising premiums, but at least after reading this you will have some understanding of why they’re doing it. Luckily for you, there are things that you can do to help stop the rise of insurance so quickly, or perhaps even make it go down.

One of these things is installing CCTV systems in all of your vehicles. This will make your vehicle safer for drivers and those on board. The driver will feel safer knowing that they are covered in the event of an accident and the general public will feel safer knowing that there will be footage if something were to happen. CCTV also acts as a deterrent to those looking to vandalise the buses and so makes them less likely to do it. In the eyes of insurance companies, this makes your buses and coaches safer.