Taxi Fleet Insurance

With many insurers, yes. Both are carrying passengers for payment; the difference is how the work is found, on the rank and street or by pre-booking, and the class each vehicle is plated for. Declare each vehicle’s class and its licensing council, because the certificate the council accepts has to match the plate.

With some insurers, through an owner-driver scheme that lets vehicles owned by drivers sit on the operator’s fleet; others insure only cars the operator owns or leases, and each driver then holds their own policy which the operator checks. A broker who places taxi fleets knows which insurers offer the scheme. The arrangement is worth settling before the first booking.

Anyone who meets the policy’s minimum age, licence-held and badge-held terms, and is not disqualified, may drive the fleet’s cars without being named. The usual minimum age on taxi fleets is higher than on other fleets, some insurers set an upper age too, and some limit penalty points. A driver outside the terms can sometimes be added by name.

Yes. Anyone driving a vehicle plated for hire and reward needs the licensing authority’s driver licence; some authorities allow an unlicensed driver to move it for test or repair with written permission. The policy’s driver terms sit on top of that. A driver with a badge can still fall outside the policy, and a driver inside the policy’s terms still needs the badge.

A hire and reward certificate for each plated vehicle, usually the original rather than a copy, at plating and at renewal, and on a fleet policy the schedule showing that vehicle. Some councils want the insurance to run past the renewal date. In London, and under many councils’ operator conditions, the operator also keeps a copy of each vehicle’s policy or the fleet schedule showing each vehicle and driver.

The new car goes on the schedule, the old one comes off, the premium is adjusted pro rata, and a new certificate is issued for the council. Cover starts when the insurer accepts the vehicle, so the change is declared before the car works, not after. How quickly a new certificate is issued is worth asking about when comparing.

Only if the policy provides a plated one. An ordinary garage or insurer courtesy car is not licensed to carry passengers, so it cannot work. Some insurers offer a licensed replacement vehicle as an option; others will try to source one after a non-fault accident. For a fleet that cannot afford a car off the road, it is the option to ask about.

Sometimes. Public liability is non-motor cover for passengers outside the vehicle, being escorted or at the base, and for premises open to the public. Some taxi policies include it and some do not, and some operator licence conditions require it for a public-facing base. Where it is not included it is arranged separately, and our public liability page explains it.

Each driver taking app bookings must hold private hire or hire and reward cover and the app asks to see it; on a leased or fleet car that means the fleet certificate and the schedule. Some apps provide injury cover for drivers on a trip, which is not motor insurance and does not replace the fleet policy. A fleet whose drivers take app bookings is rated on that work.

Often. Some insurers offer better terms where cameras are fitted, because footage settles the disputed fare, the late-night knock and the false claim, and telematics lets an operator see and improve how the cars are driven. Neither is universal, and what an insurer offers for them is a question for the broker.

On the operation: the cars, the drivers and their terms, the licensing district, the hours and how the fleet is managed. Once the fleet has been insured for a while, insurers rate it on its confirmed claims experience over recent years instead. How that works is on our CCE guide. We do not print average premiums, because no figure would be true for a particular fleet.

Usually, with each vehicle declared for what it does: plated cars on passenger use, a van on own goods, and so on. The passenger-carrying cars are rated as taxis and the rest as the vehicles they are. What a fleet policy does for mixed vehicles in general is on our fleet insurance page.

The vehicle list with class, plating council and whether each is owned, leased or a driver’s own; the drivers, their basis, ages, licence-held and badge-held periods and how you vet them; the work and the hours; where the cars are kept overnight; your claims record; and the operator licence conditions for the base. The business type starts the form; the licensing detail is what the broker places to.

Because no figure would be true for you. A taxi fleet is priced on its cars, its drivers and their terms, the district and hours it works, how it is managed and its claims record, in combinations no average captures. If we publish data of our own one day, it will carry a sample size and a date.