Named Driver vs Any Driver Fleet Insurance: Full Comparison Guide

Choosing between named driver and any driver cover is one of the first decisions every fleet operator makes, and it is also one of the most misunderstood. Most businesses default to any driver because it sounds simpler, without fully pricing up what that flexibility actually costs. For some operations, that choice is exactly right. For others, it adds 15–25% to an already significant premium for flexibility they rarely use.

The distinction goes deeper than a tickbox on a proposal form. Named and any driver structures carry different underwriting logic, different obligations for the fleet operator, different interactions with telematics, and different renewal dynamics. Getting this decision right at inception can save thousands of pounds over a three-year policy cycle.

This guide covers the full comparison: how each structure works, the premium differentials by fleet size and driver profile, the underwriting mechanics behind each approach, when each is the right fit, and the practical steps for transitioning between them. If you are reviewing your fleet insurance structure ahead of renewal, start here.

How named driver and any driver fleet policies actually work

Under a named driver policy, the insurer holds a schedule listing every individual permitted to drive each vehicle in the fleet. When a new driver joins, or an existing driver changes vehicle, the fleet manager must notify the insurer, who updates the schedule and amends the Motor Insurance Database (MID) accordingly. The insurer can assess the risk profile of every person on the schedule, because driving history, age, convictions, and claims experience are all known at the point of underwriting. That transparency reduces perceived risk and, in turn, reduces the premium.

Under an any driver policy, the insurer instead rates the fleet against a set of declared criteria, typically a minimum driver age (most commonly 25, sometimes 21 or 30), a maximum number of penalty points, and an absence of specified convictions. Any licensed employee meeting those criteria may drive any vehicle on the policy without prior notification. The insurer is pricing an unknown pool rather than a list of identifiable individuals, so the risk premium reflects that uncertainty. The trade-off is administrative simplicity: no driver additions, no MID update obligations per individual, and no disruption when staffing changes.

A common misunderstanding on any driver policies: the business is still required to carry out due diligence on its drivers. The insurer may not need the names, but HSE guidance on driving at work and the Road Traffic Act 1988 both place a duty of care on the employer to verify that drivers hold a valid licence for the class of vehicle they are operating. If an employee drives on an any driver policy with a suspended licence and causes an accident, the insurer may seek to recover costs from the business. Licence checking is the fleet operator’s obligation regardless of which policy structure is in place.

How underwriters price the two structures differently

When an underwriter receives a named driver fleet submission, they work through the driver schedule and price each individual against actuarial tables. A fleet of eight named drivers, all aged 30–50 with clean licences and no at-fault claims in five years, will attract a meaningfully lower rate than a faceless pool of potential drivers described only as “any driver over 25.” Certainty has commercial value in fleet underwriting, and named driver policies provide it.

For any driver policies, underwriters apply a loading to reflect the adverse selection risk embedded in open pools. They know from experience that businesses that struggle to maintain named driver schedules, often those with high staff turnover, tend to have younger or less experienced drivers cycling through the fleet. They price for that pattern even when it does not apply to a specific account. This is part of why a well-managed business operating on any driver cover can sometimes unlock significant savings by converting to named driver, particularly if the actual driver pool has matured since the policy was first placed.

The following indicative premium differential table illustrates how the two structures compare across fleet sizes and driver profiles. These are market ranges for 2025, not guarantees; your actual premium will depend on your specific fleet composition, claims record, and the insurer’s own risk appetite.

Figures are indicative ranges for comprehensive cover in 2025 based on market data. All figures are per vehicle per year. Actual premiums vary significantly by postcode, vehicle type, annual mileage, and insurer. Always obtain multiple quotes via a specialist broker.

Driver age thresholds: the most significant lever on any driver premiums

On any driver policies, the declared minimum driver age is the single most impactful underwriting variable within the fleet operator’s control. Drivers under 25 are statistically involved in more than twice the rate of at-fault accidents as drivers aged 30–40, and insurers price this risk directly into the any driver loading. Raising the minimum age from 21 to 25 typically reduces the any driver premium by 12–18%. Raising it further to 30 can deliver a further 5–8% reduction, though this begins to limit operational flexibility for businesses that regularly employ younger staff.

For operations that need to cover drivers under 25 but cannot afford the full any driver loading for that age band, a named driver approach for those specific individuals on a separate schedule is worth exploring. The younger driver is rated individually rather than creating an age loading across the entire any driver pool. A builder running five vans where four drivers are over 30 and one is 22 might save 18–22% by placing the 22-year-old on a separate named driver sub-schedule rather than dropping the any driver minimum to 21 for all vehicles.

No Claims Discount, learner drivers, and temporary cover: how each structure handles them

Three specific driver scenarios cause more confusion than any other when businesses choose between named and any driver cover: No Claims Discount (NCD) accumulation, learner drivers on fleet vehicles, and temporary or short-term drivers. Each interacts differently with the two structures.

No Claims Discount. Fleet policies accumulate NCD against the fleet account rather than against individual drivers. On a named driver policy, a claim attributable to a specific driver affects that individual’s personal NCD record if they subsequently move to a personal vehicle policy, as well as the fleet’s own NCD. On an any driver policy, claims affect only the fleet account NCD, because the individual driver is not identified. This means any driver cover can, paradoxically, protect individual drivers’ personal NCD records, since fault cannot be attributed to a named person. However, it also means the business loses the ability to ring-fence a bad driver’s impact — a single at-fault incident inflates the fleet-wide NCD regardless of which individual was responsible.

Learner drivers. Neither named driver nor any driver policies automatically cover provisional licence holders. If your fleet vehicles are used for any purpose involving learner drivers, this must be explicitly declared and endorsed onto the policy. Most fleet insurers will add learner cover as a named driver endorsement, sometimes with an additional premium of £100–£300 per learner per year, but will not extend any driver terms to provisional licence holders regardless of the declared age minimum. FCA-regulated policies are assessed against Road Traffic Act 1988 requirements, which set distinct obligations for supervising drivers and provisional entitlement, and fleet insurers apply those requirements at an individual endorsement level.

Temporary drivers. On named driver cover, a temporary employee needs to be added to the driver schedule before driving, even for a single day. The insurer must be notified, and the MID updated within seven days. On any driver cover, a temporary driver who meets the declared criteria, typically age 25 or over, with a clean licence and no specified convictions, can drive immediately without insurer notification. For businesses that regularly use agency workers or seasonal staff, this is the most operationally significant advantage of any driver cover, and it often justifies the premium differential on its own. If you use temporary staff for fewer than four weeks per year in total, however, a named driver policy with a temporary driver endorsement arranged in advance is almost always the cheaper solution.

When named driver fleet cover is the right choice

Named driver is typically the right structure when the fleet has a stable, identifiable workforce and vehicles are consistently allocated on a one-driver-one-vehicle basis. A three-van plumbing business where the owner and two employed plumbers each drive their own Transit is a straightforward named driver case. A regional sales team of eight reps where each rep drives an allocated company car and the roster changes no more than once or twice a year is another. In both cases, the insurer has everything it needs to assess risk accurately, and the premium reflects that.

Named driver also becomes compelling when the business has strong driver risk controls in place. If you carry out DVLA licence checks at recruitment and every six months thereafter, run a documented driver induction, and operate telematics on every vehicle, that risk management discipline is credible evidence for an underwriter. They can associate good data with specific named individuals. On an any driver policy, that same evidence is harder to present cleanly because the insurer cannot link behaviour to individuals they have not been given details for. Strong risk management has more commercial value on named driver cover.

A practical decision guide: which structure suits your operation?

Work through the following questions in order. Your first “Yes” answer indicates which structure is likely most appropriate, though a specialist broker should always validate the final decision against live market rates.

When any driver cover genuinely earns its premium

Logistics operators, courier networks, care sector providers running multiple shifts, and businesses with genuinely variable staffing all get real operational value from any driver fleet insurance. A same-day courier company running fifteen vans across two shifts cannot realistically maintain a current named driver schedule — the admin cost alone would erode the premium saving. Disruption risk is also relevant: a named driver policy becomes a compliance liability the moment a scheduled driver is absent and an unscheduled colleague is asked to cover their run.

Care providers are another strong any driver use case. A domiciliary care business operating eight vehicles across two counties, where care workers regularly swap vehicles based on client routing, cannot sensibly predict which member of staff will drive which van on any given day. Any driver cover removes that uncertainty from the equation entirely. The premium uplift, often £800–£1,400 per year over named driver equivalent, is a genuine operational overhead, but the alternative is either under-insurance or constant insurer notification — neither of which is workable.

How telematics interacts differently with each structure

Telematics is now a standard tool for fleet operators seeking better premiums, but its value differs significantly depending on whether the fleet is on named or any driver cover. On named driver policies, telematics data can be attributed directly to identifiable individuals. An underwriter can review the driving data of each named driver, and a fleet with demonstrably low harsh-braking and speeding scores across all named drivers is a credible low-risk account. Savings of 8–15% are commonly achievable at renewal for named driver fleets with a full year of clean telematics data per driver.

On any driver policies, telematics still reduces premiums, typically by 5–12%, but the mechanism differs. The insurer cannot attribute good data to specific individuals, so they assess the aggregate fleet-level score. A good aggregate score is useful evidence that the general standard of driving is high, but it carries less weight than per-driver data because it cannot rule out the possibility that a small number of high-risk drivers are masking poor individual behaviour within a generally clean fleet average. The additional investment in driver-specific monitoring is therefore more commercially rewarding on named driver cover.

Named driver vs any driver: scenario comparison

Transitioning between named and any driver cover

Switching from any driver to named driver mid-term is straightforward in principle: you provide the insurer with a full driver schedule, each driver’s licence details and three-to-five-year history, and the insurer endorses the policy. A premium refund, calculated pro-rata, is typically returned for the remaining policy period. The same process applies to switching fleet insurance at renewal: the previous insurer’s any driver terms are replaced with a named driver submission to the new market.

Moving from named driver to any driver is less common but straightforward: the named schedule is removed and replaced with declared driver criteria. Mid-term moves in this direction typically attract an additional premium rather than a refund, reflecting the insurer’s increased exposure. If the trigger for the change is a period of rapid hiring, it is worth exploring whether a temporary driver endorsement on the named policy is a more cost-effective solution than a full structural change.

Driver licence checks: your obligation on both policy types

Regardless of whether you operate a named or any driver policy, UK law places the duty of checking driving entitlement squarely on the employer. The DVLA’s online licence checking service allows employers to obtain a check code from drivers and verify their licence status, entitlement categories, and endorsements. For named driver policies, this check is required before adding a driver to the schedule. For any driver policies, the same check is required before a new employee first drives for the business, even though the insurer does not need notification.

Industry best practice is to check driver licences at least every six months, increasing to quarterly for drivers with existing penalty points. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, an employer who permits an unlicensed or disqualified driver to operate a company vehicle faces potential corporate liability for any resulting accident. The grey fleet obligation extends this duty to employees driving their own vehicles on company business. Document every check and retain the records for at least five years.

Frequently asked questions