That’s the warning from commercial vehicle insurance broker Gauntlet, which says that it has uncovered several instances of underinsurance when quoting for business.
In these cases, it says, any claim would have been declined because the policy failed to match the policyholder’s current business operation.
Incumbent insurance brokers, says Gauntlet, had simply renewed the policy based on the original information supplied by the client a few years earlier – or, worse still, the broker knew of changes but ignored them in order to price the policy competitively and keep the business.
Ian McCarron (pictured), Gauntlet’s director and head of motor fleet division, says: “We are discovering an increasing number of instances of underinsurance in cases where other brokers have not examined the fleet business in-depth and have quoted on historic information, rather than current scenarios.”
Clients may balk at the increased cost, he adds, but they realise that a policy based on incorrect information is of no use at all: “Being underinsured is commercial suicide, particularly in a sector that is high-risk anyway and where a claim is only one driver mistake, theft, or arson attack away.
“Fleet managers need to ensure their insurance premiums are based on current situations. If not, they could suffer a rather rude awakening when they come to make a claim.”