Your fleet grew one vehicle at a time. Make sure your cover grew with it.

Motor fleet insurance does not include CTP, the compulsory cover for injury to other people that is bundled into vehicle registration in most states. Truck Insurance explains how CTP works in more depth.

On some of the wordings we place, the choice that shapes the whole policy is who is allowed to drive. Named-driver cover lists each authorised driver individually, which insurers generally price more favourably because they know who is behind the wheel. Any-driver cover lets anyone meeting your policy's licence and age criteria drive any fleet vehicle. It costs more, but it removes the constant admin of updating driver lists as staff change, take leave, or share vehicles across shifts. Plenty of fleets run a mix: named-driver on a stable pool vehicle, any-driver on the vans that get shared around.

Either way, whoever is driving at the time of a claim carries their own age and experience loading. On the wordings we place, that commonly starts around $500 to $850 extra for a young or newly licensed driver in an ordinary car or ute, on top of the standard excess. The loading is $2,000 for a driver under 23 on one of the fleet wordings we place, and it can run into the thousands on a more expensive or heavier vehicle. Some of those wordings waive the loading for things like windscreen damage, theft, hail or storm damage, or damage while the vehicle was parked. Others apply it to every accepted claim whatever the cause, so check which basis your own policy runs on.

Vehicles come and go, and a properly structured fleet policy handles the changes through mid-term endorsement. On the wordings we place, a newly bought, leased, or hired vehicle of a similar type to what you already run is automatically covered from the day you take it. Those wordings allow between 45 and 60 days written notice depending on the policy, and we ask for it within 30 so the schedule and premium are updated for the rest of the policy year. We would rather you tell us the day it happens than leave room for a timing argument with an insurer.

Commercial motor cover often reaches past the vehicles you own. On the commercial motor wordings we place through the Steadfast platform, if a staff member uses their own car for work and has an accident, the policy typically covers the business's liability for that too. That staff-car liability cover runs to the general liability limit shown on your schedule rather than a small separate figure, so if you are on a fleet policy, check your own wording rather than assuming a set dollar amount.

Insurers do not price each vehicle in your fleet in isolation. They look at your fleet's claims history, commonly the last three to five years, and price the whole fleet off that pattern. Frequency counts more than any single dollar figure, and at-fault claims more than not-at-fault ones. So one driver with a run of at-fault claims can push up the renewal cost for a fleet that otherwise runs cleanly. Most owners never see it coming, because nobody explained the fleet is rated as a group, not as individuals.

If that is already happening to your renewal, why fleet insurance goes up and what you can do about it walks through what to do before you sign.

If a van or truck is stolen, the work booked for it does not stop. On both fleet wordings we compared, a hire vehicle is paid after theft only, not after an accident, and neither pays for the work lost while a vehicle is off the road. On one of them, hire does not start until 7 days after you notify the theft. We check which wording your fleet is on, so you can plan for that first week before a claim tests it.

Pricing options can change past 15 insured items. One of the two wordings lets a fleet with more than 15 insured items, in some circumstances, buy options priced on its own claims record, a burning cost premium adjustment or a claims experience discount, as well as an aggregate excess or stop loss. The other wording offers an aggregate excess only. We check whether those options are open to your fleet and whether they suit it.

We treat the fleet policy as something that needs managing between renewals, not just at them. Every year, not every three, we take the policy back to the market and put the holding insurer on notice: match a fair result or we move the business. When a renewal comes in higher, we review the claims history with the insurer and argue the context a raw loading skips. Was a claim not-at-fault? Was it a one-off against an otherwise clean record? Is the driver involved still with the business?

We also structure the placement itself around how claims behave. Light vehicles (utes, vans, and cars) and heavy motor go on separate policies rather than one blended schedule, because their claims experience differs enough that treating them as one risk works against a fleet owner over time. That is a deliberate choice we have refined over 15 years of placing fleet and commercial motor business. The fine print matters as well: some direct-to-business motor products apply an extra underinsurance penalty on vehicles over two tonnes if the vehicle is slightly underinsured, on top of the shortfall itself. One of the fleet wordings we currently place carries no such penalty on any vehicle: you are paid the lesser of the sum insured or the vehicle's value. The other applies one to every vehicle, reducing a repair claim when the sum insured is below 80% of the vehicle's market value, but a write-off is still paid at the lesser of the two.

Motor fleet insurance is built for a business running a fleet of vehicles as part of how it operates, not as its core freight business. That means a trades business with a van for every employee, a delivery or courier operation, or a professional services firm with pool cars or reps on the road. The same cover fits a business that started with one work vehicle and has grown into a fleet without anyone restructuring the insurance to match.

For a claims-free client, keeping vehicles on commercial motor policies rather than folding everything into a fleet structure is sometimes the cheaper, better option, not a lesser one, even as the vehicle count grows. We set clients up that way regularly.

If your vehicles are rigid trucks or prime movers carrying freight as the core of the business, with carriers cargo insurance and downtime to manage, the Transport Operators Insurance page covers how motor, cargo, and income cover come together as one package. One or two trucks without freight contracts behind them still sit naturally with Truck Insurance.

Treating the policy as set and forget. The gap between your schedule and the fleet you run is where claims get complicated.

Assuming any-driver cover means literally anyone can drive. Any-driver cover removes the need to name each driver individually, but it does not remove the requirement that whoever is driving holds a valid, appropriate licence. Any-driver cover was never designed for a driver who is unlicensed or under-qualified for the vehicle.

Not checking a new driver's licence history, and not telling us about it. At claim time, the insurer can request the driver's licence history direct from the transport department, on the department's own letterhead. An undisclosed history found that way is how an otherwise routine claim gets cut back or declined. Check the licence history of every new driver before they get the keys, and disclose what you find to us, so the history is on the record before a claim tests it.

Not reporting a vehicle change straight away. Buying, selling, or repurposing a vehicle without getting it onto or off the schedule promptly is one of the easiest ways to end up either uninsured for a vehicle you thought was covered, or paying for one you no longer run.