Every other day this year cheapvaninsurance.co.uk seems to be reporting on firms with large fleets of vehicles either installing and running the latest, technologically advanced management software or handing over the reigns of their fleet to a specialist to do it for them; today is no exception.
Osborne, one of the UK’s largest groups in the construction and property services sector, has awarded the contract for its fleet management software for 169 of its LCVs to GreenRoad in an attempt to curb spending on its fuel consumption and, through association, it fleet van insurance, too.
It is becoming more usual to find fleet management specialists getting into bed with one insurance provider or another, which is hardly a surprise as they share a similar goal. Saving customers money and reducing payouts is a win-win-win situation, and this new collaboration between GreenRoad and Osborne likewise sees a third ring join the circus, although it is unclear from the press release which party introduced the other to whom.
However, insurance broker Marsh seem to be the ones pulling the strings in this deal, which will take effect in the spring, at the expense of Osborne’s previous fleet management consultants, Riskmaster, although they did serve the purpose of highlighting to Osborne that much of their van fleet were running higher than average costs due to them operating at a higher risk level, meaning higher wear and tear, above-average fuel consumption and higher van insurance premiums.
Reading between the lines, Osborne’s van insurance broker, Marsh, picked up on these levels and, having a pre-existing relationship with GreenRoad, seeing the effect they had on reducing van insurance for other clients, have subsequently acted as the ambassador to Osborne.
As well as cheaper van insurance being a possibility for Osborne, derived from their existing high premiums, Marsh must have also been aware of GreenRoad’s commitment to CO2 emissions. As many of the 65,000 homes serviced by Osborne are in the London area, reducing emissions could play a vital role in keeping costs down further with the LEZ up and running as of the third of January, just gone.
Across all levels of the automotive sector we are seeing signs of collaboration, from the manufacturers sharing factories for certain components and now to insurance firms buddying with fleet management specialists right down to end-user level. Perhaps a common market is not so far in the distance, in the automotive sector at least, as one may imagine.
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