But these policies are also increasingly acting as safeguards which demonstrate an organisation’s compliance with legislation, protocol governing employees’ safety while using the vans and ‘cost control’ measures.

Prevention is better than cure

Simon Cook, LCV commercial leader for GE Capital UK, said that an effective accident man-agement policy serves a vitally important preventative function.

“Prevention is always better than cure,” he says.

“When accident management policies are tail-ored to meet the needs of an organisation, then these policies result in minimum downtime for a fleet – in terms of the time spent on repairs.”

GE Capital’s approach is to discuss pre- and post-event  accident management with fleets.

Conversations on cost control and monitoring driver behaviour lead to discussions about preventative policies, such as speed limiters or reversing cameras.

“It’s at this point that we find out from them about issues like what their annual mileage is and whether they’re engaged in multiple drops, and ensure that they are fully briefed about duty of care,” Cook says.

Tailored policies to meet fleet needs

Organisations operating fleets of vans need to have a clear focus on what they want to achieve with their accident management policy.

Amanda Mullans, operations director at Total Accident Management, says: “When policies are tailored to meet an organisation’s needs then they ultimately provide a competitive advantage by getting them back on the road as quickly as possible in the most cost-effective manner.”

These policies need to make clear how an organisation intends to:

• Keep drivers on the road
• Organise replacement vehicles quickly
• Protect future insurance premiums
• Maximise vehicles’ residual values
• Ensure that insurers are quickly notified – frequently referred to as ‘first notification of loss’ (FNOL)
• Safeguard against expensive third-party personal injury claims – known as third-party capture
• Maximise uninsured loss recovery (ULR).

FNOL is a crucial part of the process.

Often, post crash, the following process takes place: names/addresses exchanged; crash reported to company; claim form filled in; tell broker (if applicable); send a copy to claims handler; file the claim form; tell the insurer. According to Doug Jenkins, of Axa Corporate Services, this order leaves a window of opportunity for credit hire companies to contact the third party.