At ERS, our Commercial Motors team has always taken a keen interest in supporting industries that – while vitally important to the UK economy – often fly under the radar when it comes to everyday conversation.
So today, we’d like to take a moment to talk about the thousands of hard-working drivers that make up the UK’s haulage industry. Taking to their trucks every day to transport a vast array of cargo across the country, these skilled drivers rack up impressive mileage behind the wheel of heavy-duty and often extremely expensive vehicles and are relied upon by thousands of businesses 365 days a year.
In this way, the haulage industry quietly underpins large sections of UK plc. But while it’s tempting to think of huge fleets of articulated lorries proudly parading in convoys around Britain’s motorway system, the reality is that most firms’ haulage needs are altogether more modest. Many growing organisations – such as those working in machinery or equipment manufacturing – will possess just a handful of haulage vehicles that they rely upon to deliver palleted goods to their customers. Some younger companies may only require a single lorry.
Unfortunately for these firms, while haulage is vital to their core business, because it is not their core business, they often struggle to find affordable insurance from mainstream providers to cover their vehicles and drivers. They’re seen as a more uncertain prospect and thus de-prioritised or ignored altogether.
While insuring heavy-duty lorries is of course a complex business – particularly given the number of additional checks that may have to be carried out – at ERS we know that the key is to avoid over-simplistic categorisation and assess the true nature of each risk, whether that’s for individual haulage vehicles or multi-vehicle policies.
That’s why our Transportation product is underpinned by human underwriting expertise, and not just automated systems, making us better-placed to provide brokers with policies to cover a more diverse range of customer needs, whether that’s businesses looking to scale their haulage operations, or fast-growth start-ups setting out on the road for the first time.
Alongside this expertise, we’ve also made a huge internal investment in our speed of service and getting the right rates out to brokers as quickly as possible. Since the beginning of 2019, we’ve offered experienced haulage brokers instant access to our Transportation product details and pricing via our eTrade portal for haulage vehicles of up to 44 tonnes. And of course, because we’re experts in underwriting highly bespoke commercial vehicle risks, we’ll also take referrals for vehicles outside of these criteria, or for those transporting hazardous goods.
We’re even able to make mid-term adjustments to policies in order to cater for the unexpected, such as a courtesy vehicle urgently requiring short-term cover in the event that a firm’s regular haulage lorry requires repair.
These may be uncertain times for the UK plc, but one thing’s for sure, and that’s that haulage will still be relied upon to get all manner of cargo from A to B. That’s why we’re actively looking to expand our haulage broker base, to take on more risks and to support these unsung heroes of our economy.
