20 January 2014

Accident Management: procrastination will prove costly for vehicle fleet operators

Acting quickly when an accident occurs can reduce the associated costs, and could help to reduce your company's insurance premium.

Here’s a typical scenario: a driver reverses into another vehicle, makes a note of the other vehicle’s registration number, but fails to get the third party’s phone number. A day later, he contacts the fleet department with the details.

The fleet manager has no way of contacting the third party, leaving them at the mercy of a credit hire company. All they can do is wait. Two months later, they are hit with a bill for £3,000. Had the driver contacted the fleet manager immediately and recorded all the necessary information, it could have been a different story.

But what the driver does at the scene of an accident isn’t the only part of the accident management process where acting quickly can minimise costs. Making sure the repairer assesses the damage and carries out the repair in an acceptable timeframe is key.

For van fleets relying on engineers out on the road each day, reducing a vehicle’s downtime even by a day could outweigh the cost of the repair. Some fleet managers choose to handle the accident management process themselves, but this can often lead to issues being overlooked, and places increased pressure on an already stretched Fleet Manager. Activa is able to provide a real solution to this problem. Our Accident Management service will ultimately help to reduce your insurance premium and give your business the peace of mind it needs to continue to function as smoothly as possible.

Activa can assist your business by providing an industry-leading Accident Management service, which is delivered in conjunction with our partner, The AA. Our Accident Management proposition offers the following services:

• 24-7 driver access to a crash scene recovery service
• “Get you home” arrangements for the driver
• Automatic group A courtesy car provision whilst repairs carried out
• Like-for-like courtesy car provision when 3rd party at fault
• Claim form and repair estimate administration
• Regular progress chasing to minimise down time
• AA guaranteed repair quality
• VAT & excess charges come via Activa – no repairer release problems
• Recovery of uninsured losses
• All vehicles in your fleet can be covered – not just Activa’s
• Comprehensive incident analysis reports provided, with management action suggestions
• Minimal need for client involvement in management or administration

For further information on Activa’s Accident Management provision and how we can assist you with minimising risk and potential cost of an accident, please call a member of our team on 0845 601 3497.