Idelic’s Hayden Cardiff sat down with Chris Vogel of Cottingham & Butler during the Transport Topics Webinar “Unlocking a Fair Rate: Reduce Insurance with Effective Driver Management” to discuss how fleets can obtain a favorable insurance rate by improving their driver management.
During the webinar, which you can watch a full recording of here, they highlighted three things every fleet should understand about obtaining affordable insurance:
#1: There are Two Major Differences Between Average Fleets and the Best Fleets
The best fleets right now are investing in technology and using it to proactively manage their fleet. Not only are they purchasing the ELDs, cameras, and training software to collect data on their drivers, but they’re also analyzing that data and getting ahead of worrying trends.
Average fleets today are often investing in some technology, but they don’t use it proactively. They’re more interested in monitoring their drivers and meeting the bare minimum of compliance.
The best fleets use technology to understand where their risk is coming from and then take steps to reduce their risk before a crash occurs. While monitoring your driver data is important, it’s crucial that fleets make changes to their safety program based on what their data is telling them.
#2: Insurers Care About Your Turnover—But Not in the Way You Think
According to Chris Vogel, there’s no direct correlation between a fleet’s insurance rate and its driver turnover. However, insurers often look at turnover as an indicator of a fleet’s broader culture.
If a driver has been with a fleet for 10 years, that means they feel their fleet respects them and cares about their safety. There’s no stronger endorsement of a fleet’s safety record than their drivers on the ground, as they are most directly impacted by crashes. If drivers tend to stick with a fleet for the long haul, that’s a good sign that the fleet prioritizes safety.
#3: Data Transparency is Incredibly Important
Underwriters don’t like surprises, especially negative ones. They want to know as much about a fleet as possible so they can make an intelligent decision, and being forthright with your data can help you frame their evaluation of your fleet. You have the opportunity to say, “Here’s where we’re strong, and here are our shortcomings. Here’s what we’re doing to address our shortcomings.”
At the same time, there’s more publicly available data about your fleet than most people realize. In many cases, insurers are going to find your data whether you present it to them or not, so it’s better to show you’re an honest partner and to give context for your data.
The Best Way to Understand and Take Action With Your Data
The Idelic Safety Suite® is trucking’s premier driver management platform, which uses proprietary AI technology to organize and analyze your data and identify risk hidden in the firehose of data hitting your fleet every day. Safety Suite makes it easy to understand the issues your fleet faces, develop an action plan to address them, and quickly and easily access the key metrics insurers are looking for.
Safety Suite also helps foster a strong safety culture by bringing safety managers, dispatchers, and drivers closer together. With Safety Suite, you can set up automated touchpoints so you’re always checking in with your drivers, responding to their feedback, and fostering a sense of belonging.