Insuring newly licensed drivers

chica123

Site Supporter
30
Are there any small companies out there that are able to insure newly licensed drivers? We have Old Republic and they won't insure anyone with less than 3 years commercial driving experience. Wondering if anyone knows who will. We have someone who drove in the past, left the industry for a lengthy period of time and now we don't know who will insure him. Thanks
 
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hunter

Member
2
I think that if you talk to your insurance and explain that the industry will have no drivers left if all insurance companies think the same. Our insurance allows us 5% of our workforce to be new drivers.
 

alx

Site Supporter
10
New wdriver

It is virtaully impossible for a small outfit with less than 10 trucks to insure a new driver.
The only time that we were succesfull was when we took on a new driver that had finished the state sponsored driving school in Quebec. The CFTR.
Once a driver has finsihed that course (650Hrs of training), the state deems the driver has aquired the equivalent experience. Our insurer (AVIVA) accepts that training. (Probably due to some pressure from the state). One of the few adavntages of living in a quasi socialist state.
The CFTR also places recently graduated drivers out on (Stage), sorry I do not know how to translate that term into English. During their training the driver is insured by a policy drawn on the state owned driving school.
Some of the drivers are actually pretty good!!
 

whatiship

Well-Known Member
20
Most will insure if you can make a case for the new driver. Send the graduation certificate showing grades and a letter of reference from the school if you can get one. In my experience the "new" drivers are much more careful and pose less of a risk than some of the old timers who sometimes feel like they know it all and have lots of bad habits. If you can convince your insurance broker to "push" they usually can convince the insurance company to make an exception for the right person.
 
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Kaitlyn

Member
5
We are with Markel and have a fleet of 11. We are finding it very tough to find drivers right now. We have many guys come in who have tickets, or violations and are charged at 5-10% premium. I just went through the same problem last Thursday. I am hiring a team, one driver has 18 months experience, and the other has 10+ years experience. However they will be rated as "one star drivers" (because of the lack of experience from the new driver). I am being told this could cost a few thousand extra per year. Markel is willing to hire these guys, but also warned that Markel does not encourage this. I don't think that is fair. If we are willing to pay the extra premium, we should be safe right? Here's what my broker told me... "They will look at the hiring practices of the company. And if there is a trend of hiring drivers with 1 or 2 years experience with convictions then will fear that the fleet will be at risk to have claims over the policy term. Therefore they would remove some discounts that are offered and the per vehicle price will rise."
I'm still confused. I would sometimes prefer to hire a guy with under 3 years experience with no claims or tickets, than a guy who's worked 10 years+ with plenty of convictions...
Thoughts???
 
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ralphthetrucker

Active Member
10
I'm still confused. I would sometimes prefer to hire a guy with under 3 years experience with no claims or tickets, than a guy who's worked 10 years+ with plenty of convictions...
Thoughts???

Obviously the insurance companies want to limit their potential exposure OR surcharge for above average risk. If I was the insurance broker or company I guess the question I might ask you is "why can't you attract, hire and keep drivers with 5 plus years of experience and no violations?"

Not trying to be smart but they are taking a lot of risk insuring our industry then add haz-mat into the mix. They're not anything I want in my investment portfolio.
 
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bubba-one

Site Supporter
15
Last year I got an invite from Zurich's regional manager to attend a seminar held by the TTA (Toronto Trucking Assoc.) on the driver apprenticeship program in Ontario. They asked for questions at the end of the presentation. Mine was how could we have an apprenticeship program in Ontario when the MTO or Ontario Colleges don't endorse the program?
To me the program is a joke, it's just a way for large carriers to get a tax break for hiring and training their new drivers. And the training is only as good as the company's program, which nobody is monitoring. With that said at this meeting, my Zurich rep now understood how flawed things are, but agreed they needed to make room for new drivers to enter the industry. Since then I have added 1 new driver - 24yrs old - without any hassle. And I feel confident that I wouldn't have any problem hiring more. The catch is that I would be putting my company's integrity and safety rating on the line.
 
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Kaitlyn

Member
5
It's basically the same as young kids driving a car, they're young, with no experience. Insurance companies will take them on no problem, provided they pay a premium. I understand paying the premium, that's fair. I just don't see how they can take discounts away and punish our fleet if there are no convictions. I will obviously keep an extra eye on the "new guy" but how can these guys make a living in an industry that do not welcome them with open arms?

Thanks for the input guys!
 

ScottN

New Member
2
The low down on new drivers, and insurance companies.

Hi all first post... I'm a broker and will gladly answer this as there is a lot of confusion in the market.

Un-Restricted Fleet Policy,
(UN-RESTRICTED is important check with your broker...)
you can hire who ever you want, but when it comes time for renewal if your insurance company sends out a fleet services guy (which Markel and Old Republic always do) and your trending towards inexperienced drivers it just looks bad. If your claims are good you'll probably not have a problem but they will be far less "lenient" if you have claims with inexperienced drivers.

For non-fleet policies it's really tough, it's possible but you'll be paying the premium... if you're doing any kind of US miles a "one star" driver will easily be over 22 grand a year. :eek:

Markel will let you hire one year experience and give them a "one star" rating, or, they may give them a "3 star" if they have enough school exp. Any school from TTSAO (Truck Training Schools of Ontario Inc. will get the "3 star" but sometimes if the school has a very good curriculum they will earn it as well.

AXA is 3 years only but have SOME leniency for schooling.
Old Republic is 3 years practical no exceptions.

I know it's tough out there, but really no way to get around putting good experienced guys in your trucks, if you want to be in business for a long time that is... :)
 
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