Between them, the two companies are providing consultancy for fleet clients to help to identify a proper fleet insurance strategy which takes into account a variety of factors, including risk profiles and corporate culture.

As a result, they believe they are able to make savings of between €150-300 per vehicle per year by optimising the total cost of insurance (TCI).

To achieve this, the consultancy takes into account a variety of issues which impact on the total cost of insurance, including optimal insurance structures, optimal pricing, improved risk profiles, enhanced reporting and monitoring supplier performance.

The TCI consists of the insurance premium, insurance premium taxes, deductibles such as the premium excess, broker fees, claim handler fees and stop loss funds for both own risk and third party claims.

But, unlike many other vehicle related costs, there can be a large spread between best-in-class and the worst performers in terms of the TCI – often as much as 300% between the two benchmarks.

The partnership found that the worst-in-class insurance cost could be as high as €1,606 per vehicle per annum, while the best-in-class cost was €557.

This was based on the actual costs from a sample of 900,000 vehicles taken from fleets operating more than 50, predominantly passenger vehicles and drawn from FleetInsurancePlus’s benchmark database of around 2.5 million vehicles.

These were primarily from six different countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands – while the total cost of insurance included both own damage and third party liability.

Approximately 60% of the total cost of insurance can be attributed to accidents, but many companies overlook the part the driver plays in causing these costs to escalate, or fail to make him or her responsible for their part in accidents or in general safe driving.

However, the new FleetVision-FleetInsurancePlus partnership, which has been in place since the turn of the year, has seen several success stories where, through pro-active driver training, the total cost of claims has been significantly reduced.

Apart from the additional positive impact on areas such as employee health and safety and corporate image, these initiatives were also found to reduce motor insurance costs. And there were further beneficial effects on other driving behaviour-related costs, such as fuel consumption, traffic fines and employee downtime.

Bart Vanham, director of FleetVision/TCOPlus, said: “A company, through its drivers, can have a considerable degree of influence on the accident rate and, as a result, the total cost of insurance.

“Today, the menu of available services and products to influence driving behavior is extensive: it can be measured using telematics, smartphone applications, fuel and damage statistics. 

“It can be improved by communication and incentive programs, e-learning and behind-the-wheel training. For each and every budget and corporate culture, the optimal mix can be put together to achieve the optimal result.”