When it comes to arranging adequate taxi fleet insurance, owners of firms, or owner drivers, should bear in mind that it’s not just the car and buildings that need cover, but passengers.
All too often, when people arrange taxi fleet insurance cover, they are fixated on car, buildings and business cover, whereas an important part of the cover element should be people.
And that’s not just the people that drive the cars, but also the passengers. Fares not only generate the revenues, but they also represent some of the highest risk, because, if they were to be injured in an accident which was the fault of the taxi driver, then they could sue for damages.
So, taxi fleet insurance cover has to include a lot of private and public liability provisions, so that owners and owner drivers can feel protected against a possible action.
These days, its seemingly sue first, then ask questions later, and according to some media reports, people are being actively encouraged to sue if there is even the slightest mishap.
And it’s not just ambulance chasing lawyers which do the encouraging; there are many firms out there that believe they can make a living from getting people into court and bringing an action. Even ambulance drivers themselves, as well as hospital porters, break-down truck drivers and, if rumours are to be believed, the police, nowadays tip off firms that accidents have taken place and an injured person is ripe for starting a prosecution.
The difficultly also, is that the person might not be physically injured, but can claim to be mentally injured, need time of work say, and be seeking compensation on those terms.
And not even after an accident. The nation is becoming so litigious, that grounds are being sought on any number of issues. Let’s say a taxi driver stops quickly and the passenger (maybe not wearing the mandatory seatbelt) hits their head on the front seat and maybe dislodges a filling, or damages their neck. So, remember, they could claim that they were wearing a seatbelt and that the driver was driving extremely irresponsibly was the car stopped suddenly. It would be the word of the driver against the passenger and all a judge would hear, is how the passenger was actually injured during the incident. And a doctor’s report would confirm that.
Passengers are by their very nature fickle items and the topics on which they could bring a claim are pretty numerous.
So, it’s also best to remember, that when taking out taxi fleet insurance cover, always give proper thought to the amount of liability you’ll need to fend off any claim from a passenger, or any other person that could be said to be affected by a crash.
For more information visit www.titan-insurance.com
