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Self-Drive Hire Insurance
Trusted and reliable self-drive hire insurance for companies from Sentinel.
- Annual cover with risk management led solutions and buy-right experts.
- Claims service you can rely on.
- UK-based support.
One of the UK's leading independent insurance brokers
Why choose self-drive insurance with Towergate?
Annual self-drive hire cover
Day rate or rate per vehicle basis – trust the experts to advise on what is best for your business
Buy-right specialists
Our ‘buy-right’ experts and introductory premium savings will help get your business moving fast
Risk management led approach
Free hire desk webcams and app-based solutions to help your hire customers report claims without delay
Instant self-drive hire insurance
We can arrange cover the moment you need it, as well as access to a day and night claims team
About self-drive hire insurance
Bespoke self-drive hire cover
Our friendly and trained ‘buy-right’ experts will talk you through the options to arrange and renew self-drive hire insurance. We’ll work with you to find the best way to insure your hire vehicle fleet to fit with your business. This is not just from an immediate pricing perspective, but in the longer term too. It will help to give you the flexibility to focus on what is important to you – running your self-drive hire business (while your policy protects it).
Leading self-drive hire insurers
We have access to a carefully selected and growing panel of high-quality self-drive hire fleet insurers. This means that we can help you find an insurer that’s able to offer you the right cover at the right price. Because the service providers we work with trust our expertise, we are also able to provide instant self-drive hire insurance, from the very moment you need it.
Dedicated fleet risk manager
We’re here when you need us. Place your self-drive hire insurance through Towergate and we’ll immediately appoint a dedicated fleet risk manager. They’ll review claims experience, monitor incident types, and work with you to implement any mutually agreed risk improvement measures that may help you control the future cost of cover. Our team are also available day and night to get your wheels turning and your claims settled as fast as possible.
Self-drive hire cover payments
Self-drive hire insurance through Towergate means you can pay your premiums through a flexible finance plan (subject to acceptance). Thanks to what we believe to be a competitive rate and the payment term being fixed at the outset, your business cash flow can be more effectively managed by spreading the payments. By avoiding the initial outlay of what can sometimes be a significant lump sum premium, capital can be freed up for reinvestment elsewhere in the business.
The specialist motor insurance policies we offer are designed to provide you with help when you need it most:
- 24/7 direct-to-insurer motor claims helplines: call the claims number in your policy document.
- Access to our free Towergate ‘FirstCall’ motor claims notification app.
- All the support you need from our own in-house team of claims specialists on 0344 892 1434.
Ready to get covered?
- Fill in our online quote form or call us
- Purchase your policy
- Relax - You're covered!
Self-drive hire insurance FAQs
The team at Sentinel continue to offer their specialist expertise. If you need more information or have any concerns you can contact the Sentinel team by calling 01189 311 008 or sending an email to info@sentinel-solutions.co.uk.
The key issue that you need to think about before going down this path, is whether your balance sheet is strong enough to cope with the business paying what may typically be something between the first £10,000 and the first £100,000 of every incident. Ask an experienced self-drive hire insurance broker for their advice.
Thoroughly checking the customer’s driving licence is a vital first step. However, make sure you also validate the licence using the DVLA’s licence validation service, obtain further proof of identity in an insurance-approved format and always take a photograph of the hirer – and never accept cash.
Not always an easy issue to manage. A good start though is to make sure your hire terms include an appropriate clause making it clear that the hirer must not use a mobile phone (even if hands-free) whilst driving – and draw this clause to your customer’s attention. If you are unsure about your legal position, ask a lawyer specialising in transport-related matters for advice.
Have you thought about introducing a telematics-backed hirer incentive scheme that rewards the safest and most fuel-efficient hirer? Talk to us about how an incentive scheme might best be introduced. Your terms of hire may need to disclose the fact that driving style and behaviour will be monitored. We recommend you take advice on this point from an appropriate lawyer.
Most self-drive hire insurance policies are worded in such a way that the excess will be applied to the loss or damage relating to each vehicle involved in the same event. If you have, say, a £500 excess and twelve vehicles were damaged, the total excess is likely to be £6,000.
Exclusions include hire must meet the acceptable criteria and have a valid hire agreement. See your policy documents for full details.
If you prefer to spread the cost of your annual premium, we offer a quick and easy direct debit scheme. When you choose to pay premiums in instalments, you will be paying under a Premium Finance plan. We will give you full details of the finance provider, and the additional cost of finance, when we provide you with your payment plan quotation. This will include the total payable, the number of monthly instalments and the cost of each, as well as the representative APR.
If you would like to know more about our monthly payment option, please visit our dedicated Direct Debit page.
See our range of cover for commercial vehicles
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