Fleet insurance renewal checklist

A fleet insurance renewal goes smoothly when you start early and hand the broker accurate information in one go. In practice that means beginning around six to eight weeks before the renewal date.

Update your vehicle schedule and driver list, obtain claims experience from your current insurer or broker, and review how your use of the vehicles has changed. Then compare the options like for like, and keep the old policy running until the new one is confirmed.

The checklist below follows that order. Print it and work through it with whoever manages your vehicles.

If you are new to fleet policies, read what fleet insurance is and how it works first.

1. When Should You Start Preparing For Renewal?

Start around six to eight weeks before the renewal date. That is practical advice rather than a rule, and it leaves time to request claims experience, update your records and let a broker approach insurers.

Your renewal invitation may arrive only a few weeks before the policy ends. If you wait for it, you are left with little time to gather information, let alone let a broker approach other insurers.

Working back from the renewal date

When	What to do
8 weeks before	Request claims experience, start updating the fleet schedule and driver list
6 weeks before	Finish your review of use, security and cover; brief a broker
3 to 4 weeks before	Receive and compare options; ask questions about wording
1 to 2 weeks before	Decide, accept terms, arrange payment and confirm the start date
Renewal day	Check the new policy documents and Motor Insurance Database records

Fleets that take longer to place

Larger fleets, fleets with a poor claims record, or fleets with specialist vehicles such as HGVs or tippers can take longer to place. Start earlier if any of those apply.

Diary dates and ownership

• Note the exact renewal date and time the current policy ends
• Put reminders in the diary at eight, six and two weeks out
• Decide who in the business owns the renewal and who signs off the decision

2. What Should Be On Your Fleet Schedule?

The fleet schedule is the list of vehicles on the policy, and insurers price and underwrite from it. Each vehicle needs its registration, make and body type, weight, value, ownership, modifications, mileage and overnight location.

Over a year the schedule drifts: vans are replaced, a car is sold, a vehicle is added mid-term and the paperwork never quite catches up. Errors on that list cost money or leave vehicles uninsured.

Details to confirm for each vehicle

• Registration number
• Make, model and body type (panel van, tipper, dropside, crew cab)
• Gross vehicle weight, particularly for anything around or above 3.5 tonnes
• Current value, and whether it is owned, on finance, leased or on contract hire
• Any modifications, racking, tail lifts, cranes or signwriting
• Approximate annual mileage
• Where it is normally kept overnight

Checking the list against reality

Walk the yard or pull the list from your finance or lease records, and remove anything you no longer have. Compare your list with the vehicles your current insurer holds, as a mismatch is a common source of problems at renewal.

If you do not have a tidy list yet, start from our fleet schedule template.

Lease and contract hire conditions

Tip: If vehicles are on lease or contract hire, check the agreement for any insurance requirements, such as a named interest on the policy or a maximum excess.

3. How Should You Refresh The Driver List And Licence Checks?

Rebuild the list of drivers with their licence details, endorsements and recent claims, then confirm that every licence on it has been checked recently. Remove leavers and add new starters, apprentices and any agency or subcontract drivers.

Insurers want to know who drives, whether your policy is on a named-driver or any-driver basis. Even on any-driver cover, a list of regular drivers with their details helps the broker present the risk.

Details to hold for each driver

• Full name and date of birth
• Licence type and the date they passed their test
• Any endorsements, penalty points or disqualifications, with dates and offence codes
• Any motor claims or convictions in recent years
• Which vehicles they drive, including any HGVs or towing

DVLA check codes

Licence checks are the part most businesses let slip. Drivers can share their licence record with you using the GOV.UK service View or share your driving licence information, which generates a check code.

The code is valid for 21 days and can be used only once, so ask for it close to the date you intend to check. Businesses with many drivers may use a licence-checking service instead, with each driver’s consent.

Our guide to driving licence checks covers both routes.

Confirming the list is current

• Every driver on the list has had a licence check recently
• Drivers who have left are removed
• New starters, apprentices and any agency or subcontract drivers are included
• Your written rule on how often licences are checked is being followed

4. How Do You Get Your Claims Experience?

Ask your current insurer or broker, in writing, for the claims made on the fleet over recent years. Request it at the eight-week point, because it can take time to arrive.

Claims experience is the record of claims made on your fleet. Insurers use it more than almost anything else to price a fleet, so a new insurer will expect to see it.

How many years to ask for

Many insurers ask for several years, often three to five. Our guide to the claims experience letter explains what it should contain.

Checking what arrives

When you receive it, check:

• Every claim is listed, with date, cause and amount paid
• Open claims show a reserve, and you know whether each is likely to settle higher or lower
• Fault and non-fault claims are correctly labelled
• Claims that have since closed or been recovered from a third party are updated

Correcting a claim recorded wrongly

If a claim is wrongly recorded, raise it with the insurer before renewal. A reserve left too high on a claim that settled cheaply makes your record look worse than it is.

Be ready to explain your largest claims and what you changed afterwards, such as a new reversing camera policy after a run of low-speed bumps.

5. Which Changes In Use, Goods, Territory And Security Must You Disclose?

Tell the broker about changes to class of use, goods carried, territory, drivers, vehicle types, overnight security and business activity. Insurers need to know even when nothing has gone wrong, and some of these changes affect whether a claim is paid.

A lot can change in a year without anyone thinking of it as an insurance matter.

Questions to work through

• Class of use. Are vehicles still used only for your own business, or have any started carrying other people’s goods for payment (hire and reward)?
• Goods carried. Has the value or type of load changed? Are you carrying tools, stock, hazardous materials or high-value goods you did not carry before?
• Territory. Do vehicles now travel further, cover new regions or go to Ireland or mainland Europe?
• Drivers. Have you started using agency drivers, subcontractors or younger drivers?
• Vehicle types. Have you added HGVs, minibuses, pickups or plant that goes on public roads?
• Security. Has overnight parking changed, for example a move to a new yard, or more vans going home with drivers?
• Business activity. Have you taken on a new type of work, such as moving from domestic building into commercial contracts?

A move into a different sector

If your business has moved into a different sector, look at the relevant page, such as construction fleet insurance, to see what insurers typically ask about for that kind of work.

6. What Risk-Management Evidence Should You Gather?

Collect telematics reports, your dash camera and driving for work policies, driver training records, vehicle maintenance records and your incident review process. Underwriters cannot see what happens inside your business, so documents and data are the only way to demonstrate it.

If you manage your fleet well, show it.

Evidence worth including

• Telematics reports showing speeding, harsh braking or idling trends, and how you act on them
• Dash camera footage policy and how footage has been used in claims
• Driving for work policy, signed by drivers
• Driver training records, including any refresher or remedial training
• Vehicle defect checks and maintenance records
• Incident reporting and review process

What the evidence can and cannot do

This does not guarantee better terms. It does give the broker something concrete when presenting your fleet, particularly if your claims record has a bad year in it that you have since addressed.

7. How Should You Review Your Excesses And Add-Ons?

Check that the excesses still match what the business could absorb, decide which add-ons you actually need, and read the conditions sitting behind the cover. Renewal is the point to confirm the policy still fits the fleet you run.

Look at your current schedule and policy wording with fresh eyes.

Excesses

A higher voluntary excess can reduce the premium, but only makes sense if the business can comfortably absorb that cost on several claims a year. Check for separate excesses for young drivers, windscreen claims, theft or specific vehicles.

Add-ons and extensions

Decide which of these you actually need:

• Breakdown cover, and whether it covers heavier vehicles
• Courtesy or replacement vehicle, and what size of vehicle it provides
• Windscreen cover
• Legal expenses for recovering uninsured losses
• Goods in transit or tools cover
• European use
• Loading and unloading liability for vehicles with cranes or tail lifts

Conditions behind the cover

Also check the conditions that sit behind the cover, such as overnight parking requirements, tools security conditions and any obligation to check licences. A policy you are not complying with may not pay out when you need it.

8. How Do You Compare Fleet Options Like For Like?

Set the options side by side on cover level, driving clause, excesses, add-ons, conditions and premium. A cheaper option often carries a higher excess, a narrower driving clause or fewer extensions.

When a broker presents options, the premiums are rarely comparing the same thing.

A side-by-side comparison

Check	Option A	Option B
Cover level (comprehensive, third party fire and theft, third party only)
Driving clause and minimum age
Standard and additional excesses
Add-ons included
Key conditions and exclusions
Premium and payment terms

Questions for the broker

Ask the broker to point out any differences in wording, and ask why one insurer has offered different terms. Remember that the broker is there to explain the options.

The decision on what cover suits your business is yours, so ask questions until the differences are clear.

9. How Do You Avoid A Gap In Cover?

Keep the existing policy in force until the new one is confirmed in writing, and make the new cover start no later than the moment the old policy ends. Then check that every vehicle appears on the Motor Insurance Database.

The renewal date is where a gap is most likely to appear.

Continuous Insurance Enforcement

In Great Britain, a vehicle’s registered keeper must keep it insured unless it has been declared off the road with a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN). This is enforced through Continuous Insurance Enforcement, which uses DVLA and Motor Insurance Database records, so a vehicle that drops off the database can lead to a penalty even if it never left the yard.

The keeper can get a £100 fine and the vehicle can be clamped, impounded or destroyed. If the case goes to court, the maximum fine is £1,000.

Who updates the Motor Insurance Database

On a fleet policy, vehicles are added to the Motor Insurance Database by the insurer or broker, or by you through the MIB policyholder portal.

Switch-day tick list

• Do not cancel the existing policy until the new one is confirmed in writing
• Make sure the new policy starts no later than the time the old one ends
• Confirm every vehicle on your schedule is on the new policy
• Check a sample of registrations on askMID once the new policy is live
• Put SORN on any vehicle taken off the road and not insured

10. What Should You Tell A New Broker?

Assume a new broker knows nothing about your business, and hand over one pack covering vehicles, drivers, claims, current cover, use, security and anything unusual. Business customers also have a legal duty to make a fair presentation of the risk.

The duty of fair presentation

Under the Insurance Act 2015, business customers have a legal duty to make a fair presentation of the risk to insurers before the policy starts and when it is changed.

That means disclosing every material circumstance you know or ought to know, not only answering the questions asked.

What goes in the pack

• The updated fleet schedule
• The driver list and details of your licence-checking process
• Claims experience from your current insurer or broker
• A copy of your current policy schedule showing cover, excesses and add-ons
• A description of your business, the work the vehicles do and where they go
• Overnight parking and security arrangements
• Any changes during the year and anything unusual, such as plant on public roads
• Risk-management and telematics evidence
• Your renewal date and any deadline for a decision

A broker who receives a complete pack can go to insurers straight away instead of coming back with questions, which matters when the renewal date is close. Our quote readiness checklist lets you tick the pack off item by item.

Checking the firm is authorised

Before you give details to any broker, you can check that the firm is authorised on the FCA Register.

What Should You Do Differently Through The Year?

Give one person ownership of the fleet records all year, not only at renewal. Businesses that keep the schedule, driver list and licence checks current need only a light review when the renewal comes round.

Why last-minute renewals go wrong

Those that leave it all to the last fortnight tend to renew on stale information. That risks paying for vehicles they no longer have or, worse, leaving a change undisclosed.

Where to read next

A renewal is a once-a-year chance to make sure the policy matches the fleet you actually run. To see what happens after an enquiry, read how FleetQuote works, and for more on cover levels and driving clauses, see the overview of fleet insurance.

Sources

• GOV.UK: View or share your driving licence information
• GOV.UK: Check someone's driving licence information
• GOV.UK: Vehicle insurance
• GOV.UK: Uninsured vehicles (Continuous Insurance Enforcement)
• askMID: check if a vehicle is insured
• Motor Insurers' Bureau
• MIB: Navigate policyholder user guide
• Insurance Act 2015, section 3 (duty of fair presentation)

Updates

• 17 September 2026 : last reviewed
• 17 September 2026 : Facts checked against official sources; added quick answer and sources

General information about UK fleet insurance, not advice. How we write and check our content