Insuring your taxi at a reasonable cost

Premiums for a taxi are much higher than that for a normal car because it presents a higher degree of insurance liability and therefore cheap taxi insurance is hard to find. However, if you don't just stick with your taxi renewal quote and spend some time shopping around, you will eventually find the right cover at a more affordable rate.

It is a legal requirement to have sufficient cover for all liabilities that you may face including claims from the passengers you are carrying and any damages that you cause to public property. So if you fall into the categories listed below, you should not overlook your insurance coverage as it may mean losing your taxi licence if you haven't got the appropriate level of cover in place:

• Private Hire & Mini Cab
• Public Hire & Black Cab
• Mini Buses & MPVs;
• Chauffeur Vehicles
• Taxi Fleets

How to get cheap taxi insurance?

There are two types of policies available to you and they are:
Public Hire - People can be picked from any location and can stop a cab across the street to go somewhere. This is usually associated with black cabs.

Private Hire - People make bookings so that they are picked up from a predetermined location and usually dropped at an agreed destination. All journeys are pre-arranged.

The first thing you need to do to get low quotes for your taxi premiums is to shop around. There are now more and more specialist taxi insurers and your chances of finding the best deals are greater if you take the time to obtain quotes from these companies. Here's a list of some specialist insurers:

• J&M Insurance
• Swinton Taxi
• eTaxiQuoteDirect
• Tradex

As a taxi driver, you need to be very specific about the amount of time you will be working. The more you are on the roads, the higher the risk of you being involved in an accident and the higher the premiums the insurers will charge.

If you have more than a couple of cars, then it is very well worth looking at taxi fleet insurance as you can have a mix of vehicles on the same policy and it will work out cheaper than insuring the vehicles individually. Some insurers will also allow you to include your privately owned car as well.

Working at specific times carrying passengers to and from pre-arranged locations will yield cheaper premiums for mini-cab drivers than irregular business through passengers from all corners of the streets. This is why private hire taxi insurance is much cheaper than black cab insurance as companies look more at the safety aspects of your job to give you the cheapest deals.

However you should not based your policy on what works out cheaper because it could cost you more. For example, if you have an accident irrespective of whose fault it was, and you need to leave your vehicle in the garage for a week to get it repaired, you need peace of mind that another vehicle similar to what you have is provided to you so that you can continue to earn your living until you get your car back. Therefore the level of cover should not be taken lightly but should rather be tailored to your own needs.

Note that some companies will even take into consideration the no claims discount that you have on your private car and can offer flexible payment options for 3, 6 and 12 months policies. That is on top of being able to choose between fully comprehensive, third party, fire and theft (TPFT) and third party only (TP) policies.