What You Need to Know About Taxi Insurance

Whatever type of vehicle you own, it’s required by UK law to have it insured. There are three main types of insurance you can get – fully comprehensive, third party and third party, fire and theft. Depending on the type of vehicle being insured, there are many additional types of cover that you can find. When insuring a taxi there are some additional levels of cover required for it to be road legal. Below is an explanation of the different types of cover that you can find for taxis as well as how you can save money when it comes time to take out a policy.

Types of Cover

The big difference between regular car insurance and taxi insurance is that since members of the public are being transported, there is increased risk which must be accounted for. Below are some of the main types of cover you’ll find for taxi insurance –

• Private Hire Insurance – Private hire taxis are those that are pre-booked exclusively. This means they cannot be hailed on the street, display a taxi sign or use a taxi rank. This type of insurance is generally cheaper as the risks are reduced considerably. This type of insurance is often referred to as minicab insurance
• Public Hire Insurance – This type of insurance is for taxis that can be hailed on the street and have a taxi sign on top of the vehicle. Both public hire and private hire insurance can be taken out for just one driver or multiple drivers. When taken out for multiple drivers, it’s usually referred to as an ‘Any Driver’ policy.
• Public Liability – This is essential with any kind of taxi insurance. When transporting members of the public there’s always the risk of death or injury occurring which the taxi firm would be culpable for. Any claims made against the taxi firm could be very costly so it’s essential to have a good amount of public liability cover included in a policy.
• Fleet Insurance – There are many taxi firms that have owner drivers but some firms will prefer to take care of the insurance themselves. In this even the most practical and cost-effective solution is to get fleet insurance. Fleet insurance is specifically catered towards businesses that have a large number of vehicles in their inventory. Insuring a large number of vehicles is not only costly but also very impractical so fleet insurance is a must when there are large number of vehicles to insure.

Saving Money

When insurance providers calculate the cost of a policy they’ll take factors such as the driver’s history, the value of the vehicle and the security of the vehicle into account. Whilst there’s nothing you can do to change your driving history or the value of your vehicle, you can make it as secure as possible. You should ideally have an alarm, central locking and a steering lock fitted in your taxi. Wherever possible you should also park it in a locked garage when not being used.

Multiquote Taxi provide an online Public and Private Hire Insurance comparison site – find out more at  and see how much you can save.