How to get Fleet Insurance for an Electric Car Subscription platform

By Luke Gavin

Apr 16, 2021

When we did our ‘soft’ launch in February 2020 to a small-ish number of lucky and intrepid first customers, we didn’t have a fleet policy in place.

Those early customers had won a soft launch spot by completing our Suitability Tool (which had been shared to the Fullycharged Show’s database).

We had told them that the subscription would be ‘all-inclusive‘. But, we couldn’t get a fleet policy together in time. And honestly, after months of work, we weren’t even close…

Those soft launch customers then had to take out their own cover which our team had to laboriously check. The customers were booking ‘flexible’ subscriptions, but having to take out annual policies (with elmo agreeing to pay any early exit fees).

From any perspective – customer experience, operational efficiency, business strategy – it was a nightmare.

As we started working towards our full launch in November with far greater numbers of cars including brand new MG ZS EVs and Renault ZOE ZE50s (both currently available on Christmas promotions btw), we knew we needed to get a great policy in place.

But where to look?

We had already tried….

Engaging directly with the major insurers. All were super interested in the business model and knew they needed to develop products to adapt to the new world of vehicle ‘usership’. But our young trading history meant we often got bogged down with risk teams.
Trying disruptive startup insurers. Their flexible and innovative approach seemed like a perfect fit. But they classed us as a rental company so the rates just didn’t make commercial sense. Especially as we wanted to be competitive with rates our users could get on the open market.
Talking to brokers (lots of them). We met loads of very helpful people all excited by our model. But came up against the same old problems with underwriting teams.

We needed a partner who not only understood and believed in what we were trying to achieve for our customers, but also had the industry contacts and clout to negotiate on our behalf with the big players in the market.

For a time, it seemed too much to ask.

And then, by chance, we were introduced to Flock…

Our co-founder, Olly Jones, had come across Flock when he interviewed their founder and CEO, Ed Klinger, for The Startup Microdose podcast back in 2018. And so, we knew the calibre of company we were talking to, but thought they only insured drone fleets.

So it was exciting to learn that they were exploring a connected motor fleet product to expand their portfolio.

And they wanted elmo to be the launch partner!

Fast forward 8 weeks or so, and our entire fleet was covered on the policy Flock and NIG (part of Direct Line Group) had developed for us. The know-how of Flock combined with the belief in elmo’s vision from NIG was a winning combo.

We are hugely grateful to both Flock and NIG for the work that went into building a product to meet our requirements in a short period of time. We can’t wait to see how Flock continue to transform motor fleet insurance and what the future holds for our partnership.

It’s also worth mentioning that others have now followed in our footsteps; and we are proud to have played our part in helping move the insurance market in line with the new, flexible way to drive a car.

What this means for elmo users…

Thanks to Flock’s hard work, every electric car on our platform comes with fully-comprehensive insurance cover included as standard in the monthly price.

This means our customers enjoy a seamless, integrated experience when they book an electric car with us. Whether it’s for a month or two years!