Evening all.
I passed my Class 2 test in October 2008 and have been on agency work since, though that has dried up over the past few months and I’ve been a white van man for what seems like ages now! Went into a well-known haulage company in the Glasgow area on Tuesday and thought I’d finally had the change of luck I’ve been praying for when the Traffic Manager said he could start me on Monday. He told me he would have to check that their insurance company would accept me as I’ve had my license for less than 2 years but he didnt think it was going to be a problem for a Class 2 driver. I had been over the moon for the past few days until today when I was informed the insurance company wouldnt allow me to drive for them as I havent had my license for 2 years.
To conclude, I’m absolutely gutted but what I want to know is this - is this insurance situation a problem I’m likely to run into when asking around at other haulage companies? I could easily sit with the van job Ive got till October but I really want to get out and drive a truck for a living. After a year and a half of knocking doors and sending out CVs I thought I was finally getting somewhere this week (I was told I had the job if the insurance was OK) but Im just about coming back down to earth now!!
Any answers or indeed any advice much appreciated!
Kenny
If somebody really wants to employ you,then it wont be a problem,you would have impressed them enough to be worth coughing up for the extra premium.If you have got a particular skill or ability that they can’t find anywhere else they will see it as an investment.Most likely they have had more experienced drivers sniffing about and it wont cost the company anymore to employ them instead.It’s just simple economics really.
It’s only a problem until there is a shortage of experienced drivers when suddenly the hauliers decide that they will pay or cover for the extra insurance costs.
it does not normally affect the insurance premium, it normally affects the excess on the policy.
i have employed drivers that have just passed their test before and it only affects the excess for that particular driver
hi all.this is not a new problem,it has been with us for ever.it’s like the old problem of’‘sorry we only take people with experience’'.the roundabout of ‘‘you can’t get a job until you get experience and you can’t get experience until you get a job’’.when i first got my hgv in 1972 i had to take jobs with crap wages as they all said ''we can’t pay you much because we have to pay a heavy premium for you as you’r under 25,so for a while i had to swallow it to get rolling.it ain’t nice but youv’e got to get your feet under the table somehow.
when,in1974,i bought my own truck for £1000[an old ERF]to do middle east the insurance was £5000 as i was under 25.it does slowly get better 
be lucky.mike
P.S. i now live in lappland and drive a 50ton tipper 1km underground in a mine.i dont think that it makes much difference about insurance up here if the roof falls in.