Capital Equipment News

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CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS OCTOBER 2015 4
Members of the road freight or
transportation industry can attest
to these costs spiralling out of
control quickly. Every hour that a truck is
not operating equals a loss. In addition, in-
surance claims and procedures can some-
times be cumbersome. With all of these
factors in mind Scania has launched its
Insurance Solution.
“Our new solution is based on minimising
customer downtime and negating as much
as stress as possible for our clients,” says
Scania insurance manager, Belinda Felix.
“This is achieved through assisting our
customers to get their vehicles repaired as
quickly as possible and back in a position
to continue their operations,” she explains.
Scania’s insurance partner has a nation-
wide footprint that matches its own. This
means that assessments are more time
efficient, ultimately enabling repair work to
be carried out swiftly with genuine Scania
parts and expertise,” she continues.
Scania South Africa maintains a 95 % parts
availability in its wholesale network which
significantly reduces repair time as there is
no delay caused by a spare part not being
available. Furthermore, the work carried out
by Scania technicians has a warranty of 12
months, along with the parts, to give clients
complete peace of mind. In addition, meticu-
lous care and workmanship boost the resid-
ual value of the asset. When combined with
a comprehensive needs analysis, which is
customer specific, the result makes for a
tailor-made insurance offering.
This is achieved by Scania approaching in-
surance cover through understanding each
client’s operation. Trucks are categorised in
four market segments: long haul, distribu-
tion, construction/mining and special-pur-
pose vehicles.
“We then take a deeper look at the appli-
cation of the vehicle,” says Felix. “For ex-
ample, construction vehicles are typically
mixers, tippers, heavy haulers and service
vehicles. However, each of these can be
further differentiated”. She explains, as a
figurative comparison, that two customers
in the construction industry could each have
a mixer truck that delivers concrete to con-
struction sites. One customer uses a tradi-
tional mixer which travels short distances but
has an engine that runs for long periods –
the other uses a truck that travels longer dis-
tances but does not mix while the vehicle is
in transit, only once it is on site. Even though
their business types are the same, the ways
in which they apply the vehicles are not as
the engine hours involved are completely dif-
ferent. This naturally affects the risk profile.
“In this case, it makes no sense for them
to have the identical insurance policy and
premium,” says Felix.
In addition, a plethora of other variables
WHO IS PROTECTING
YOUR ASSET?
Every kilogram counts in mining.
When last did you consider who has your best interests at heart should your
operation be halted or hampered as a result of an unforeseen event? Insurance
is a grudge purchase to cover the cost of repair or replacement of an asset.
But what about the costs associated with downtime – particularly when you
are unaware of how long that could be? Unscheduled downtime not only results
in no income but, in the worst case scenario, can result in penalties when
deadlines are involved.