Commercial Lorry Insurance Singapore

As the lorry is a commercial vehicle meant for business purposes, it is imperative to cover it under a commercial vehicle motor insurance policy in Singapore.

Insured Lorry Usage in Singapore

Policyholders should ensure that lorry drivers observe and fulfil the terms of the commercial motor insurance policy (e.g. keep to the insured usage of the lorry) in order to be entitled to indemnity in the event of accidents.

Under the Road Traffic Act in Singapore, lorries cannot be used for private passenger transport.

However, the Road Traffic Act provides an exception whereby owners and hirers of lorries can use lorries to transport their workers to and from their lodgings and places of work, or between their places of work, subject to certain requirements.

To use lorries for private passenger transport outside of these parameters will be to contravene the Road Traffic Act.

In addition to complying with the Road Traffic Act, it is important to fully and accurately declare the use of a vehicle when applying for motor insurance.

Typically, the insured usage of a vehicle will be stated at the Limitations as to Use section of the Certificate of Insurance.

If a lorry will be used for hire and reward activities but such use is not declared during application and not reflected in the Limitations as to Use section of the Certificate of Insurance, the insurer will not be liable for any claims arising out of an accident whereby a lorry was carrying out hire and reward activities.

There had been lorry drivers who abused company lorries (not meant for hire and reward purposes) to make extra income by transporting batches of foreign workers from their dormitories to shopping centers and back to their dormitories after shopping.

In such cases, not only would the policyholder not be entitled to indemnity, there would have been a violation of Road Traffic Act.

At elloAuto, we connect you to licensed representatives who can advise you on lorry insurance and help you get quotes from multiple insurers in Singapore.

With this service, you don’t have to search for quotes on your own and the process of getting your lorry insured will also be simplified as much as possible.

If your company needs to get motor insurance quotes for a fleet of lorries, you can either fill up the fleet insurance quote request form here or email to enquiry@elloauto.com with details of the lorries.

No Claim Discounts (NCD) for Commercial Lorries

For commercial vehicle insurance, No Claim Discount (NCD) is maxed out at 20%.

NCD belongs to the policyholder, not to the lorry drivers.

Each vehicle starts from zero NCD and increases in NCD with every consecutive claims free year, up till a maximum of 20% NCD.

NCD can be transferred from one commercial vehicle to another only if the vehicles are under the ownership of the same policyholder and they are of the same commercial vehicle type.

Example Scenario:

John owns 2 companies – ABC Pte Ltd and XYZ Pte Ltd.
There is an existing fleet of commercial lorries with 20% NCD registered under ABC Pte Ltd.
There is no vehicle registered under XYZ Pte Ltd.
John now wants to get a new lorry registered under XYZ Pte Ltd.

In this case, the 20% NCD cannot be transferred from one of ABC Pte Ltd’s lorries to the new lorry under XYZ Pte Ltd because ABC Pte Ltd is the policyholder and XYZ Pte Ltd is considered another entity.

In general, motor insurance application for lorries do not require named drivers’ information but some insurers need the primary driver’s details to be furnished if the policyholder is an individual instead of a business entity (i.e. sole proprietorship, partnership or company).