Gladiator Insurance

Gladiator Insurance, commercial van insurance in the UK

Gladiator Insurance is a British company that focuses on van insurance. The company states it has specialised in this field since 1998 and presents itself as the insurer of "the nation's vans". Its offering is based on comprehensive policies for light commercial vehicles, with additional cover that customers can tailor.

Types of vans covered

The insurer states that it covers small vans, transit vans and larger vehicles, with a limit of up to 3.5 tonnes. This classification covers the usual spectrum of light commercial vehicles used by professionals and small businesses.

Included and optional cover

Gladiator's comprehensive policy includes Hire Vehicle cover as standard, designed to provide the policyholder with a similar-sized van if their own is off the road. The company highlights this benefit as a response to the need to avoid interrupting work.

In addition, the range of complementary products shown on the website includes:

• Policy Upgrades
• Breakdown Cover
• Hire Vehicle Cover
• Motor Legal Expenses
• Personal Injury Cover
• Vehicle Contents Cover
• Public Liability
• Breakdown Call-out

Claims handling and customer service

The company has a claims team available 24 hours a day through Northgate Insurance Services Limited. For general enquiries and to take out a policy, it offers several phone numbers differentiated by type of service: customer service, quote requests, quote retrieval and claims. The 03 numbers used by the company cost no more than a call to a national geographic number (01 or 02), from both mobiles and landlines.

Documentation and customer access

The website allows existing customers to download personal documents in PDF, by selecting the product (van insurance or public liability) and the corresponding version according to the policy start date. It also offers an area to retrieve previous quotes.

Product changes and sister company

At the time of analysis, the website stated that Gladiator was introducing changes to its van insurance product and that new policies would not be available temporarily. As an alternative, the company referred to its sister company Admiral Van, also specialising in van insurance, which searches the market for competitive prices.