Commercial Vehicle Insurance Discussion Area

Searcher2

HM wrote:

My hubby used to drive a van and after a lot of searching we found co-op insurance were the cheapest. and they were also very good.

Thanks for this post. Saved my friend a tidy sum.... A couple of hundred cheaper than a quote he was about to take out until I decided to have a look on MSE. Shame the search facility on here does not seem to work (put in 'Van' to search this forum and nothing came up) but was lucky that this post was relatively new. Cheers! Also used the freephone number to ring them from saynoto0870.com using the ordinary Motors insurance option on the automated service.... no need to use the commercial option.

Edit : Tried evaninsurance and a similar quote came out to almost double that of CIS (Coop). I know it depends on van etc. but well worth trying CIS.

fortythree

I originally posted this at the end of another thread but realised it wasn'rt really appropriate so apologies if you have already read this.

I hired a van with one of the large car hire companies and when I returned it they said I had damaged the van (which I disputed but the damage hadn't been marked on their sheet when I hired it, so there was little I could do). They took the excess of £150 form the card swipe they had already done.

However, the van was already covered in many dents and so I got to thinking that this was a nice little earner for hire companies. Every new dent, you get the excess but don't make the repair until the van is ready to be sold.

As what I was paying was an excess on an insurance claim and not a fine, I asked them to send me the three quotes they received, the invoice for the work done, and to see the van once it had been repaired.

I didn't hear anything for a couple of weeks but then they got in touch to say that they had reconsidered the damage and would give me a full refund on the excess they had taken.

The van in question must have had at least 20 dents on it so the company could already have made between £2,000 and £10,000 on excess, depending on the size of the excess each time.

I would be interested to know if anyone else has come accross this and whether it is legal for them to take the excess as a fine against work they may do at a later date?

Bossyboots

Oh well done you, very clever indeed.

I would say that they are guilty of deception by taking an excess for work they do not intend getting done. I don't think "getting it done at a later date" is so much of a problem but the failing to get it done at all. They will lose out by having the vehicle off the road but if they are specifically saying the payment is the policy excess for the claim that will be needed for your damage then my view is that they should only do so if the work is actually going to be done.

dandare

Hi insured my van in June. now the inbetween folk say that the insurers wont continue with the policy and are cancelling it. nothing has changed about myself or the vehicle.
im a photographer 90% of the time in my studio the rest possibly on location, this is the bit from what they told me is the problem, the location part. but if i was a wedding photographer then its ok, even though a wedding photographer must go to different locations each job???
very confusing
in fairness to the middle men the will charge me for the period of insurance at annual premium divided by 12 months, times roughly 2.5 months.
so i should, hopefully, not be losing money on the type of sliding scale of refunds that they have.
just sounds a bit iffy to me , 2 and a half months into the policy they decide that they wont continue with it.
now i need to find another insurer, pay that in full and wait for me refund so there'll be a delay in my cashflow.
have insurance premiums went up recently ??
are they allowed to do this
any advice is greatly appreciated.
dan

gyzmo

It sounds like the broker took on business that they ought not to have done under their agreement with the insurer. the insurer, on receiving the details at a later stage, realised your occupation and cancelled the policy on that basis. They can in law do this, but should have done it differently. The situation with brokers is something I am not totally familiar with, but I think the only person being iffy here is your broker. Your grievence is with them, not the insurer. someone else should post something more definite and more reliable soon.

lucylu26

The broker should have asked for more information regarding your occupation.Its sounds as if they are classing you as 'high risk' because you are 10% on location-they may think you are off chasing celebs etc...

I would point out to them it is not your error and they should have probed you more regarding what type of photography.

You could try more than business insurance they insure vans and you can pay monthly.
http://www.morethanbusiness.com/morethanbusiness/

Lucy

Astaroth

I would have to say that I disagree that there is "anything wrong" with making someone paying the excess irrespective of if they intend to actual repair the damage or not as ultimately they will sustain financial loss at the point of resell due to the damage.

Ultimately if you consider it as a contract clause that you pay £150 of for damage to a vehicle rather than the specialist term "excess" then I think more people would be comfortable with the practice being acceptable... after all, if they were to get the vehicle repaired you would not only have to pay the cost of the repairs but also the loss of revenue from it whilst it is in for repairs (generally 60-90% of the daily hire charges per day the garage takes to repair it)

mrsbez_2

Just had OH van insurance renewal through, and although it seems cheap, i don't want to renew it without checking all the others first.

Any good sites for comparing van insurance.

I tried confused.com but it does not come out that cheap.

Thanks

maclean2

https://www.Quotezone.co.uk or https://www.evaninsurance.c.uk

DaveJ

Has anyone dealt with Quinn Direct?

They came out quite well in a van+trailer quote search (ie. theft cover for trailer while unattached) , but, on reading the online Policy wording, I find they are Dublin based and regulated by the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority and not the UK one.

The precautionary principle would suggest avoid - but am I being too cautious here?

Advice would be appreciated.

Dave