Car insurance: Commuting definition?

raskazz

saveforlater wrote: »

I'm just about to renew my motor policy much cheaper with a different company: because I drive to part-time employment only once a fortnight didn't consider it was worth declaring for my on-line quote (I'm an ex insurance man). Now there's all the pertinent stuff above re this 'new' definition! Perhaps insurers need to define commute as daily travel to/from work if they want a legitimate reason to charge a higher premium otherwise, as above, there seem to be plenty of imaginitive ways round the problem

Driving to your place of employment is not Social, Domestic or Pleasure use not matter how infrequently it takes place. Only an absolute idiot would even consider trying to work the system like this, bearing in mind the absolutely minimal difference in the premium between SDP use and SDP+C.

GarethW_2

I think the definition of commuting is clear. The problem with insurance companies is they don;t like to define what 'regular' means. Obviously this helps them since, in the event of a claim, they can then decide for themselves what you were doing at the time of the incident. Given this, it's probably best to go for the furthest reaching cover possible, ie. if you go to work in the car at all, you'd better get SDP&C.

However, I do have one question: If I drive a car to my neighbouring village's train station and then commute to work by train, does my short drive count as 'commuting'?

GarethW_2

- and, just to muddy the waters, I've found the AA insurance site doesn't ask you if you want Commuting, just SDP and business use. Does commuting = business?

Quentin

GarethW wrote: »

If I drive a car to my neighbouring village's train station and then commute to work by train, does my short drive count as 'commuting'?

Yes. Won't make much (if any) difference to your premium.

Quentin

GarethW wrote: »

- and, just to muddy the waters, I've found the AA insurance site doesn't ask you if you want Commuting, just SDP and business use. Does commuting = business?

The AA includes commuting in its SDP cover.

vaio

I thought just about everybody included travel to a fix place of work within the SDP cover, with travel to different sites needing class 1 business cover

Having said that obviously if the proposal asks about commuting then you need to answer truthfully

vaio

lisyloo wrote: »

......Hiring a car cost £30 a day........

I suspect a 19 year old would pay more than that to hire one, in fact I'd be surprised if he could hire one at all

Ian_W

Quentin wrote: »

The AA includes commuting in its SDP cover.

It doesn't seem that long ago that all insurers did!

Or am I dreaming?

Badger_Lady

If you have one place of work that you only ever travel to by car (i.e. every time you're needed to work, you drive there) I'd say it's commuting.

If you work for an agency whereby, for example, you might be asked to work at a nursing home one week or a hospital the next, it's business use.

Small, local car hire companies will usually be more relaxed about age limits etc - I hired my first transit van three days after passing my test. It's worth phoning around. Otherwise, a scooter or motorbike is a good way to keep up your motoring experience at a much lower cost. At 19, premiums will drop each year even without NCD.

lisyloo

I suspect a 19 year old would pay more than that to hire one, in fact I'd be surprised if he could hire one at all

Good point.
It doesn't mean the idea is bad though.
I scrapped my car in May 2009 and I've only hired a car one day since then and that was for business travel which I could have done by train/taxi if necessary. I didn't because it would have been 3 trains and 2 taxis each way, but for the odd day it's worth doing that to save thousands of pounds on having a car.