I cant get car insurance because I do courier work

Stephb1986_2

diamondgeezr wrote: »

Thanks for all the comments fellow members. This thread has a fairly happy ending...
I decided against the two company approach - felt it was a bit messy.
So it was a case of seeing who would quote me. I had several (very expensive) quotes from specialist companies who deal with couriers - all binned.
Of the main-stream companies, very few would quote from their web questionaires - it appears couriers are not the type of people they want to insure, no matter the type.
Tesco and the Co-op were kind enough to quote - Co-op got my business on this occasion.

Good to hear that you went with the Co-op they've always been good with our van insurance

Steph x

harveybobbles

Change your occupation in a MSE kinda way..

Gilbert2

diamondgeezr wrote: »

Thanks for all the comments fellow members. This thread has a fairly happy ending...
I decided against the two company approach - felt it was a bit messy.
So it was a case of seeing who would quote me. I had several (very expensive) quotes from specialist companies who deal with couriers - all binned.
Of the main-stream companies, very few would quote from their web questionaires - it appears couriers are not the type of people they want to insure, no matter the type.
Tesco and the Co-op were kind enough to quote - Co-op got my business on this occasion.

I bet you binned them considering the cost.

However, unfortunately for you, due to the nature of your job, the appropriate insurance will be expensive.

You must have "hire and reward" insurance in order to legally do your job and CO-OP do not provide hire & reward insurance on any of their policies.

Regardless of whatever cover you have with the CO-OP, it will not cover you doing this work, you will essentially be driving illegally.

Not even business use with your insurance covers you, you are delivering 3rd party goods.

I am in this industry and I am disgusted that Hermes is seemingly contracting you without checking your insurance and knowingly providing you with work.

I too have contracts with Next Retail and also M and M Direct, who also use Hermes, and my business is used by them as I live rural and nowhere near a Hermes depot.

The reason Hermes use fly by nights is because no properly insured courier would engage with them as their payments would be peanuts.

I have heard of this arrangement before and it is highly illegal, I intend to contact the parties concerned.

Gilbert2

Joe_Horner wrote: »

If they provide cover for while you're working then try getting quotes for social, domestic and pleasure only (ie: not including commuting / work). It would mean that you're only covered third party while working, but at least you'll be legal and able to work without getting stung for a risk that your insurers won't be covering anyway!

There is no "only 3rd party cover" whilst working as a courier.

It must be "hire and reward," there is no way around it, it's the law.

Stop giving dangerous advice.

Gilbert2

diamondgeezr wrote: »

They do a "top-up" insurance through QBE that provides 3rd party cover whilst you are working for them. But you still need to have your car insured.

That top up insurance is just for your own business use, that means your own goods, not a 3rd party.

That's what hire & reward is.

Joe_Horner

Gilbert2 wrote: »

There is no "only 3rd party cover" whilst working as a courier.

It must be "hire and reward," there is no way around it, it's the law.

Stop giving dangerous advice.

Err, no.

"Class of use" and "level of cover" are entirely separate aspects of an insurance contract. "Social / domestic / pleasure", "business use", "hire and reward" etc are classes of use. "Comprehensive" and "third party" are levels of cover. There is nothing in law (or contract) that requires "hire and reward" class of use to be more than "third party" level of cover - ie: cover for damage you do to other people and their property.

The courier company offer "top up" third party cover for their drivers against any third party claims while on company business. That ensures that they're legal (because the company could be liable otherwise) but doesn't extend to covering damage to the courier's own car (which would be comprehensive cover) because there's no legal requirement for that.

So it wasn't dangerous advice at all


eta: You'll also find that what he requires is class 3 business use (which includes "light goods delivery"), not "hire and reward" which covers passenger transport (taxis etc). If he gets himeself hire and reward cover then he'll almost certainly not be covered as a courier, so please stop giving dangerous advice!

Bravehearted_2

TrickyWicky wrote: »

You'll need to think carefully next time you take out a policy and they ask you "Have you ever been refused insurance or had a policy cancelled?"

Yes is the truthful answer. No is the potentially fraudulent one

Unfortunately the truthful one will cost you more..

So very wrong. Why not quit with the misrepresenting?

Declining to offer a quote isn't the same as refused a policy or cancelled.

How many times do some companies choose to not offer quotes to drivers for various reasons - new drivers spring to mind.

Aretnap

Every time I go to a price comparison website Saga come up as "unable to quote", presumably because I'm not old enough. And when I was 17 my dad asked his insurer how much it would cost to add me as a learner driver to the policy for his BMW, and they laughed at him. Do I have to declare that I've been refused insurance? Clue: no. Insurers are interested in people who've had their policies voided for severe naughtiness/misrepresentation, not people who just don't fit someone else's preferred risk profile.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Gilbert is correct on this aspect, pizza delivery, chinease delivery drivers couriers using own privately owen vehicles have to have hire and reward insurance, its a risk that allot of young drivers take to do these jobs without the correct level of insurance especially those who are on the 2 year probation period could mean the end of their driving career before its even started.

if co-op say they will cover you for this type of work then i would ring them and ask the specific question and then confirm via e-mail to add to your policy documents to cover your own backside, the onus is on you to prove to anyone who seeks to know your cover (police etc) that you are covered, because its been known for even the legal indeviduals to fall foul of the insurance company doing a u turn on them when the question is put to them by a police officer enquiring.

Joe_Horner

Fair enough if I'd misunderstood that part of the cover required. Other places (ie: other links from the one you gave) don't provide that warning about class 3 being inadequate for courier use, so it'd be interesting to see what their policies actually said - end of the day, it's the policy wording rather than advice on a website that matters.

However, the original (and main) part of my post still stands. If the company are offering "top up" third party cover for their couriers then it will be third party cover in an appropriate class of use.

So no, my original advice still wasn't "dangerous" in any way