commuting versus business use (car insurance)

tir21

i have two places of work

does this really mean i have to go from sdp&c to business use. It seems to make a big difference

i work from the same premises 95% of the time.

hypothetically if some one in my position put sdp&c to a single place of work and had an accident en route to their other place of work - how would the insurance company ever find out. The person involved would only have to say they were visiting friends

Richard53

tir21 wrote: »

how would the insurance company ever find out. The person involved would only have to say they were visiting friends

They would ask you to confirm the purpose of your journey? Then you would have the choice between telling them the truth or lying. Good luck with that. Fraud is a serious business.

vikingaero

I'd argue it's SDP+C still. Why not phone your Insurer - you'll probably get different answers from each call agent!

Richard53

vikingaero wrote: »

I'd argue it's SDP+C still. Why not phone your Insurer - you'll probably get different answers from each call agent!

Depends on the policy wording. My policy specifically states "travel to and from a single place of work". No wiggle room there.

warwicktiger

Ask for a quote adding business use, apart from "Admin Fees" you may well find its free of charge, I did!

tir21

thanks i just dont see why travelling to one place of work is commuting and one place of work 95% of the time and another place of work 5% of the time is business use

last year i only seem to remember being given the option sdp&c

is this a new thing?

tir21

Richard53 wrote: »

They would ask you to confirm the purpose of your journey? Then you would have the choice between telling them the truth or lying. Good luck with that. Fraud is a serious business.

good luck with what?

did you miss the word hypothetically?

with regard to lying though - would you lie to an insurance company if you worked from a single location 95% of the time?

if the only way they could ever find out would be through your company - which i dount they could because of data protection - why wouldnt you ?

are you just a very very honest person?

Richard53

tir21 wrote: »

good luck with what?

did you miss the word hypothetically?

with regard to lying though - would you lie to an insurance company if you worked from a single location 95% of the time?

if the only way they could ever find out would be through your company - which i dount they could because of data protection - why wouldnt you ?

are you just a very very honest person?

My answer was about as hypothetical as your question.

To answer you directly - yes, I regard myself as honest. Nothing to sneer at, really. The question is nothing to do with honesty, though. There's another thread on here from a guy who made a small and irrelevant modification to his car, and now finds that he is uninsured. If you tell the truth when buying insurance, they have to honour your claim. If they catch you out in an untruth, they can void your policy. Read the other thread and see if it sounds like something you want for yourself and your family. Hypothetically, of course.

tir21

Richard53 wrote: »

Easy, Tiger. My answer was about as hypothetical as your question.

To answer you directly - yes, I regard myself as honest. Nothing to sneer at, really. The question is nothing to do with honesty, though. There's another thread on here from a guy who made a small and irrelevant modification to his car, and now finds that he is uninsured. If you tell the truth when buying insurance, they have to honour your claim. If they catch you out in an untruth, they can void your policy. Read the other thread and see if it sounds like something you want for yourself and your family. Hypothetically, of course.

i'm just glad to see there is another person out there as honest as me

although i could understand in these difficult economic times certain people less honest than our good selves being tempted by the prospect of saving £150 by saying they worked at a single location - even if they worked at another location 5% of the time - knowing they could only get caught if they actually admitted they were on their way to this second place of work

it does seem strange that going to two places of work could push the price up so much - when its still just basically commuting

the second place of work could be much closer and so could actually end up reducing risk

dacouch

tir21 wrote: »

good luck with what?

did you miss the word hypothetically?

with regard to lying though - would you lie to an insurance company if you worked from a single location 95% of the time?

if the only way they could ever find out would be through your company - which i dount they could because of data protection - why wouldnt you ?

are you just a very very honest person?

There are various ways they can discover which is your normal place of work, the easiest being writing to your employer and asking them to confirm the address of place of work. Very few employers will be prepared to give false information.

Other alternatives being asking your work address when you apply for the cover or some Insurers use lie detecting software which can be used on telephone calls.

Apart from the risk of your own claim not being paid and then being pursued personally for any payments they make to third parties you also run the risk of having to declare forever more having a policy voided which makes it very difficult to obtain any type of insurance.

Also bear in mind if you've been obtaining quotes for commuting and various places of work. Many companies make a note of this and it may well flag up should you make a claim

Judging by your other post, I strongly recommend you check any certificates of Insurance to see if driving other cars is included as there's a good chance it won't be included.

Richard53

The other thread is here, in case you hadn't seen it.

I understand what you are saying here. It seems a bit odd to be so strict about such a minor thing. But, at the end of the day, they make the policy rules and you accept them or go elsewhere.

I'm also pretty sure (anecdotal evidence) that insurers are getting far more on the ball about checking these things before they agree to pay out. Times are hard for them too, and if they can see a way of legitimately not paying, you can't expect them to come over all charitable and say "well, we said one place of work, but we'll stretch it to two because you are a nice guy".

All they have to do here is to ask you as part of the fact-finding part of the process: what was your destination, and was it for work or social purposes? Suddenly, what was a 'legitimate' grey area in your mind becomes a hard decision - do I lie or tell the truth? - and you're into evasion and half-truths and the possibility of it all getting rather serious. That's what I was getting at in my original post, and I'm sorry if it came across as abrupt, as I didn't mean it to.