commuting versus business use (car insurance)

forgotmyname

Simple check to see if you were on holiday that day and if not how come you were not at work.

Or why your job starts at 9am yet you were miles away from the location. Only takes a couple of phone calls to find out your lying.

Then its the risk of policy cancelled for fraud.

gpc273

Add business use to a search engine, I have had it for 10 years as I commute to several different places of work each week and I have never been charged extra for it.
Gotta have it as my employer checks annually.

tir21

richard , no probs. i couldnt possibly take any offence when its all hypothetical anyway

but would an employer be under any obligation to reveal anything about you or your circumstances? i suppose if its investigating fraud it will be yes, to answer my own question

the other thing that makes me surprised its such an issue if you commute to a second location 5% of the time is that confused arent bothered about it but to compare the market it pushes the price up about 20 percent

i personally just dont see how commuting to two places makes it business use rather than commuting

i can also see a lot of people coming unstuck because many will say they have a single place of work forgetting they may have to go to a meeting at head office once in a blue moon

Richard53

tir21 wrote: »

i can also see a lot of people coming unstuck because many will say they have a single place of work forgetting they may have to go to a meeting at head office once in a blue moon

It all depends on the policy wording - 'single', or 'usual' place of work, or whatever. If you feel it is open to interpretation, then you must take the risk that they won't agree with your interpretation. Unless the wording is completely unambiguous, I would call them to discuss before going further.

tir21

with me im based at one hospital but once every few months i might have to attend a meeting at head offices at another hospital

in all honesty id be lying if i said i thus considered bussiness car insurance suitable for my circumstances

Keith

I always understood it as you travel to a single place of work, that place could be different any day but it must be a single journey from home to that place. You don't go from home to A then to office B, etc.

If it was a SINGLE place of work, what would people with two jobs or those without a fixed workplace do?

dacouch

You don't get to define whether it's business use or not, the Insurer gets to define it.

I assume you don't receive a mileage allowance for travelling to the other place of work as otherwise the employer would normally insist on seeing your Certificate of Insurance showing class one business use.

It's unusual for such a large employer not to request to see the certificates of all employees using their own cars for driving their cars in connection with work. There's a potential for the employer to be prosecuted under H&S laws should an employee cause a death whilst driving and not be adequately insured.

With regard to them writing to your employer, they can insist you agree to them writing to the employer. If you don't agree they either sit on your claim for ever or more likely it would flag up for them to investigate further. It's unusual for them to write to an employer but not unheard of, it would be more likely if you have a colleague as a passenger.

Many companies expect civil service employees to require class one use, plenty won't charge extra for it.

dacouch

Keith wrote: »

I always understood it as you travel to a single place of work, that place could be different any day but it must be a single journey from home to that place. You don't go from home to A then to office B, etc.

If it was a SINGLE place of work, what would people with two jobs or those without a fixed workplace do?

You would be wrong.

The old definition was SDP+CPPB which was Social, Domestic and Pleasure and Commuting to a Permanent Place of Business.

It's often shortened to just Commuting now, it really depends on how the Insurer worded the question and any information it supplies along with the question.

Commuting to various places of work would require class one use with the vast vast majority of Insurers

shaun_from_Africa

tir21 wrote: »

it does seem strange that going to two places of work could push rice 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

The insurers may well look at it this way.
People who only have 1 place of employment are commuting when they drive to and from work but if you have more than one place of business, you may well drive between the two whilst "on the clock", hence business use rather than communting

Ectophile

It may be worth trying different insurers. Last time I asked, business travel would only have costed me about £10 a year.

In the end, I didn't bother - I don't travel that often, and can use a pool or hire car at my employer's expense.