Using passenger car to do occasional business delivieries

londonTiger

What insurance do I need? WIll ordinary business transport insurance cover it or do I need courior insurance?

Who can provide the best rate for less than 10 deliveries a month.

Have an event company, smallish, need to deliver in and around London.

I'm thinking with some quotes for £3000+ typical, I'm better off with zipcar or something.

MX5huggy

I would be going to client meetings, not doing deliveries.

InsideInsurance

What "business deliveries" are you doing?

Given low volume theres an outside chance that if its based on your event company then Class 3 business use may be acceptable to some insurers. If your doing unrelated deliveries just because you're going that way then your almost certainly into the space of commercial insurance and for low volumes its cost effectiveness would have to be questioned.

MX5huggy wrote: »

I would be going to client meetings, not doing deliveries.

Alternatively you can commit fraud as suggested above

Joe_Horner

If you're delivering for your own business then you should be ok with normal business insurance, but it would be safest to check with any insurer who quotes before taking a policy.

It's a bit of a grey area to be honest, because few of the terms used like "courier" and "commercial travelling" are defined anywhere in a legal sense and the common langage definitions / useage are ambiguous enough to argue either way.

colino

What is it you are, "delivering"? If it's yourself and some leaflets it will be normal business use. If the car is groaning with the weight of expensive display equipment, at the very least you need goods in transit and probably more.

londonTiger

delivering some display stands for use in exhibitions

mattyprice4004

Fit a small meeting in at the same time

londonTiger

mattyprice4004 wrote: »

Fit a small meeting in at the same time

??

I think zipcar is probably the best option. It will be cheaper to do that and have full coverage with their insurance in a small pay as you go system rather than paying 3 grand a year in commercial insurance that covers goods delivery.

We only need to delivery to 1 or 2 clients 4 or 5 times a week.

colino

If that is all you are carrying and it all fits into a private car, check with your insurance company. Some will be fine, others will want extra premium, but all will want to know.

londonTiger

the thing is, i have a normal passenger car and can delivery them myself (and have done so). But it's a nightmare to deliver goods in a passenger car. I have checked with numerous councils, they have loading/unloading allowances, so you have 20 minutes free to drop off and pick up goods from customers - but it's only for commercial vehicles.

So if I have a hatchback filled with goods that I'm dropping off in my boot with seats down clearly visible and also flight cases on my roof rack the nazi traffic warden will just slap on a ticket because it's not regarded as a commercial vehicle so not eligible for the loading/unloadinf allowance

Also, zipcar vehicles have fuel paid for and also congestion charge paid for so it might work out cheaper to use zipcar for a quick drop off to the city.

The only thing that annoys me is that if you're stuck in London traffic and you run late they'll slap on a £30 penalty. The salesman says if I call them and let them know in advance they can extend the rental without the penality so I just pay for the additional hours - but we all know that's salesman rubbish.

rev_henry

londonTiger wrote: »

the thing is, i have a normal passenger car and can delivery them myself (and have done so). But it's a nightmare to deliver goods in a passenger car. I have checked with numerous councils, they have loading/unloading allowances, so you have 20 minutes free to drop off and pick up goods from customers - but it's only for commercial vehicles.

So if I have a hatchback filled with goods that I'm dropping off in my boot with seats down clearly visible and also flight cases on my roof rack the nazi traffic warden will just slap on a ticket because it's not regarded as a commercial vehicle so not eligible for the loading/unloadinf allowance

Also, zipcar vehicles have fuel paid for and also congestion charge paid for so it might work out cheaper to use zipcar for a quick drop off to the city.

The only thing that annoys me is that if you're stuck in London traffic and you run late they'll slap on a £30 penalty. The salesman says if I call them and let them know in advance they can extend the rental without the penality so I just pay for the additional hours - but we all know that's salesman rubbish.

Eh? That's ludicrous! I wonder if its even legally enforceable? I always thought anyone could use loading areas for genuine loading! I've done so myself in the past.

Matty is saying if you organise a meeting there, however spurious, it can be argued to no longer be courier work and just normal business use...