Car/fleet/business use Insurance Help :(

CobraRover

Hi guys,

Im more of a casual reader on these forums but now Im in dire need of some help!

I run a small food delivery business and currently have one driver who works with me (he works on a self employed basis as im only a sole trader). We basically pick up food from places that dont deliver and then drop it off to the customer. We dont carry third party goods - everything we carry we pay for ourselves with our own money before taking it to our customers place of delivery.

Myself and the other driver were both insured on 2 small vehicles for social, pleasure and business class 3 use with Liverpool Victoria.

For several reasons, I planned to stop doing the driving side of the business, so I found another driver. I contacted LV to get a quote for him to be added onto one of the cars for business use, and all of a sudden LV tell me they cannot add someone onto the policy for business use unless they are the registered keeper of the car!

"strange", I thought - "ive already phoned LV and had another guy added onto the policy for business use on both separate cars - both on different occasions with different operators". Before I could mention this though, the operator told me "and we will now have to remove the other driver from both policies - we shouldnt have put him on either".

This has completely crippled me. Ive gone from wanting to add a driver to losing a driver in the space of 5 minutes. I even told LV that I would happily get out the V5, transfer the car to my friend and pop it in the post tonight if they would make him the main driver, remove me from the policy and keep him going with business use just so that he could continue working, but they said that they would not do this for me on the phone and that I would have to start a new quote online. I dont have the deposit on hand to pay for a brand new policy right now.

To make matters worse, although my premium went up when originally adding this guy to my policies, my premiums have not lowered by even a penny now he has been removed!

LV have told me I must seek fleet insurance for my two little cars, but from the phoning around ive been doing, I cant find any for cars.. only for vans.

Im quite stuck here. I just invested all the savings I had into radio advertising (another reason for wanting another driver) and cannot currently find insurance that lets us all work whilst still turning over a profit.

Has anyone out there currently got fleet insurance or able to give me advice on any alternative options out there? I worked 7 days a week for 8 months to build up my business, so Im not about to be defetaed. I know there will be a way - I just dont know what it is yet. I hope someone here does!

Thank you very much for reading, and I really appreciate any advice that anyone can give.

OnanTheBarbarian

I'm sure we used to have a mini fleet policy through Aviva

CobraRover

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

I'm sure we used to have a mini fleet policy through Aviva

Unfortunately their website appears to indicate that you must have a minimum of 3 vehicles for it to be classed as a fleet Thank you for the suggestion though.

OnanTheBarbarian

You may struggle to sort this out tonight, but I would suggest a trip to a high st broker is needed, but don't go to Swinton.

Edit - I have had many dealings with the following brokers, who specialise with a variety of motoring risks from driving instructors to courier drivers, worth a call to them http://www.c-amackie.co.uk/

CobraRover

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

I would suggest a trip to a high st broker is needed, but don't go to Swinton.[/url]

We have a swinton broker nearby and just before reading your message I was thinking "Ill go to swinton tomorrow"!

Thank you for the other link, I just requested a call back.

dacouch

Here are some companies that will probably quote just for each vehicle.

Expect it to be more expensive than you were paying LV as I suspect they
were not charging a price reflecting the risk of a fast food delivery driver

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=fast+food+delivery+insurance&oq=fast+food+delivery+insur&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.5450j1j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8&gws_rd=ssl

CobraRover

dacouch wrote: »

Here are some companies that will probably quote just for each vehicle.

Expect it to be more expensive than you were paying LV as I suspect they
were not charging a price reflecting the risk of a fast food delivery driver

Youre right about them not charging the rate of a fast food driver. LV were aware though that we pick up and deliver from restaurants, shops, suprmarkets ect, - I made sure of that! Even have job listed on the policy as "delivery driver". But with us actually paying for all goods with our own money they are fine with us using commercial travel (as opposed to your usual take-away driver needing some kind of hire and reward due to 3rd party goods).

I will definitely look into your link now. Thank you

dacouch

CobraRover wrote: »

Youre right about them not charging the rate of a fast food driver. LV were aware though that we pick up and deliver from restaurants, shops, suprmarkets ect, - I made sure of that! Even have job listed on the policy as "delivery driver". But with us actually paying for all goods with our own money they are fine with us using commercial travel (as opposed to your usual take-away driver needing some kind of hire and reward due to 3rd party goods).

I will definitely look into your link now. Thank you

If they had the option for "Fast Food Delivery Driver" which I suspect they do have and the last operator you spoke to discovered this. It's likely to be a higher premium or possibly something that LV do not offer cover for

Mick_Fleetwood

I think you probably need a mini fleet policy. I had to make the switch to one a few years ago for our small fleet of company cars and I would highly recomend contacting the following guy:

Paul Chambers
Well Dunn Insurance Services.
T: 0800 093 0036 • T: 0161 879 6002 •
E: Paul.chambers@welldunninsurance.co.uk

This guy was the most helpful person I spoke to at that time, and 3 or 4 years later we are still with them (I shop around every year to check prices, but these guys have always been able to match/beat others, and the customer service has been spot on).

There is no big call centre or complicated phone system, you just get through to a human very quickly!

WellDunnInsurance

Hi Mick,

Paul Chambers here, someone has just called me after reading your post. Thanks so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

For anyone else, by all means get in touch, I'm always happy to help.