Car insurance question ?

simon06

Hi I'm doing a lot of temporary work and occasionally in between looking for the next job I am unemployed. I have cycled to these jobs in the past, however now I need to drive my car to and from work because of the distances involved. My problem is that it could get costly if every time I amend my car insurance policy to say the use of the car is either for pleasure or for commuting. If routinly I go from job to job with gaps in between of days or longer then the amend fees cause a bit of bother. I'm hoping that there is a different way of dealing with this problem. What does anyone else do in this situation ?

JustinR1979

Can't you just tick 'agency worker' or similar, and go from there - or ask the company even?

Ectophile

In my experience, "commuting" is limited to one permanent place of work, not flitting from site to site.

Try seeing how much business travel adds to the quotes. It may be surprisingly little.

OnanTheBarbarian

Does it really make that much difference just to state you use it for commuting as well as SDP? (have you spent more in policy amendment fees than what it costs to just have SDP+C cover?)

I'm assuming when you use the car for work it is just to travel to the place of work?

simon06

I'm with Admiral for my car insurance. I have not talked to them regarding this matter yet because after reading some horror stories on this I decided to get advice first.

If I went SDP+C and found myself unemployed again would that not invalidate the cover at that very moment ?


I would be only commuting to one place of work per day.

Syman

Insure it for SDP + C

if you commute then you are covered, if you are not working then its SDP.

I have business cover on my insurance, rarely need to use it, but not using it does not invalidate my insurance (as far as i know)

Aretnap

simon06 wrote: »

If I went SDP+C and found myself unemployed again would that not invalidate the cover at that very moment ?

No. Having commuting cover just means that you want to be covered if you do commute. It doesn't mean that you actually do have to use it to commute regularly, or at all. Similarly the P means you're covered to drive for "pleasure". That doesn't mean that your insurance is invalid if you don't drive for pure enjoyment occasionally - you might well hate driving and only use the car when you absolutely have to. Likewise you can insure for SDP+C if you normally take the bus to work, but want to have the option of driving just in case, even if you never actually take up that option.

You would have to tell Admiral about any change in your employment status though, and that might attract a change in premium/admin fee. If you're taking a number of short term jobs it might be worth ringing them up and asking if they can put you down as something like an agency worker, rather than having to inform them every time every time you start or finish a short term contract.