Car insurance using commuting to and from work as a way of not paying

molerat

Worst case scenario is they void your insurance from inception. They will not pay for your damage and will come after you for anything they have to pay out to the other driver, if injury is involved this could amount to several £K. You will also face difficulty in getting insured in future.

Sulkyjim

Bloody hell ! I must admit to having been oblivious to this and have now fixed it so all cars on the policy are covered for all commuting etc

I literally never used my car to travel to and from my work until this stint in a studio !

I guess I'm at their mercy and they will have none.

dacouch

It's not really a case of them voiding the policy, if you do not have the correct use covered by your policy then you are not covered. The Insurer do not need to decline the claim they will just refuse it at which case it gets passed to the Motor Insurance Bureau.

You may find that even if you did have commuting cover that the use you have made is not covered as it may not fall under the Insurers definition of commuting (Which is generally to and from your normal place of work). The studio sounds like a different place of work which would normally need you to have class one (or sometimes called class a) business use.

societys_child

If you don't get paid, it sounds more like a social activity?

gycraig_2

It's not commuting to work if you aren't being paid otherwise any leisure activity could fall under this

stockton_2

dacouch wrote: »

You may find that even if you did have commuting cover that the use you have made is not covered as it may not fall under the Insurers definition of commuting (Which is generally to and from your normal place of work). The studio sounds like a different place of work which would normally need you to have class one (or sometimes called class a) business use.

Yes: This happened to a friend of mine. She was asked to visit a different place each day on her way to work. She looked in to it and found she had to have the business use option. Normal commuting did not cover it.

Sulkyjim

Thanks guys but I think the not getting paid immediately aspect is probably not going to cut any ice !

As we are recording an album which will definitely be released and make me money in about two years time, I don't think that it's enough of a shade of grey to get away with it !

Whatever the outcome I will definitely not be making this mistake again !

bertiewhite

OP - if she wasn't commuting (ie visiting someone on the way to nursery) then the policy type or wording is irrelevant.

It depends on what the issue is - the fact that they say she was commuting when she wasn't or the fact that she didn't understand the policy wording? Or both?

I would suggest that the main priority right now is to contest the commuting claim and leave tackling the policy wording until afterwards. I would suspect it would be best for you to simply add "commuting" to the policy but be careful though - pushing the technicalities of the policy or upgrading the policy too soon would probably make the company suspicious and make it harder to prove that she wasn't commuting.

dacouch

bertiewhite wrote: »

OP - if she wasn't commuting (ie visiting someone on the way to nursery) then the policy type or wording is irrelevant.

It depends on what the issue is - the fact that they say she was commuting when she wasn't or the fact that she didn't understand the policy wording? Or both?

I would suggest that the main priority right now is to contest the commuting claim and leave tackling the policy wording until afterwards. I would suspect it would be best for you to simply add "commuting" to the policy but be careful though - pushing the technicalities of the policy or upgrading the policy too soon would probably make the company suspicious and make it harder to prove that she wasn't commuting.

If she was dropping kids off at a nursery and then driving to work from the nursery or stopping at a shop and then driving to work, it is still likely to be classed as commuting

bertiewhite

dacouch wrote: »

If she was dropping kids off at a nursery and then driving to work from the nursery or stopping at a shop and then driving to work, it is still likely to be classed as commuting

But the OP hasn't said this, there's not enough information. I'm asking the OP to clarify what his issue is -

a) is he flatly refuting the fact that his girlfriend was commuting (at all) or

b) was she really commuting and the OP's girlfriend believed that she was covered for this under "domestic, social and pleasure"