Using personal car for meetings - Insurance Issues.

tawecdl

Hi,

I was hoping somebody could help me. I am in full time employment and do not have a company car. Most of the company do have company cars but this is not included in my package.

I was told at the beginning of my employment that any meetings/training courses I need to attend I can claim the mileage back as expenses. Great I thought.

I have now clocked up about 300 miles attended such meeting or training courses and I have submitted my expense claim. Upon doing so I have received an email stating that I am unable to claim these expenses until I have business cover on my own insurance. This was not mentioned before I attended these events and the cost to amend my insurance is over £200.

How should I proceed with this? do I have a choice or is it a case of "pay the extra insurance or don't claim the expenses" as my manager is urging me to do?

Thanks in advance.

TadleyBaggie

It's not just a case of claiming expenses, if you were to have an accident to or from one of these meetings. you might find that any claim would be denied. Additionally you might also be charged by the police of having no insurance.

SueC_2

Setting aside the finances, if you are driving for business without business insurance then you are driving uninsured. So you either need to get insured, or stop driving for business.

Options:

• Negotiate with your employer that they help to meet the cost of insurance.
• Many insurers now include business cover at no additional cost, so look at transferring your insurance to one of them.
• Investigate the possibility of using someone else's company car to attend meetings / courses.
• Get a lift to meetings / courses with someone else.
• Travel to meetings / course by public transport and reclaim the cost of that from your employer.

Whichever option you go with, it should not be to continue driving whilst not insured.

tawecdl

Well to be honest it is more like attending different depot's for the day but as the depot is not not my usual depot I can claim the mileage. So I assumed this would be classed as commuting to and from work (not business use) if that makes sense.

I will negotiate maybe get an extra holiday or something, thank you for your help.

ohreally

Let them get you to and from future meetings.

Samsung_Note2

Traveling to other than a single place of work...is what you need to tell your insurance.

When i worked on various building sites (plant op) my insurance stated they wouldnt cover me,only to single site.

SueC_2

tawecdl wrote: »

Well to be honest it is more like attending different depot's for the day but as the depot is not not my usual depot I can claim the mileage. So I assumed this would be classed as commuting to and from work (not business use) if that makes sense.

I will negotiate maybe get an extra holiday or something, thank you for your help.

For insurance purposes commuting is defined as being your "permanent place of work", so would not include travelling to other sites.

https://www.confused.com/motor-insurance/get-covered/car-insurance-classes-of-use

tawecdl

Thank you all, so glad I asked you

getmore4less

Basic business is usually free/cheap check you asked for the right cover.

Hermia

getmore4less wrote: »

Basic business is usually free/cheap check you asked for the right cover.

I have to travel to about twenty different sites and my business cover has always been free. I think they said as long as I am not using my vehicle to transport goods or anything like that it was fine. I wonder if the OP's insurance company misunderstood what they asked for. An amendment shouldn't cost £200 after all.

tawecdl

Hermia wrote: »

I have to travel to about twenty different sites and my business cover has always been free. I think they said as long as I am not using my vehicle to transport goods or anything like that it was fine. I wonder if the OP's insurance company misunderstood what they asked for. An amendment shouldn't cost £200 after all.

they asked me all the questions you mentioned above and they still stated £173 plus £25 admin fee.