Uni student and business insurance

Rodtheplod

Hey all,

My 20 year-old daughter is in her second year of a social work degree at university. She passed her driving test in April and since then has been driving a used Toyota Yaris which is insured by Ingenie who specialise in insuring young drivers (her car has been fitted with a telematics 'black box').

Her Ingenie insurance covers the basic "social, domestic, pleasure, and commuting" which includes travel to and from ONE place of work. Ingenie do not provide business insurance.

From next week, my daughter will be going on placements with other social workers which will involve her driving to and from 'service users' homes, meeting social workers at service user's homes, etc.

I don't believe her insurance covers her for this as she is, in effect, going to multiple places of work. But am unsure what to do.

If we upgrade to a 'normal' car insurance with business I have a feeling her premiums will increase dramatically (she pays around £105 per month as it is with Ingenie). I will get on a price comparison site later today to get an idea.

Are there 'just' business insurance packages available from some other company that we could purchase in addition to her Ingenie insurance?

Lastly - she is still a student. She is not actually getting paid for these placements, so does that mean she's not actually going to a place of work and that these visits do not warrant business insurance?

Any ideas ?

reeac

I'd have thought that these visits were part of her course and therefore no different from travelling to uni. ....just different locations.

Manxman_in_exile

Rodtheplod wrote: »

Hey all,

My 20 year-old daughter is in her second year of a social work degree at university. She passed her driving test in April and since then has been driving a used Toyota Yaris which is insured by Ingenie who specialise in insuring young drivers (her car has been fitted with a telematics 'black box').

Her Ingenie insurance covers the basic "social, domestic, pleasure, and commuting" which includes travel to and from ONE place of work. Ingenie do not provide business insurance.

From next week, my daughter will be going on placements with other social workers which will involve her driving to and from 'service users' homes, meeting social workers at service user's homes, etc.

I don't believe her insurance covers her for this as she is, in effect, going to multiple places of work. But am unsure what to do.

If we upgrade to a 'normal' car insurance with business I have a feeling her premiums will increase dramatically (she pays around £105 per month as it is with Ingenie). I will get on a price comparison site later today to get an idea.

Are there 'just' business insurance packages available from some other company that we could purchase in addition to her Ingenie insurance?

Lastly - she is still a student. She is not actually getting paid for these placements, so does that mean she's not actually going to a place of work and that these visits do not warrant business insurance?

Any ideas ?

I think you are right to be a bit concerned about this.


1. I would ask your daughter's university about this - it must be a common problem for students like her. Many years ago I was involved in commissioning training places for the NHS (nurses and social workers). I would argue that your D's uni have a duty of care to her to ensure she is appropriately insured for the requirements of her course, but...


2. The only way to be sure is to ask her insurance company whether she is covered for these "training" requirements - neither you nor her want to get this wrong.


I would have expected the uni to have given your daughter some guidance about insurance for these "work" placements. Have they not done so?

wgl2014

+1 for checking with the insurer.

Their opinion is the only one that matters at this point.

Rodtheplod

Agreed - thanks for the good advice, here.

I'll call Ingenie and will let you know what they say.

BTW - daughter says the uni only said they would need 'valid insurance' for these placements, which is why I was a bit concerned in the first place and decided to post up here...

Rodtheplod

OK - spoke to Ingenie - they say that they will put a note on her policy to state that she will be doing these placements, but that they will not class it as business journeys, and so no change in policy required.

Their customer service agent did keep me on hold for ages while he checked, so I assume he spoke with multiple people, but he came back with the above answer. As long as they've made a note on her account, I'm happy!

Thanks again for the helpful replies.

Mercdriver

Rodtheplod wrote: »

OK - spoke to Ingenie - they say that they will put a note on her policy to state that she will be doing these placements, but that they will not class it as business journeys, and so no change in policy required.

Their customer service agent did keep me on hold for ages while he checked, so I assume he spoke with multiple people, but he came back with the above answer. As long as they've made a note on her account, I'm happy!

Thanks again for the helpful replies.

It's worth keeping a note of the agent's name and date and time of the call so it's easy to trace if necessary.

System

You're right to question it, if it was work she was going to then her insurance wouldn't cover her under commuting. As an agency worker going to multiple clients I need business insurance.

Adding the type of business insurance needed to do this is usually free. Certainly in all the years I've been doing it with many different insurers my quotes have never risen due to it. It only goes up and by a considerable amount when you're doing business travel for hire and reward, i,e getting paid to do the driving such as courier work or paid passengers.

Manxman_in_exile

Rodtheplod wrote: »

OK - spoke to Ingenie - they say that they will put a note on her policy to state that she will be doing these placements, but that they will not class it as business journeys, and so no change in policy required.

Their customer service agent did keep me on hold for ages while he checked, so I assume he spoke with multiple people, but he came back with the above answer. As long as they've made a note on her account, I'm happy!

Thanks again for the helpful replies.

I think I'd be asking for confirmation in writing or email. At least make sure you have a proper record of the telecon.