Ring fencing other drivers from a business policy

cakster

I run a business. I'm a sole trader - so this means NOT a Ltd company, and we have a van for doing deliveries of our own goods, basically. We do the odd trip to the cash and carry, too.

Besides me, there is another driver insured on the 'business' policy. I put 'business' policy in inverted commas, because when I look at the policy, it's basically in my name, not the name of the business.

A few months ago this employee had an accident and drove into the wing mirror of a a car which was parked half on the pavement, half on the road. This was a really stressful event for everyone involved because at one point it looked like EVERYONE'S premium was about go up:

- the shop's policy (in my name)
- his personal car policy
- my personal car policy (as I would have made a claim!)

Is there any way we can ring fence accidents from affecting each other's policies?

One idea I had was, as this employee does 95% of the driving in the work van, would be to transfer the insurance into his name only? And then if the shop just pays the bill? Not sure if this is ethical or legal, however. Would welcome ideas and advice.

Thank you!

sal_III

It's not very clear from your post, but sounds like the person driving the car wasn't named on the policy, so presumably he was driving under his personal policy which covers him from driving other cars.

In which case it should be a meter of informing your insurance provider of the fact and let them reclaim the money from the insurance of the guilty party - the employee driving the car. At which point it should be filed as non-fault claim on your part and not affect your premiums by much.

Ask your insurer to be sure of the best way to handle this, when you call to report the incident.

cakster

sal_III wrote: »

It's not very clear from your post, but sounds like the person driving the car wasn't named on the policy, so presumably he was driving under his personal policy which covers him from driving other cars.

Ah, sorry, my fault for being unclear. It was the named driver who was driving the van at the time. I'll amend my OP slightly to clarify. The whole business is wrapped up. We just want to limit any future drama to the individual driver concerned.

MEM62

You are a sole trader. In essence that means that you and the business are one and the same. There is no provision in insurances for the type of segregation that you are looking for. If you want personal segregation from your business then consider registering it as a LTD company.

cakster

MEM62 wrote: »

You are a sole trader. In essence that means that you and the business are one and the same. There is no provision in insurances for the type of segregation that you are looking for. If you want personal segregation from your business then consider registering it as a LTD company.

I'd feared as much. What about setting up a ltd company for a man with van business which could

a) invoice the sole trader business a nominal amount for any deliveries undertaken for it
b) carry out additional man with van services which would be an additional revenue stream?

thanks

molerat

The only person insurance wise you will be able to protect is yourself. The driver's own policy will always be impacted if they are involved in an incident, you need to divorce yourself from the van owner so why not just set your business up as a ltd co.



A general goods insurance is likely to be more expensive than own goods insurance plus have you got the slack to carry on another business ?

sal_III

If you are going to register and run a ltd. you might as well shift all of your business to it, for the significant tax advantages. You can carry any number of activities through 1 company.