Business use or commuting?

TheYoda

Mrs Yoda and I have a car insured SDP and commuting. Our beloved daughter has now passed her test and we've added her to our insurance (good grief the cost was massive). Anyway, once a month or so the little one wants to take the car to her work. I'm quite happy that this means the insurance is valid.

However, a couple of her workmates live round the corner and she also wants to give them a lift. They won't be paying her, so again I think this is covered.

But, her boss is talking about moving staff around every few months so her usual place of business might change over time. Some online sites class this as business use but I can't really see that being the case. The business does not pay expenses to get to work.

Help please. (Obviously I don't want to ask the insurance company yet, business use for all named drivers would be about £4,000 extra - yes extra!.)

BoGoF

Usually commuting applies to a permanent place of employment. Her employer is effectively creating temporary workplaces.

One to discuss with your insurer but I think you will need business cover.

sevenhills

TheYoda wrote: »

But, her boss is talking about moving staff around every few months so her usual place of business might change over time. Some online sites class this as business use but I can't really see that being the case. The business does not pay expenses to get to work.

My understanding is that if you are travelling to a place of work, that is commuting. Travelling to a place of work, them to another place of work, would not be commuting, but business use.

TheYoda

She would be at one place for a few weeks/months, then another for a few weeks/months: never travelling during the working day between sites.

BoGoF

But then she doesn't have a permanent place of employment.

But the only people that can answer is your insurer.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

BoGoF wrote: »

Usually commuting applies to a permanent place of employment. Her employer is effectively creating temporary workplaces.

One to discuss with your insurer but I think you will need business cover.

Never used to be business.

Car_54

1. AFAIK cover for commuting usually only applies to the policy-holder.
2. £4,000 is ludicrous. Posters here and in other forums have reported £20 or less for the sort of business use the OP describes.
3. OP really needs to speak to the insurer. Any misunderstanding could be very expensive in the event of a claim.

Shaun_of_the_Dead

Car_54 wrote: »

1. AFAIK cover for commuting usually only applies to the policy-holder.
2. £4,000 is ludicrous. Posters here and in other forums have reported £20 or less for the sort of business use the OP describes.
3. OP really needs to speak to the insurer. Any misunderstanding could be very expensive in the event of a claim.

Are you sure, I've just looked at two policies.

One has business use for all drivers, the second is social domestic and pleasure plus commuting. It names three drivers and no exclusion to commuting only by the policy holder.

£20 for a new young driver with business cover is optimistic.

Car_54

Shaun_of_the_Dead wrote: »

Are you sure, I've just looked at two policies.

One has business use for all drivers, the second is social domestic and pleasure plus commuting. It names three drivers and no exclusion to commuting only by the policy holder.

Not sure, that’s why I said AFAIK!

Scrapit

For 4k a year it would be cheaper for her to get her own motor surely?

Herzlos

Business cover usually means a single place of work, so she's probably ok going to site X for a few months and then site Y, but she couldn't mix them (X monday-Thursday and Y on a Friday).



You'd need to check with the insurers in case changing location every few months means more than one place of work.



Giving passengers a lift should be OK as long as she doesn't profit from it - IIRC petrol money is OK.