Car Insurance - Commuting or SPD

vsah09

I have never needed my car for commuting as I walk to the station and travel into London by train however now i have moved house and 98% of the time work from home meaning my car is hardly used. When I do go in to the office I walk to the station and then go in my train. As I'm not using my car much during the week other than very small trips across town I take it to a family member once a week who is the other named driver on the policy who gives it a run around mainly shopping trips to stop the battery from dying. If I drove to the family member's house which is a short distance from mine and left my car with the other named driver and then walked to the station to go to the office in London would this be classed as commuting? My instinct is no as my purpose for driving my car is to take it to the other named driver who is then solely using it for leisure trips but I just wanted to check that I'm definitely covered even if I then go to work afterwards. Sorry if this is a silly question, I don't want to find myself in trouble for misinterpreting the cover.

Sandtree

Commuting and even class 1 business adds almost nothing (or in many cases, absolutely nothing) to the cost of the policy and so personally always included it anyway just because for that one time you need to go to a different office and drive (business use) or you are late and its bucketing down so you drive to the station (commuting)  you are fully covered and no admin fee needed for a mid term adjustment to add it.

vsah09

I think that's what I'll do next time to be on the safe side, thank you! The only time my car has been parked at the station is on a weekend when going into London to see a show so perhaps I'm overthinking this but the last thing I would want to do is invalidate my insurance as a result of a different interpretation. Would you think the above is commuting?

sheramber

Driving to the station to take the train to work is considered commuting by some insurers. Whether driving to leave it with someone else is the same only your insurer could answer.

Sandtree

vsah09 said:

I think that's what I'll do next time to be on the safe side, thank you! The only time my car has been parked at the station is on a weekend when going into London to see a show so perhaps I'm overthinking this but the last thing I would want to do is invalidate my insurance as a result of a different interpretation. Would you think the above is commuting?

Its a grey area... there was a case on here a month or two ago where someone didnt have commuting but had drive from work to a friends/relative to pick something up or such and then driven from the friends to home and during that second leg had an accident. 

There was some debate on if that second leg was still part of the commute or not with the insurer saying it was and so the non-disclosure being more relevant than if it had been a social trip.

vsah09

It's sounding like it's just much safer to have everything covered and not leave anything open to interpretation. I can see in the New Year I could easily be in this situation if I have to go in more often and also if my partner returned to the office after working from home for nearly 2 years. 

Bigwheels1111

If you are only doing low milage have a look at by miles.
You pay a small amount for fully comp, then a per mile charge.
Covers business commuting etc.