Car Business Insurance for taking a friends kid to school

Nick9967

Hi all wonder if anyone is knowledgeable enough to know the specifics of the following:

For a number of years we have taken a friends 2 children to the secondary school that my child attends, no issues.

My wife recently accepted an admin position at the same school.

She has now been shown a letter from the school to the parents of the other children asking them to sign a form allowing us to take their kids to school, not an issue i thought but 1 of the points states the fact that we (because my wife is now employed by the school) should have business insurance on our cars.

Now of course I'm not happy about this, and want to be sure of my facts - any help appreciated

thanks

DE_612183

That I would have thought was for people who run a child sitting business - not someone who gives a lift to a neighbours child

marcia_

 If she is a school employee and giving lifts to  pupils from the same school they are probably within their rights to insist on business cover. 

JGB1955

I used to work as a school administrator and had business use added to my insurance for those occasions when I was asked to (for instance) take a group to an away football match, drop a sick child off at home, etc etc.  The additional cost was £0.  

daveyjp

Ask the school why she needs business cover and where the schools advice has come from.

She will be giving lifts as part of her normal commute.  Social, domestic and commuting cover is all that is required.  As she will not be being reimbursed by the school for the mileage to and from school or charging the parents for the lifts there is no need for business cover.

If as part of her role someone asks her to take something by car off site during working hours and will be reimbursed the cost she will need business cover.

Nick9967

Hi all thanks for your replies, your thoughts are similar to mine, i was really after someone who could categorically state the facts, i don't want to go half armed if I'm going to dispute it. 

DullGreyGuy

Business insurance wouldn't cover paying passengers anyway. 

Assuming their is no material renumeration, beyond simply covering costs, there would be no need for Hire & Reward insurance nor Business. Obviously she is using her car to commute so would need SDP&C. 

That said, in most cases adding Business Class 1 to insurance is no different in price to SDP&C and so just in case she ever needs to use the car to go to an offsite, a meeting at another location etc then business is sensible but nothing to do with giving a lift. 

Aretnap

There's legislaton which specifically says that car-sharing agreements are not to be considered business or commercial use for insurance purposes, provided any money that changes hands is no more than a fair share of the costs of the journey.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/150

So the only plausible reason why she might need anything more than bog-standard SDP and commuting cover is if the school considers that bringing the friend's children to school is part of her job, rather than a private arrangement. In which case, tell them that she'll be claiming mileage for it. (The usual test of whether or not a journey requires business cover is whether you can claim travelling expenses for it).

(Strictly speaking the legislation only applies to the compulsory third partyy part of your insurance, so in theory an insurer could reduce cover to third party only while car-sharing if she didn't have business/hire and reward cover. But I can't imagine any insurer trying to do this in practice, and even if they did it's definitely none of the school's business whether she insures her car comprhensive or third party only.)

sheramber

You could ask her insurance company. They are the people who will  make the final decision.

Nick9967

Thanks all Aretnap i think you're right , but to be safe going toc all her insurance and double check , although i wanted to avoid this cos once you mentioned it!"!!!

user1977

How much is it going to cost to add business use?