RAC "business use" surcharge?

UserError

Just renewed my RAC & the chap said I had to pay an extra business premium because as we're self-employed and "drive to different places of work" or something.  

Unfortunately he had a strong accent & the line was quiet so I  never got to the bottom of it.  

Seems that as an employee, I could commute to the next county daily, racking up hundreds of miles a week on my car, but my wife occasionally goes to a meeting in the next town & that increases our breakdown risk?  Apparently it's a new law/regulation but I can't find it.  Can anyone shed any light?  
Many thanks

user1977

Don’t think it’s new at all, just reminding you what the terms of the cover are.

Car_54

Yes, cars “used for business” have been excluded for at least a decade.

UserError

Interesting.  Somehow never cropped up before - we've been S/E for over a decade now!  Still feels like a cash grab or at the very least we're caught at the wrong end of the scale.  There must be stacks of desk-based s/e types who occasionally go to a meeting or meet a client (I've never once met any of mine) yet we're lumped in with trades who drive all over the place day in day out.  
Can anyone tell me what the basis of this is or point me in the right direction with some search terms (my previous attempts just come up with bussiness cove, fleets etc).  I accept that we're stuck with it, but I like to at least know a bit about the treasures I'm spending my dosh on.

UserError

Pretty sure he said it came in in the last 12 months, but I only got about 30% of what he was saying.  Not really acceptable for legal stuff, but you can't say "may I speak to someone who speaks English please?" I got damn close though.

DullGreyGuy

Car_54 said:

Yes, cars “used for business” have been excluded for at least a decade.

A lot longer than that! Was a thing when I first worked in insurance 25 years ago and it was far from new then. 

UserError said:

Just renewed my RAC & the chap said I had to pay an extra business premium because as we're self-employed and "drive to different places of work" or something.  

Unfortunately he had a strong accent & the line was quiet so I  never got to the bottom of it.  

Seems that as an employee, I could commute to the next county daily, racking up hundreds of miles a week on my car, but my wife occasionally goes to a meeting in the next town & that increases our breakdown risk?  Apparently it's a new law/regulation but I can't find it.  Can anyone shed any light?  
Many thanks

Presumably we are talking Motor Insurance here and not Breakdown?

Commuting cover typically covers driving to a single permanent place of work or any part of such a journey (eg driving to the train station). So if you work at multiple sites or you have meetings at different sites etc Commuting cover won't be sufficient and you need Business Class 1 which covers the policyholder to drive in relation to their work as long as the driving is a practical matter of getting you to work rather than being a fundamental part of the job... eg a travelling sales person needs Class 3 and if your a courier you need Hire & Reward. 

For most companies there is minimal difference in price between Commuting and Business Class 1 and so its one of those things where its sensible to get it if you do commute just in case one day you are asked to work from a different site etc.

Okell

UserError said:

Pretty sure he said it came in in the last 12 months, but I only got about 30% of what he was saying.  Not really acceptable for legal stuff, but you can't say "may I speak to someone who speaks English please?" I got damn close though.

You can't if he's already speaking English, but if you can't understand what he's saying because of his accent there's nothing to stop you telling him to repeat it until he does so clearly enough for you to understand him.

Why don't you call back and try to speak to a different agent to confirm?

Bigphil1474

I read it as to mean breakdown cover, not insurance where business use might be needed.

OP, I get RAC through my bank and it specifically says it doesn't cover me if I'm driving for work even in my own car. Fortunately, although there haven't been many, all my breakdowns have been when I wasn't at work.

Car_54

DullGreyGuy said:

Car_54 said:

Yes, cars “used for business” have been excluded for at least a decade.

A lot longer than that! Was a thing when I first worked in insurance 25 years ago and it was far from new then. 

Yes, I'd assumed we were talking about breakdown cover, but it appears not.

sheramber

 but my wife occasionally goes to a meeting in the next town & that increases our breakdown risk

THat sounds like breakdown cover.

He may have meant it was a new term that RAC have applied to their breakdown cover.

mills705

Most breakdown companies differentiate between personal and commercially used vehicles. IE someone commuting daily in their vehicle vs a self employed plumber who has a van. 
I think many people over the years have bought the personal cover in the belief that they will be covered in their work van but companies may now be seeing it as a way to enforce correct terms to manage costs.