Buisness insurance

settol

Hi all,

Im a service engineer traveling from home to various sites around the south of England. I have buisness insurance but it does not cover "commercial travelling ". My company demand i change my insurance to class 3 buisness but I don't believe this is needed.

Any help or advice would be welcome.

flaneurs_lobster

This would be for your vehicle?

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6667536/buisness-insurance

So, you are an employee on PAYE and have your own van which you use for your employer's business and there is some mechanism for your mileage costs to be reimbursed. Is that correct?

The employer requires that you have full business insurance for the van including "commercial travelling". You need to have the level of insurance the employer requires - even if you do not consider your activities to be "commercial travelling", if the employer does, then an insurer would likely take the same interpretation. Have you found out how much extra that level of cover will cost? Sometimes, the variance is less than expected.

Assuming you can obtain the level of cover required, this then only becomes a discussion about who pays the extra premium. It might self-resolve if the extra premium is small.

If you cannot obtain the level of cover required, or cannot obtain that cover at a sensible premium, what other options does the employer offer? Is a company vehicle available as a choice?

settol

Sorry should have said its my own car, i have never in the last 6 yrs been told i need anything other than standard buisness insurance hence the question. Thank you for your replies so far.

Baldytyke88

Standard Business Use (Class 1/2): Covers occasional visits to other locations or commuting to work.

Commercial Travelling (Class 3): Covers extensive, regular driving to multiple locations.

Grumpy_chap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81992712#Comment_81992712

Quite often, the change in premium for Class 3 is not very much at all, even compared with no business use.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6667536/buisness-insurance

Class 1 and 2 are basically the same other than who can do the driving, it represents something more than commuting but where the actual driving is incidental to the job. The classic example is the manager who works at the local office most the time but occasionally goes to HQ in another city. Their job isnt being on the road it's just a practicality of getting to HQ. You'd also expect them to be carry little more than a laptop and maybe a Flipchart in the car because again it's just about moving the person to where they need to be.

I'd agree with your employer that it's likely you need at least class 3 which is designed for jobs where being on the road is a fundamental part of the job. The normal given example is the travelling sales rep… they dont carry goods (beyond demonstration items) but are constantly on the road travelling between potential leads. A service engineer is very much in the same vein. Presumably the vehicle also carries a range of tools and equipment which may or may not be needed at different jobs which again points to it being much more than incidental.

Class 3 typically isnt that much more than class 1 and is a long way from Hire & Reward prices (taxis, couriers etc)