I work for a company which has sites in Scotland and SW England. Soon, I will have to travel from my base in England to the Scottish sites once or twice a month. The company will pay me expenses based on the actual mileage. As far as my insurance company is concerned is this business use or can I claim that I am using my car to simply travel to my place of work? My assumption is that since travelling to the local factory every morning is covered (I always ask if travelling to work is covered by the policy) then so is travelling to Scotland when I need to work in the Scottish factory. However, I am worried that since a mileage allowance is paid then I may not be covered.
Should I inform my insurers of this forthcoming change and if so will it increase my premiums.
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Based on the mileage between the two sites your first trip will more than cover the cost of the additional insurance - some companies base the increase on the number of business miles you will do per annum, some companies such as Liverpool and Victoria include business use automatically on every policy.
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Robin,
As I understand it, this type of insurance covers a commute to normal place of work only, ie for which you are not paid mileage expenses. If you are paid expenses to another location (even if you travel direct from home) then this is business use.
For this reason (I occasionally use my car to attend meetings at other universities) I added type 1 (I think that is what they called it) business use to my Esure policy....it did not change the cost at all.
I simply told the sales advisor by phone the circumstances and they said that business use would be required and would be added at no cost. I dont think this would include carrying samples or saleman type use however.
hth
Ian L
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Both the wife and i have Business use on our Direct Line policies. Class 1 is the terminlogy. I believe that we pay no additional premium for this.
Sounds like you need to up your cover
HTH
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Also technically if you carry anything to do with the business then it is business use regardless of where you are going. In theory taking a file home with you counts as business use.
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First look on your policy and see what it says about usage.
Providing you are only receiving expenses then that is an irrelevance.
If you have;
SD&P only - then you need to tell your insurer
SD&P incl travel to and from one permanent place of work - then you need to tell your insurer
SD&P incl travel to & from various - you're fine
Business use - you're fine
All of which assumes that;
the policy is in your name.
its to & from your own company's premises, or else its business use.
If its to & from cusomter premises, but on appointment, if not its probably commercial travelling and the use required will depend on your business.
That you do not carry tools, spares, samples etc. etc.
If you have a doubt, then tell your insurer. Except for commercial travelling it is unlikely to affect your premium.
M.
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This is what my employer states.
"If you are using your car on company business your policy must include a clause indemnifying your employer or be endorsed with such a clause. This is normally under the Third Party Liability section of your policy and the following or similar wording is used.
'If death or bodily injury or damage to property is caused by or arises out of the use of the insured car or an attached trailer the insurer will indemnify any employer of the insured'.
In addition to the above, your insurance policy must also include cover for the correct class of use. There are a number of possible classes the insurer may use, so it is important that you advise them of your anticipated business mileage, frequency of use, and that your business mileage will be reimbursed to you by your employer."
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"your car on company business "
That's not the same as to & from or even to & from various. Hence the need to understand the policy usage clause and the actual use.
"Company business" would usually mean travelling to customer and/or supplier premises, or at least premises not owned or booked by your employer.
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I have Class 1 business use, and I think that covers only travel to pre-booked appointments. Made little or no difference to premium.
I think other classes cover "commercial travelling", i.e. working round a number of locations without appointments, and would add cost.
Class 1 should cover the original post's situation with room to spare and litle extra expense.
If in doubt, always ask the insurer. Doesn't matter what we say on here if they don't agree.
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I am glad this question was raised...just upgraded my Insurance at no extra cost (could of been a potential minefield If I hadn't)...thanks folks..
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I had problems getting quotes for 50k business miles a year, then phoned Direct Line, no problem and the price of the policy was the same as others wanted for normal cover, I phoned back twice to make sure they had it right. They also cover a courtesy cars f.o.c. providing the cc is not greater than your own.
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Just to confirm what has been said.
Last year SWMBO had to attend a training course at another of her company's building in the town, same mileage as to her normal place of work just opposite direction. One of her colleagues mentioned about insurance and when she checked with her insurance company they confirmed that she needed to upgrade, as they said 'to your normal place of work' means exactly that. No charge for the upgrade, Directline, but could have been an expensive oversight. Just shows how pedantic some policies can be, best rule of thumb is to always speak to your insurer, at least then they can't claim ignorance should anything happen.
Cockle
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Thanks to everyone who answered my question. I'll give my insurance co., Direct Line, a call when I come back from my holidays.
Robin
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