subject: Understanding Commercial Vehicle Insurance [print this page] Irrespective of what type of vehicle you drive, having your vehicle insured is a legal requirement. In fact, being caught without insurance is quite a serious offence and if you're a repeat offender, you'll inevitably end up being banned from driving. If you then go ahead and drive and you're caught, you'll be facing a custodial sentence.
So, what has this got to do with commercial vehicle insurance? Well, many people, and particularly those who run a small business, often tend to think that because they use one vehicle for both private and business purposes, they can get away with using regular insurance. Unfortunately however, that's not the case. Even if you only use your vehicle once each week for the sake of your business, in the eyes of the law, it's a commercial vehicle, and it needs to be insured as such.
Let's for example say you're just nipping off down to the post office to send out an order you received from one of your customers. On the way there, someone drives into you and within moments the police arrive at the scene. They then need to write up a report, and believe it or not, but that report will also make mention of any goods in your vehicle.
Should the investigating officer notice that package you were about to post, and perhaps an invoice book or two, it will be mentioned in the report. When you then try to claim from the insurance company, they'll automatically ask for the police report, and once they see the vehicle was being used for business purposes, they're going to refuse honouring any claims unless you have commercial vehicle insurance. In other words, if you were driving on regular car insurance, they're not going to pay for any damage to be repaired.
Perhaps you're a private plumbing contractor, in which case you probably carry many thousands of pounds worth of tools and equipment in your van. If your van gets broken into and the thieves make off with your tools, how are you going to explain things to the insurance company if you only had regular insurance? After all, the average person doesn't lug all those tools around with them, and here again you'll be forced to pay for their replacement out of your own pocket.
Something else worth mentioning is that if you're in a collision, and you're the one at fault, you can expect them to throw the book at you if you're driving without the correct type of insurance. In this type of scenario, you're going to have two insurance companies breathing down your neck, and probably a very angry judge as well.
Commercial vehicle insurance does cost more than regular car insurance, but it doesn't cost that much more, at least not if you're willing to shop around for cover. With that in mind, is it really worth taking a chance just to save a few pounds each year? If you run a business, and you use your vehicle in your business, get the correct type of cover before it's too late.
by: Tom Jones
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