The question is: does a driver require business class insurance on their personal policy if they are using their car for the purpose of work, regardless of what insurance policy third parties (your employer) may hold? I would be interested to hear views with any cited references. Andrew

SPR No argument there. However, the question relates to those people who think they don't require the addition on their personal policy as their employers policy provides cover for staff using their own car. This appears to be a more complex matter. I am uncertain if you don't have it own you own personal policy your insurer won't honour your policy regardless of the employers insurer doing so. Conversely no reporting the incident to your own insurer and letting the claim in directly from your employers is equally concerning, as your personal policy requires you to inform your insurer of any RTC. B Andrew

Andrew Firstly check with the companies insurer and see what they say, I think you might find that a vehicle can only be covered by one insurance policy and it is that of the registered keeper. Does the company pay the employee to use there vehicle for company travel? If the answer is yes the payment is deemed to be used for hire and reward therefore they should have business use on their own policy. I went through this several years ago with insurers and this was the definition they gave. We then required those persons being paid mileage allowance to produce not only their driving licence and MOT annually but also their insurance, if no business cover they were not entitled to a reimbursement.

achrn - driving other cars extension is no longer universal and many insurers are starting to drop it, particularly for higher risk groups. It was being heavily abused. The cover it provides is only Third Party in any event, worth bearing in mind next time you borrow a mates Ferrari. Business use cover comes in various grades. Class 1 covers somebody who visits different locations as part of their work so a H&S consultant, surveyor, accountant etc. visiting clients would need to add this to their policy if using their own cars. Class 3 business use cover (the number varies with some insurers) would be needed if you were transporting goods or patients. Also used for people selling door to door and carrying goods. An employers EL and PL (Employers / public) liability policies do not pick up motor cover. It is possible for Motor Contingent Liability cover to be purchased by an employer. This does not replace the primary cover but will step in and provide Third Party cover if the primary cover fails, e.g. the employee has failed to insure and the accident occured whilst at work. Finally, it is possible for an organisation to insure the third party liability aspect on an employees behalf. It is a very complex area and I've only seen it once - a very large fast food delivery company. The cost for the young, minimum wage drivers to add class 3 business use individually was too great, given the hours and locations they worked. The employer had the financial clout to organise a special policy that covered the TP liabilities for all drivers while engaged on company business. At the end of the day though, best advice is to speak to your insurance broker.

And don't forget to check the validity of the driving licence at least annually, our insurance provider insists it is done twice a year.

Off topic, but most insurers allow a grace period of 2 years (from current policy expiration) for you to reinsure and still use your ncb. I used this wisely recently, when moving roles and relinquishing a company car (and needed to buy and insure my own) - new policy start 1 year and 11 months after the expiration of my previous policy :-) I did a cost benefit analysis, using sample insurance quotes if I had to go back to 0 ncb - and it would have worked out cheaper to buy a £500 car and insure it to maintain ncb, than to do nothing and have to start again!! This was more pronounced as I’m a bit of a petrol head and use my ncb to insure fast cars!

John So it would appear that the employee driving a vehicle under 3rd party cover - which appears all Motor Contingent Liability can extend - may have 'domestic and commute' as a policy, but would need to inform their insurer that they are driving it for the occasional/frequent purposes of work under Motor Contingent Liability as their policy may not be valid. Naturally, this raises the question of whether the employer should be checking the employee insurance documentation for use of their own vehicle to ensure that this disclosure has been declared, otherwise the employer is endorsing something which is far from good practice. Andrew

Why do you say that? Why is the insurance cost different from (say) the MOT cost, or the VED cost, or even for that matter the fuel cost? Surely it's just part of the cost of motoring, and is deemed to be recompensed to the employee under the existing arrangements for use of the employees own private motor vehicle? (I'm assuming you are not of the view that employees should also cover VED, MOT etc costs - that may be a wrong assumption, though I think there would be tax implications if the employer did pay these things.)

Stevie40 - if you are being paid a mileage rate by your employer to use your own car the your car is being used "for hire and reward" this is similar to the person who delivers your takeaway using his car they are required to have business insurance. In my former life I worked for the local Police Operations Dept and was involved in the introduction of seizing vehicles under Section 165 of the Road traffic Act. During that time we seized takeaway drivers vehicles and also vehicles that were clearly being used for business purposes and their policies when checked with the ABI database were showing no cover for business use. Not only did the driver loose his vehicle for a period of time but also had to pay for his insurance upgrade and the release and storage of the vehicle. We also seized company cars where the driver did not have a driving licence i.e. they had been disqualified and prior to the disqualification had requested a replacement licence as they alleged they had lost their original one. What they presented to their employer was original licence. 1&1 = 2 the vehicle was returned to the employer's representative and the employee was dismissed for deception. Check employees driving documents annually i.e. MOT, Driving Licence and insurance if they drive on company business, also have written in your driving policy that you will dip sample driving records with an external organisation.

Don't assume that your insurance covers you for commuting either. Many online policies have it as an additional extra. Following one of my colleagues wives having an accident, and being told she had no cover, we all checked our policies. A lot of people were surprised to learn they weren't covered.

I agree with SPR regarding reporting any RTA to your insurers, one of our employees had an accident in a works 'pool' car and although the vehicle was fully covered under the employers policy, they still had to report it to their own insurers as being involved in an RTA increases your own level of risk which was all news to me!

One of my colleagues was delivering PPE/supplies to a site and was pulled over by traffic police, she was given a warning for inadequate insurance due to not having business cover, she got off lightly as this could have meant points and not for prizes.