# Business use on insurance??



## Darlofan

Following on from my last insurance thread.

Wife just renewed insurance, she now works from home so she removed the business part of it and went to SDP with commuting(cheaper and she attends a couple of team meetings a year.)

Workplace use a company to check licence, car mot, insurance etc is all in place. 

She uploaded her new insurance to receive an email saying she has no business use on it.

She explained she works from home and would only use car to get to the odd team meeting(usually she drives to station and gets the train.)

They are insisting that would be business use so will need it!

Thoughts on this appreciated.


----------



## Andy from Sandy

Is she PAYE with the company? Do they pay business mileage?

You cannot claim mileage to your place of work but you can claim from normal workplace to another site. Is the team meetings at her normal place of work or elsewhere?

Is she carrying business items whilst driving?

As a permanent employee should the company want you to use your private car for business use I don't think it unreasonable you get compensated in some way.


----------



## pxr5

My wife had business use on her car for the last 2 years. The premiums were no different in price when adding business.


----------



## Andyblue

Adding business class 1 (I think), which is travelling to another place of work in connection with your business - doesn’t alter my or wife’s premium (indeed, some insurance companies are now including as standard). 

If your wife will be using her car for business and then claiming mileage allowance back, then yes, it is needed and they’re correct, if this is not the case, then I’m not sure they could insist she have it as she’s not claiming / using her car for work purposes...


----------



## Darlofan

Right, the mileage question I hadn't thought of and makes sense. She can claim mileage allowance but tends not to because of the short trip to train station.
I know the cost on premium isn't much extra, she's going to ring and get it added. Of course there will most likely be an admin fee as well now🙄


----------



## Shiny

Commuting is only commuting to your normal/permanent place of work. So if you work at office A, but twice a year go to office B for a meeting, you need Class 1 business use.

If her place of work is office A and the meetings are held at office A, then she only needs SDP&C.

Her contract may say that she may need to use her car for business and she is to have business on her policy, just in case she needs to drive to the post office, bank, another office for example.

Arguably now her permanent place of work is her home, so she if drives to office A then she may need business use. Something i've not really looked into before, but it stands to reason. Even if her own insurers are OK classing this as commuting, her employers may insist on business use to avoid any problems.


----------



## Darlofan

Shiny said:


> Commuting is only commuting to your normal/permanent place of work. So if you work at office A, but twice a year go to office B for a meeting, you need Class 1 business use.
> 
> If her place of work is office A and the meetings are held at office A, then she only needs SDP&C.
> 
> Her contract may say that she may need to use her car for business and she is to have business on her policy, just in case she needs to drive to the post office, bank, another office for example.
> 
> Arguably now her permanent place of work is her home, so she if drives to office A then she may need business use. Something i've not really looked into before, but it stands to reason. Even if her own insurers are OK classing this as commuting, her employers may insist on business use to avoid any problems.


Thanks, looks like work will insist as mileage is paid. If insurer tries charging an admin fee I've told her to tell work she's sold her car and will be using me or taxis to get around. 😁


----------



## Derek Mc

I have toyed with the idea myself but have always kept an element of business use on my policy as trips to H.O and the very now occasional trip to meet up with a client for a coffee means I just wouldn't want to risk it really.


----------



## Tykebike

Not that it affect me as I am retired but if you work from home do you need to change your home insurance to reflect this? Another thought is that if you are carrying office equipment in your car e.g laptop and it gets stolen does SDP type insurance cover it?


----------



## Andy from Sandy

Another question is if you have a prang and are carrying office equipment without business insurance will the company void the policy deeming you to be carrying out a business journey?


----------



## Darlofan

Andy from Sandy said:


> Another question is if you have a prang and are carrying office equipment without business insurance will the company void the policy deeming you to be carrying out a business journey?


Not sure. What if you work from home part of the week and were just driving home with laptop?

Anyway, regarding my wife's predicament. Policy could be amended online so we could check. They wanted £36 more for business to be added. Wife decided(I wouldn't have) to add it just for ease. I suspect there is an admin fee built in but no breakdown of cost just an additional amount to pay. Excessive when you think her annual premium was only £130 to start with


----------



## Shiny

Tykebike said:


> Not that it affect me as I am retired but if you work from home do you need to change your home insurance to reflect this? Another thought is that if you are carrying office equipment in your car e.g laptop and it gets stolen does SDP type insurance cover it?


You should notify your home insurers, most should be fine with clerical work. Manual work (take note valeters/detailers working from home) or customer visits to your home may not be acceptable or have restrictions imposed.

If you only have SDP and are carrying office equipment, then it is likely you are using your car for business so won't be covered. Commuting will be ok, provided of course your SDP includes commuting on your certificate. If you are retired for example, you probably won't have commuting cover.



Andy from Sandy said:


> Another question is if you have a prang and are carrying office equipment without business insurance will the company void the policy deeming you to be carrying out a business journey?


The purpose of the journey will be asked/established. If the use at the time of the accident is not covered on the certificate/policy, then no cover is in place for the accident as the person was not insured.


----------



## muzzer

When i used to have my own car, i had to have business insurance to cover occasional use for work purposes.
Now i have one car and the wife uses it, so no more business insurance and i'm walking to work daily.


----------

