Don’t know if anyone can help with this one.
If I buy a works van, and get all my staff to drive it on thier own third party insurance then do I need to insure it anyway?
If not how do I get TAX (as I need to show that it is insured), and will it not come up on the police/DVLC system as being uninsured?
Does anyone know anything on this one?
Dave
Hi
If the van is registered in your personal name, then you would need insurance on the van to cover yourself driving it, and to tax it, and for it to be technically road legal.
If it is for all your staff, then it might be worth registering the van in the works name, and then taking a business poilicy out on it. That way it is insured fully comp for everyone. If any of your guys had an accident, it would effect their personal insurance, which i dont think they would be too happy about. They would then be paying out of their insurance to have any 3rd party repaired. However - what about your van?A block policy would also be a darn site cheaper than say having the van written of by a member of staff, and then being in a total loss situation for the van.
HTH
Cheers
Mike
We did have a van a couple of years ago and one of my guys wrote it off. The people in the car he hit then claimed whiplash etc. The last time I tried to insure a car for work for all drivers was about £4.5k third party due to the claim still going on.
I was hoping that if everyone drove on thier own third party I would get away without a huge insurance bill. The van was only going to be a couple of thousand pounds.
Dave
I have heard that if someone has 2 or more cars (business or not) then they find it cheaper to go for trade insurance instead of insuring each car separately, a bit like what garages have.
It might be worth getting a few quotes. Plus your Mrs (if you have one!) would be covered as well 
I believe most policies will allow a driver to drive a car not owned or hired to him with minimum legal cover. However, the policy will also state “not for hire or reward”, which I would take as meaning not if you’re being paid to drive it.
As far as my understanding goes drivers will only be covered to drive the another car on there own policy if:
a) the car does not belong to or is leased to them,
b) the car is insured in someone elses name.
So firstly you would have to have the van registered and insured in your name. Also i’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to use it for work use. The third party cover thing is meant for emergency use only.
How many drivers would there be and how old is the youngest? I think my company pays circa £600 for all drivers over 25 on the company BMW 318 so not bad at all.
All my guys are under 25!
Dave
That will be your problem then! Are most over 21 as you can get policies or over 21’s too?
alot of insurance companys wont let you drive another vehicle third party if u are under 25 i have found
To answer your question in my view.
If they are driving it using their insurance (third party) then they need to be fully comp. They also need to have business use stated on their policy.
You would need some insurance to tax the van.
If you dont have any insurance then it will not be covered for theft, fire or any damge to the van in an own fault claim.
Last time I got a quote for business insurance they wanted £2500 or £2800 to insure vehicles on our premises that we were working on but they would also include our personal vehicles.
Even if you add up the insurance paid on personal policies on all the boy’s cars [GTO, 700bhp skyline and an Impreza] it was working out cheaper to insure everything personally and get a separate policy for public liability etc.
All my vans are full comp, any driver, 17 years upwards, as so far the only cost that really seems to change is the excess cost, £150 for us older ones, £650 for the younger ones.
Very reasonable cost (although I always moan a little! lol)
They don’t need Fully Comp to get “Driving of other cars” benefit. However the benefit states it is “any car not owned or hired to you for social, domestic and pleasure use only”. This means they can’t use it for business use. Sorry but you do need a commercial policy. :x
I believe Vinyla is reffering to a Motor Traders Policy which covers all cars in your “care custody and control” for the people on the policy. If you have young drivers I guess the cost would be HUGE :shock: