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What is business use car insurance?

What is personal business use car insurance?

Lots of us need to drive for work as well as everyday use, but the average car insurance policy only covers you for commuting.

So if you use your car for work, and your driving needs go beyond a typical commute – then a standard policy might not cover you in the way you expect.

The good news is that tailored personal business car insurance is easy to find and extremely flexible. So if you need to drive on behalf of your company – such as visit customers, travel between different work-related locations or transport employees – then it is the perfect solution.

Who is standard business car insurance for?

This type of business car insurance is primarily for drivers who need to use their car for anything other than the usual commute to a single location, or who clock up a lot of miles on the road.

Because of the number of miles these drivers are accruing, a lot of insurance providers will insist on a separate policy for business use. This means higher premiums, and more inconvenience setting it up. Additional miles and locations equal additional risk for them, but this isn’t necessarily the case.

In order to avoid paying a higher premium adding business car insurance to your cover, It could be tempting to stick to standard cover and hope for the best. But this could cause you big problems in the future. If it made your policy invalid, then it’s essentially the same as not having insurance at all for those journeys.

What kinds of business car insurance are there?

There are two kinds of business car insurance, much like standard car insurance: annual and short term cover.

If you want to purchase an annual policy, you need to look very closely at the different options and the price, to check you’re buying the right one and getting the best deal. If you’re looking for cheap short term insurance – for instance, to use for a specific business-related trip or project – then things are a lot simpler, and the price won’t vary quite as much.

At Tempcover we work with a panel of insurers, each with slightly different acceptance criteria to help us find short term cover for the widest possible range of people.

Am I eligible for personal business car insurance?

If you think you might need business car insurance, you still need to check if you are eligible.

Different insurers have different rules on who they will cover. On the whole you should be able to find personal business car insurance as long as you tick the following boxes. You need to:

  • Be between 18-78 years old
  • Have had a driving licence for at least six months
  • Drive a vehicle with eight seats or less
  • Be insuring your car for at least £500 and not more than £65,000
  • Not received more than 6pts in the last two years or 7pts in the previous five years
  • Not have been disqualified in the past two years

If you can answer yes for all of those, or nearly all, then you should be able to find temporary personal business use car insurance that suits you.

Why should I choose short term cover?

If you need to borrow a car for work or have recently bought a new vehicle that you plan to use for business as well as social and everyday trips, temporary car insurance could save you both time and money.

We include personal business use in all our temporary car insurance policies, so there’s no need to take out a separate policy or even give further details on your mileage or the number of locations you’ll be taking in for business use.

You can select short cover for less than a day (from one hour up to 12 hours), cover for an entire day or even just one month at a time. Whatever you select, you’ll get comprehensive cover for your journeys as standard, and you won’t be restricted in terms of where or when you can make them.

This kind of flexibility is ideal if you’re on a short trip, such as away on a course for work. It makes it easy to share the drive with one of your colleagues, and if you want to drive their car but don’t fancy paying for a full annual policy or the hassle of changing their existing policy, this kind of short term cover is just the thing to give you just what you need and nothing more.

It’s also the perfect solution if you have your own business and are taking on a new employee. Temporary cover makes it quick and simple to get them going in a company vehicle, so they can stay busy while you sort out an appropriate annual policy.

Getting an online quote is easy. You can do it at any time, and you can even select when you want the police to start – right down to a specific minute. If you need cover instantly, that’s fine too. You’ll be emailed your policy documents, so as soon as that arrives you’re good to go. No waiting, around just hit the road.

What does business car insurance cover?

Hopefully you won’t have any issues on the road, but that’s why you have taken out insurance after all. If something happens, you need to know what you’re covered for.

A temporary short term business use policy with Tempcover will cover you for what’s generally referred to as Business Class 1.

It’s the lowest level of business cover, but it should provide more than enough for the vast majority of personal business uses – allowing you to drive between multiple places of work throughout the policy’s duration. So whether you’re attending meetings, conducting sales calls or performing house visits, you can be sure you’ve got the cover you need.

Our short term insurance also gives you cover for everyday social and domestic driving, as well as commuting to a single permanent workplace. Which means you’ve got everything covered, from trips to the shops to family days out and your daily drive to work.

Please note; it won’t cover you for certain specific work duties. Courier purposes, commercial travel (when you are permanently on the road for business) selling goods or services on the road, and taxis driving (hire or reward) are not covered. It also doesn’t cover you for transporting hazardous goods, or driving in hazardous locations. If you want cover for any of these activities, you’ll need to look to a specialist insurer.

How can I get personal business car insurance?

Just get in touch with our team and we’ll help you get a quick and easy quote.

Find out how we can help you
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