Advice re short term insurance

by **SadJack** » Monday 5 December 2011, 20:22

I might have to use another van for maybe three months. The one I have is too small for the work involved but I dont want to swap just yet in case things don't work out. If after a few weeks things are OK I will change my Berlingo for something more suitable.

I am looking to renting a van through Northgate. I was surprised that my current insurers want a full 12 months policy. I have also been in touch with the insurance company listed on the Northgate website. Strangely for a company associated with a van rental company, they do not do short term policies either.

My current company want me to transfer the policy to the larger rental van and insure the smaller one separetley on a simple van insurance. Seems like a lot of faff and expense for something that might only last weeks and then have to be reversed and the second policy cancelled.

I would expect to pay extra but as only one van will be driven at any one time, to take out a full 12 months second policy is putting me off doing the gig at all, after all it might all fall flat. Its a new venture and I'm being a bit cautious.

Anyone have any experience of short term insurance policies for courier work? Do such things actually exist? Do I have to just bite the bullet and pay up?

I would appreciate a bit of guidance.

Cheers

Tony

by **TOM6351** » Monday 5 December 2011, 20:42

hi.jack? what you need is both vans on one policy your broker can arrange this for you.

by **SadJack** » Monday 5 December 2011, 20:48

Thanks Tom

Bollingtons are being a bit awkward about that. Want me to take out a second policy at another 2k!!!

Like you I thought they would charge some extra for the weeks I wanted but apparently not

by **TOM6351** » Monday 5 December 2011, 21:05

insure the berlingo third party only SDP but if you need it for work just wing it and dont have an accident. :idea:

(ps i dont condone the miss use of insurance policies)

by **SadJack** » Monday 5 December 2011, 21:23

Yeah thats basically what Bollingtons are suggesting. (Well apart from the winging it bit

)

I was just wondering (hoping) there was a way to do a short term policy.

Seems a waste of money and effort to swap the vans around, pay extra, take out a 2nd policy, then after a few weeks sack it all and go back to how it was if it dont work out.

If no-one here knows of short term policies then they dont exist :wink:

by **ymwoods** » Monday 5 December 2011, 21:34

why do you HAVE to get the little van insured? Why not park it up and just use the big van for everything until your sure. If it goes tits up then you re-insure the little by swapping the policy back then chucking the big van and if it doesn't then you can get rid of the little one.

If you only had one van before why do you need two vans insured and ready to go now? if your getting rid of the little one if it works out for you then do you not want to know what its like not to have the little one anyway?

by **slim** » Monday 5 December 2011, 21:41

I just swop over at a cost of £25. Insurance broker faxes/emails hirer cover note. Broker probably gets these requests day in, day out. Be pretty useless to me if they didn't do it.

by **SadJack** » Monday 5 December 2011, 22:08

ymwoods - as far as I am aware you need to have the van insured even if off road due to recent legislation, I could SORN it apparently. I will have to look into this more.

http://www.mib.org.uk/Motor+Insurance+D ... efault.htm

Slim - Yeah they will do it at a cost, bit more than £25 quid in my case.

Bit more research and thinking needed, but my brain hurts

by **ymwoods** » Monday 5 December 2011, 22:22

SadJack wrote:ymwoods - as far as I am aware you need to have the van insured even if off road due to recent legislation, I could SORN it apparently. I will have to look into this more.

http://www.mib.org.uk/Motor+Insurance+D ... efault.htm

Of course! sorry I had forgotten about this new peice of junk they have brought in! You would have to give the tax disk back and SORN it which for what could be a few weeks would be stupid. What kind of prices are they quoting just for laid-up insurance? would this not show the vehicle as insured hence bypassing this legislation yet be a hell of a lot cheaper. Its used a lot on classic cars during the winter but there much be something similar that will do a van.

by **SadJack** » Monday 5 December 2011, 22:32

ymwoods wrote:What kind of prices are they quoting just for laid-up insurance? would this not show the vehicle as insured hence bypassing this legislation yet be a hell of a lot cheaper. Its used a lot on classic cars during the winter but there much be something similar that will do a van.

Must say I have never heard of this. Will look into it tomorrow. Thanks. Sounds sensible but since when were insurance companies sensible

by **Bob Johnson** » Monday 5 December 2011, 23:01

Ask them to add a temporary additional vehicle for a month.

They would usually go for that, and hopefully in the month you can make your decision.

by **SadJack** » Tuesday 6 December 2011, 00:08

Thanks everyone for the replies. Some useful stuff to progress.

Time for bed, early start for the lovely drive down to Rhayader tomorrow, beautiful part of the country.

by **bramble43** » Tuesday 6 December 2011, 01:50

e-courier will do short term policy but they're not cheap.

When renewal comes around give henry a try for your insurance, see members section.

Will probably save you a couple of hundred or more on your H&R

by **Chris Barnes** » Tuesday 6 December 2011, 12:09

Could you not just take out a 12 month policy paying monthly and then just cancel it when you don't need it so that you are not paying up front for the year?

by **Bob Johnson** » Tuesday 6 December 2011, 13:08

Chris Barnes wrote:Could you not just take out a 12 month policy paying monthly and then just cancel it when you don't need it so that you are not paying up front for the year?

That would be a bad idea, if you cancel after 3 months, you will be told that the refund due on the year is 40% ish, and therefore you will still owe them money.

Just because payments are split equally over the month, you've still took out a policy for the year, and if you check the small print refunds for cancelling a policy are on a sliding % scale, not per day/month etc.

If you cancel in the last two months, most insurances companies wouldn't give any money back.

by **SadJack** » Sunday 18 December 2011, 18:12

Just in case others might look for it.

I looked at eVan.co.uk and tempcover.com as they were the only ones I could find that did temporary cover. As indicated earlier, its an expensive do!

As it turns out the job I was looking at and researching costs for did not come off. Another false dawn

Anyway thanks for making the effort to help.

by **slim** » Sunday 18 December 2011, 19:18

slim wrote:I just swop over at a cost of £25. Insurance broker faxes/emails hirer cover note. Broker probably gets these requests day in, day out. Be pretty useless to me if they didn't do it.

Is this a first? quoting myself!

I can no longer just park up one vehicle on my drive for the odd week and hire another with an insurance swop over. The broker may switch the policy but because I don't Sorn and cancel existing tax disc on the first vehicle I am breaking the law. I didn't realise the leg' was so precise.

Typical that the law abiding get victimised by badly written leg'. Why are we so brilliant at doing this.

by **SadJack** » Sunday 18 December 2011, 19:51

slim wrote:I can no longer just park up one vehicle on my drive for the odd week and hire another with an insurance swop over. The broker may switch the policy but because I don't Sorn and cancel existing tax disc on the first vehicle I am breaking the law. I didn't realise the leg' was so precise.

Yeah, this was the big difficulty in it all for me. Its a good idea in theory to force people to have VEL and insurance but in practice it does effect people making a living.

I am quite surprised that insurance companies have not jumped on the band wagon with "kept off road" policies

I looked into the suggestion of laid up insurance but no-one I contacted would do it for a van in these circs.

Anyway its done now and a bit more learnt :wave: