Car and Van Insurance

If you have any Cars or Vans which are being used for Business are they correctly insured?

As an employer you have a duty of care to your employees and as part of that responsibility it is important your vehicles are adequately and correctly insured.

If your vehicles are being run on a Contract Hire or Leasing agreement you must check your insurance is compliant with the Contract Hire companies terms and conditions.

Some of the items to check are -

Will my insurance company cover me sufficiently as my vehicles are on Contract Hire and Car Leasing agreements?

What level of excess will My Contract Hire Company accept? You may find your Contract Hire agreement has a clause stipulating the amount of excess you can have.

If the vehicle is a total loss will My Insurance Company completely clear my Contract Hire or Leasing agreement?

Should I consider taking Gap insurance? You can find full details on this here www.ukleasingandcontracthire.com

Are there any exclusions I should be aware of, for example drivers of a certain age being excluded or if they have penalty points on their licence.

In the event approved employees use the vehicle for personal use are they still covered?

Have you a policy in place to cover the treatment of repeated accidents? Many companies stipulate more than one accident in a 12 month period would mean the driver is responsible for paying the excess or part of it.

Have you a clear process your drivers should adopt if involved in an accident?

Do you issue copies of your insurance to be kept in the company vehicle?

As you can see there are many factors to consider when reviewing your Company vehicle insurance, in order to get expert advice and prices look at Car Insurance

Personal Items

You should make it clear to all your drivers whether personal or business items are covered under your company insurance. Example - even if you have items such as laptops and mobile phones included in your cover they will almost certainly only be covered if locked in the boot / glove box whilst the vehicle is unattended.

Have you a clear policy for your drivers on this issue?

If they fail to adhere to it what steps will you take?

If a member of staff uses their vehicle for company business are they covered on your insurance?

This is a key area that you must be aware of and have a clear policy in place; this falls under Duty of Care and the consequences of not getting this right is serious.

As a guide check for the individual is covered under their / your cover for business use. Ensure you have a mechanism in place to check this at regular intervals, after all many people frequently change Insurers at renewal. Make it clear to any employee who uses their vehicle for business use that they need to ensure their vehicles are fully covered for business use.

Don't forget someone just popping out to get something as trivial as stamps could be perceived as using their car for business use!

Finally don't forget to instruct your drivers to Never admit liability.

The above details are for information only and Charterhouse Media cannot be held responsible in any way concerning the accuracy of the above information.