Van insurance....

[NikNak]

Hi guys,

Had a friend ask me to do some searches for her son. He's thinking of buying a pick-up truck to be able to lug his stuff around in (he's an employed landscape gardener looking to go out on his own... eventually)

I've had a quick look on a couple of the more well known 'comparison' sites, but was wondering if there's an alternative i should be looking at/checking for van type insurance..?

Cheers


Nick

 

[marcros]

The NFU tends to get positive reports.

You may find that some companies dont like to insure commercial vehicles on a car policy. My father had this when considering an LS 200 pickup or a Freelander (standard car version). The latter was much cheaper to insure.

 

[blackrodd]

I found that some companies will not respect NCB earned on a car policy, to a commercial policy and vice versa.
If you were getting out of a ford fiesta and trying to insure a 44 tonner, I could understand.
Regards Rodders

 

[Ali]

I bought my first big van (a mercedes sprinter) in september and had to go through this process. It was a lot of hard work to get a good price.

the guys above are right, pretty much all the insurers will not accept NCB towards your new commercial vehicle earned on a car policy. Some of them do consider the NCB you have on a car, but the lack of NCB will mean you should expect to pay significantly more for the commercial vehicle.

I used price comparison sites, direct sites too. The only thing I didn't get time to do was to contact a few brokers directly so if you know what vehicle/reg number you are going for definitely do this.

My problem was I wasn't sure what model to go through - I found my 2008 Sprinter to be cheaper to insure than older Movanos/transits/Relays - which to me was bizzare as the sprinter cost more but hey - that's insurers for you.

The price varies so much, plus you have to consider the type of insurance you need (goods in transit, goods for hire etc) as you can get stopped by the police/dvla and they will check if you are appropriately insured.

In the end I got a policy from an online broker called Autonet, who had a policy through Allianz. Hope the information is of some use to you

 

[nev]

Direct line do competitive van insurance and are not on comparison sites.

 

[Stu_2]

I insured with Vancompare recently. They are a broker, and their service seems quite good. They were pretty competitive, and they also appear to do reasonable tool cover.

 

[Lons]

I always go direct as I don't like brokers. They are after all taking a sizeable cut of your premiums and if it's cheaper then you aren't getting the same cover of haven't negotiated hard enough IMO :wink: OK they provide a service for those who have little time or don't want the hassle of ringing around. I know a couple of VERY rich brokers btw :lol:

I've had 3 vans over the last 12 years and no problem with insurance, Used AA, RAC, Aviva and currently LV. My renewal has just dropped on the mat and it's £232 inc breakdown cover. I think that's acceptable but will shop around anyway! Van is a 2007 VW Transporter LWB 2.5 (177 bhp) TDi

cheers
Bob

 

[graduate_owner]

This may be of no relevance whatsoever, but on X-ray tonight they were saying that insurance companies do not like people putting stickers on their vehicles, and that such actions could invalidate the policy. So if he is thinking of advertising his business on the truck, check with the company first.

K