What Is Commercial Motor Insurance?

What Is Commercial Motor Insurance And What Does It Cover?

Commercial Motor insurance is the collective name used to describe all of the different types of policy for the different types of vehicles used by businesses for commercial purposes including taxis, minibuses, trucks, tippers and HGVs. It also covers Fleet insurance too which is aimed at businesses with two or more vehicles. Commercial Motor policies come in three levels of cover; Third Party Only, Third Party, Fire & Theft or Comprehensive.

What is Commercial Motor Insurance?

If you use a taxi, minibus, HGV, truck, lorry, van or even fleet of vehicles for your business, then you will need commercial motor insurance, which is the collective name for all of these individual types of insurance cover involving vehicles used for commercial purposes.

What Does Commercial Motor Insurance Cover?

When taking out your policy you can choose from three levels of cover; Third Party Only, Third Party, Fire & Theft or Comprehensive.

Third Party Only is the cheapest of the three levels of cover, and will provide protection against any third party damage or injury claims made against your business in the event of an accident. It is worth noting that your vehicles will not be covered at all, and any repairs to your own vehicle(s) would have to be made at your own expense.

A Third Party, Fire & Theft policy will cover the same as a Third Party Only policy but with the added protection of your own vehicles, for damage caused by fire or if they are stolen (or damage caused in an attempt to be stolen).

A Comprehensive policy on the other hand is the most expensive level of cover, however it does provide the highest level of protection. A Comprehensive policy will protect your own vehicles against any damage suffered during an accident or incident.

As well as the three cover levels you can also select the driving restrictions applied to them. AS well as the policyholder, you could also have a ‘Named Driver’ policy which will allow specific drivers (providing they are named on the policy documents) to drive specific vehicles. This is perfect if your drivers will only ever need to drive specific vehicles.

Alternatively, if you have a large number of drivers that may need to drive all of your vehicles, then you could benefit from an ‘Any Driver’ policy, though this is usually more expensive as any driver within your business who holds a valid licence to drive a vehicle can do so, and this increases the risk for the insurers.

You may wish to consider setting an age limit on your policy, so younger and less experienced drivers cannot be included. Similarly, you may wish to avoid drivers with convictions. An ‘Any Driver’ policy is ideal for a busy company with multiple vehicles and many drivers, such as a taxi firm, hauliers or a delivery company.

Here are a few points to recap on the types of cover available under Commercial Motor insurance:

• Fleet Insurance
• Commercial Minibus Insurance
• Taxi Insurance
• Truck insurance
• Haulage insurance
• Comprehensive Cover
• Third Party, Fire & Theft
• Third Party Only
• Named Driver Policies
• Any Driver Policies

Why Do I need Commercial Vehicle Insurance?

Any vehicle that is driven on UK roads is legally required to have the minimum level of insurance cover, to protect third parties that they may cause damage to as part of an accident or incident. This extends to those who operate vehicles for business practices. Not only that, these types of insurance are designed to protect you and your business assets from potential claims or damages, potentially saving you money in the long-run, where you may otherwise have to pay thousands of pounds out of your own pocket to fix or repair your business’s vehicles, in order to continue operating.

Want To Get A Quote?

Want to find out more, speak to an expert or get a Commercial Motor insurance quote? Call our specialist team on 0800 221 8077 or click Get a Quote below to find out how much you could save.