Can I Apply For Motor Trade Insurance?

To qualify for Motor Trade insurance with Think you have to fit certain criteria. Here are some examples to help you work out if we might be able to help you:

• You will need to have held a UK driving licence for 12 months or more. EU licences are also acceptable but you will need to have been a UK resident for at least 3 years. Unfortunately we are not able to offer cover to anyone with only an International driving licence.
• Generally, you will have to have been a resident in the UK for at least the last 3 years. In some circumstances we may be able to consider 2 years UK residency, however this would need to be discussed with one of our motor trade experts.
• We are not able to offer cover to anyone with excessive claims, and excessive motoring convictions may also restrict your access to a policy, as will criminal convictions. We do have insurers on our panel that will consider criminal convictions but there are some, such as fraud or insurance fraud, that we will not be able to find cover for. This also goes for any other drivers that you want to be covered on the policy, so do look at the driving/ criminal record of all potential named drivers before adding them to your policy, as it may either cost you a lot more, or even prevent you from getting cover at all.
• Some companies will require that you have a minimum of 1 years No Claims Bonus. We do have insurers on our panel that can cover motor traders with 0 years No Claims Bonus, but in these instances, the premium will likely be higher and there will be less choice available.

If you do not have motor trade specific No Claims Bonus, we are able to consider private car bonus or commercial vehicle bonus. In some instances we may also be able to look at bonus earned on a taxi insurance policy or as a named driver on another policy.

• We will only be able to offer cover to motor traders under the age of 25 in certain circumstances, and with certain insurers. If you are looking to add someone under 25 on to your Motor Trade insurance policy, then they must be a spouse of one of the policy holders/ business partners, a paid employee of the business or a business partner (subject to other factors including their driving record), and there are likely to be restrictions around vehicle use. We would not be able to cover under 25 year olds in other instances such as proposer’s children for social use only on a Motor Trade insurance policy.
• Some locations in the UK may be more difficult for us to cover, or may be more expensive – please check with one of our experts to see if your business is in one of these areas. While we are able to get a rate for motor traders in Northern Ireland, the chances are this will be quite expensive, and so suggest contacting a local broker instead.
• While we can provide cover for motor traders with most vehicles, including vehicles up to 44 tonne, sports and high performance vehicles, there are some that we can’t consider such quad bikes. We are able to cover things like agricultural vehicles but there may be certain restrictions or requirements on these – please check for full details.
• A lot of the insurers on our panel will consider people who work on a full-time or part-time basis within the trade so you don’t have to be a large business. This enables people who may run a motor trade business on a part-time basis, in addition to another full time job, or people that are looking to get in to the industry but are not in a position to commit full-time, to get a policy that fits their requirements.
• If your motor trade business is involved in certain areas of the trade, such as vehicle scrap or salvage, this may restrict the number of insurers we work with who are prepared to offer cover. We should still be able to arrange a policy for you, but restrictions may apply.
• Our quotes are only valid for 30 days so you will need to be looking at starting your policy within these timescales otherwise we won’t be able to put you on cover. We will be able to offer you a price but this will need to be requoted within 30 days of your policy start date.

This is not an exhaustive list and is to give you more of an idea whether you are able to get a Motor Trade insurance policy with us. The requirements may differ between the insurance companies on our panel, so please ensure you check when getting a quote, that you fit all the relevant criteria for a Motor Trade insurance policy, and provide all the required information before going ahead with a policy. Never be tempted not to disclose all of the correct information in order to get a cheaper policy or to get cover when you otherwise might not as you will get found out and this may result in cancellation or even having the policy made void.

Our products can change at any time and this information is correct at the time of being published. For full details of whether you or your business are eligible for a Motor Trade insurance policy, speak to one of our specialists.