Most standard car insurance covers the personal use of your car, meaning you only use it for everyday driving and commuting, and not for business use. If you need insurance for a van or other vehicles you use for business purposes, you need to make sure you get the right insurance to keep you covered.

What is business car insurance?

If you own a car or van you use for business, such as making deliveries, driving between offices during the work day, visiting clients or worksites, then you’ll likely need business insurance.

This type of insurance usually covers heavier everyday use of your vehicle, such as more miles driven per year or covering a greater distance travelled. This also means that it often costs more than standard motor insurance as business car insurance is seen as more risky.   

What is covered by business car insurance?

Business car insurance generally covers a wider range of activities than regular motor insurance, with the focus on things that normally happen during a working day.

You should always check any policy carefully to see that it covers your needs, but business motor insurance usually covers:

• Making deliveries
• Visiting clients regularly
• Travelling between sites or offices
• Visiting other businesses for work reasons

The different classes of business insurance

Business car insurance is usually offered in a number of different classes, each providing a different level of cover. Every policy is different, so you should always check carefully before choosing to make sure you get the cover you need.

Class 1 – this the standard level of cover, designed for driving between different workplaces or addresses, such as visiting clients or patients. It usually doesn’t provide cover for regular deliveries, however.

Class 2 – This level of cover includes everything in class 1 but also provides for an extra driver. This can be useful if you share driving duties with someone else in your business. Most policies require you and the named driver to be part of the same company to qualify.

Class 3 - This class is best for long-distance driving as part of your business, such as a salesperson, for example. However, this still usually doesn’t cover commercial deliveries. This level of insurance is usually specifically designed to cover the increased risk of high mileage motoring.

How can I save money on my business car insurance? 

It’s important to always make sure your business motor insurance policy provides the cover you need. The cost of business motor insurance policy will reflect the level of cover and the insurance class, but there are also other factors than can affect insurance premiums.

As with regular car insurance, providers categorise business vehicles into different classes from 1 to 50. Group 1 cars are cheapest to insure, while group 50 will be the most expensive. While using a vehicle from a lower insurance class can help keep the cost of your policy down, you might also be able to reduce your premiums by fitting extra security to your vehicle, or storing it in a secure location when not in use.

You could also keep your premiums down by building up your no claims discount, just as with regular car insurance.