Van Insurance

Why is Commercial Van Insurance Required?

Mandatory Cover

You must have van insurance to drive your van in a public place. Driving a commercial van on a road or in a public place without insurance against third party risk is an offence. Motor insurance protects society and provides financial compensation to cover any injuries caused to people or their property.

Protection For Society

Van Insurance provides protection to you, your vehicle and other motorists against liability and the consequences of financial loss in the event of any accident.

Victims of accidents might suffer as death or accidental injury, ord damage to property or of goods caused through the use of a commercial van.

Without the legal minimum required cover (third party only), the victims of Road Traffic Collisions (RTCs) could be left uncompensated for their loss.

Sharing Of Risk

Van insurance policies are a contract which gives you/or your business the financial protection against valid losses. The insurer pools van owners/drivers risks so the burden of risk and is shared and the cost is affordable. The more risks you insure against - fire, theft or fully comp. the highter the cost usually.

Because of the wide variety of types, sizes and uses of commercial vans on the road, as you would expect, insurance costs are higher than ordinary private car insurance. Vans have increased capacity and larger engine size and are more likely to cause greater damage.

There is therefore a higher risk for the insurance company to underwrite in the event of an accident.

Other Risk Factors

Other risk factors that will be taken into consideration when quoting you for van insurance cover are:

• Age and number of drivers and whether or not the drivers are named on the policy.
• Engine size and total weight of the loaded vehicle.
• The type of goods carried e.g. bottled gas, flammable solvents.
• Alterations/conversions/modification additions to vehicles such as alloy wheels, lifting ramps, winches or hoists.
• Whether the vehicle is a right hand drive or has been imported to the UK.
• Ownership of the goods in transit.

Penalties for uninsured driving

Crown Copyright

"The seriousness of the offence is reflected in the level of the maximum fine, £5,000, and the automatic endorsement of an offender's licence with 6-8 penalty points. The courts can order the immediate disqualification of the offender. The police also have wide powers to stop vehicles and inspect certificates and this leads to around 300,000 convictions for uninsured driving every year.

Driving without insurance has been punishable within the fixed penalty system. The fixed penalty of £200 and six penalty points allow more rigorous enforcement of this offence. The possibility of a fixed penalty gives the police an extra option for dealing with the offence concerned, but it doesn't preclude the police's ability to prosecute in appropriate cases when they consider that to be the best course of action.

The police have the power to seize and in appropriate cases destroy vehicles that are being driven uninsured. Any vehicle seized under these powers will only be released on payment of the prescribed charges and the production of a valid insurance document. The vehicle will only be released to the registered keeper of the vehicle or, if there's no registered keeper, to the person appearing to be the owner. Vehicles not claimed within a prescribed time can be disposed of by the police.

The Road Safety Act 2006 makes provision for harsher sentences for those who kill or are involved in accidents while driving uninsured."