Insuring your car - do you put down business miles as part of quote?

[chris79]

Faced with a choice here:-

1. Social & commuting (to a perm place of work).

2. Business miles (for use in connection with a business).


I'm guessing it's #2 technically, but annoyed that the premium goes up a few quid. I guess it seems a bit two faced to claim from the tax man that I travel to a 'temporary place of work', yet on my car insurance try and claim it's my perm place of work.

[London75]

Business, worked for insurance companies all my life, they will investigate any get out clause if you claim and you'll be left with large bills!

[swamp]

You should pay up for business insurance. Your insurance company won't pay up if they find out you're travelling to a client site on business.

[gingerjedi]

DirectLine didn't charge me any more for business use.

[shoes]

I guess it seems a bit two faced to claim from the tax man that I travel to a 'temporary place of work', yet on my car insurance try and claim it's my perm place of work.

Yes but they'll never communicate with one-another.

If you have an accident whilst driving to a client why would you need to tell the insurance company that? If you drove down the same road to the shops on a day you decided not to attend your client site and crashed what difference would that make? And if you did crash presumably you wouldn't be going to your client that day anyway.

A contractor should be slightly dodgy by natural inclination.

[Beefy198]

You sound like someone I know who hasn't declared points on their licence, their argument being "what's the chance they'll find out if I claim, it's not like they'll ask to see my licence"

If you have an accident and the police attend there's a high chance they'll mention the reason for your journey on their report as I'm sure most people will wantonly say it just after an accident.

[SantaClaus]

You sound like someone I know who hasn't declared points on their licence, their argument being "what's the chance they'll find out if I claim, it's not like they'll ask to see my licence"

If you have an accident and the police attend there's a high chance they'll mention the reason for your journey on their report as I'm sure most people will wantonly say it just after an accident.

Not declaring points on your license is completely different. In that case, the insurers can quite easily check your record on the DVLA database.

In the case of specifying business or social, there is no database record anywhere on how you use your car. You could just as well have gone shopping as gone to work.

Unless of course the insurer contacts the company you work for and they know how you get in to work every day

[TykeMerc]

For the minimal cost of what they seem to call "Class 1 Business Use" I think it's money well spent. I think I'm charged about a tenner if that for it.

[shoes]

Unless of course the insurer contacts the company you work for and they know how you get in to work every day

They would be welcome to speak to the managing director of the company I work for, I will tell them in that capacity that it was not a business trip.

An insurance company is typically some high turnover employees sitting like battery hens filling in forms, a small unprovable theory that you might have technically been using the car in a business capacity isn't going to be an issue that anyone will bother to care about.

Bend the rules a bit ya wusses.

[DiscoStu]

They would be welcome to speak to the managing director of the company I work for, I will tell them in that capacity that it was not a business trip.

An insurance company is typically some high turnover employees sitting like battery hens filling in forms, a small unprovable theory that you might have technically been using the car in a business capacity isn't going to be an issue that anyone will bother to care about.

Bend the rules a bit ya wusses.

I'd rather shell out the extra twenty quid a year it costs me and not worry about it.