One day van insurance

Might be easier to just rent a van then.

First you should try ringing your own insurance company to see if they would be willing to allow you to put the van on your own policy as a temporary substitution. I know a few companies that often allow this so long as the van is 1 ton or under carrying capacity (e.g. most Ford transits, Citroen berlingo etc) and is being used for the transport of own goods. Certainly worth a try.

If your own company refuses this, your brother may be able to add you on to his policy as a temporary additional driver. He will have to ring his own Insurance company/broker to arrange this. There is invariably an extra charge for this but if it's less than the cost of renting a van then it may be worth your while.

Trust me on this one, former broker

To Elland Back wrote: »

OP said there was no current policy on the van

Well, yes, that rules out using temporary additional vehicle as an option. Anyway, the absence of policy on the van shouldn't make a difference on ability to do a temporary substitution. In fact, in these circumstances, some companies will push to have the cover taken care of by any existing policy (i.e. will suggest insuring OP as a temporary additional driver) before they will offer to do it as a temporary substitution. The fact that there is no policy on the van should strengthen the OP's hand a bit as he has no other option to get it insured for the day. Seriously - 2 minute phone call. Not a big problem for most companies.

To Elland Back wrote: »

OP has said that his insurer will only transfer to another car, which is usual

Not the norm at all. Most of the bigger companies I've dealt with in the past don't have any problems accommodating something like this. A private motor policy must obviously insure a private motor vehicle. There would be no chance that an insurance company would allow me to do a permanent substitution from a private vehicle to a commercial vehicle under an existing private policy (I'd have to cancel the existing private policy and take out a new commercial policy). However, this is a temporary substitution we're talking about here. The OP alludes in his second post to the fact that his policy will allow transfer to a "car only". This is most certainly the case for a permanent sub but most companies offer a bit more leeway for temporary subs . Depends on the company of course and it's at the underwriter's discretion at the end of the day so all the OP needs do is make a quick call.

To Elland Back wrote: »

It is not usual practice for most insurers to cross class temporary substitutions. There are policy wording implications, particularly relating to passengers. If the OP has gone to the trouble of starting a thread about one day van insurance and stated that his insurer will only transfer car to car. I think he has already made the call

Listen I'm just trying to share the benefit of my own experience - I've worked many years on both the broker and underwriter side. In fairness, you've said a lot that implies to me that you're just hazarding a guess at all this (unless you want to elaborate on what you mean by 'policy wording implications') The OP never once said he actually rang his insurance company. I know how these things work and my best advice is simply to make the call.

Now I remember why I rarely post on boards anymore.

Goodnight Vienna

Insure the van and then cancel the policy.
I only renewed mine last Friday and I was informed I have 14 days cooling-off period. It was directly with allianz.
By the way shop around guys, as there are good deals available :-D

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