Class 3 Insurance

Lex Luthor

I made some enquiries today regarding the change over of my car insurance for business use and because I will need to carry tools, etc I am told I need to go up to Class 3 Insurance.

However, if my car is broken into, the contents are not covered as they are not belong to me but the company I work for.

And because of this they want to charge me an additional €430/year on top of the already €600 I pay for insurance.

Does this sound a bit excessive?

Random

using your car for work or carrying expensive tools in it probably makes it a bigger target or more likely to be involved in an accident so it would make sense they'd charge more imo.

slimjimmc

Since they're not your tools why aren't the company insuring them?
I guess you're paying a premium because you're expected to be on the road more often and putting up high milage when you're a buisness.

Fishtits

The Irish insurance industry is hell bent on making money off its policy holders. There is no other reason for it to exist?

Lex Luthor

slimjimmc wrote: »

Since they're not your tools why aren't the company insuring them?
I guess you're paying a premium because you're expected to be on the road more often and putting up high milage when you're a buisness.

I'll get extra to use my own car rather than take a company car alright.

johndaman66

Lex Luthor wrote: »

Does this sound a bit excessive?

Not really sure what sort of tools we are talking about here but assuming it is drills, hammers, angle grinders, jigsaws and the like €430/year would certainly seem excessive to me. Perhaps I'm missing the point and you are carrying highly specialised expensive equipment though...Could you please clarify OP?

On the face of it having the vehicle garaged at night and fitted with an alarm and if possible even fitted with a luggage cover to hide the tools from prying eyes should help to reduce this premium. But based on my experience of insurance companies here I wouldn't hold out too much hope of such necessairly being the case in reality either.

slimjimmc

johndaman66 wrote: »

Not really sure what sort of tools we are talking about here but assuming it is drills, hammers, angle grinders, jigsaws and the like €430/year would certainly seem excessive to me. Perhaps I'm missing the point and you are carrying highly specialised expensive equipment though...Could you please clarify OP?

On the face of it having the vehicle garaged at night and fitted with an alarm and if possible even fitted with a luggage cover to hide the tools from prying eyes should help to reduce this premium. But based on my experience of insurance companies here I wouldn't hold out too much hope of such necessairly being the case in reality either.

The tools are not included in the cover, they don't belong to him so he can't insure them.
That probably makes the extra fee appear even more expensive, though I've no idea what commercial insurance would normally cost or covers.

johndaman66

slimjimmc wrote: »

The tools are not included in the cover, they don't belong to him so he can't insure them.

So I imagine that if the tools don't belong to him he has no insurable interest in them and hence he himself cannot insure them. So why are the insurance company providing him with a quote in his name as such? Not necessairly directing this question at you slimjimmc, just throwing it out there but feel free to answer if you can shed any light on it all the same.

Your second comment posted below is somewhat at odds with your first comment (above) all the same though.

slimjimmc wrote: »

That probably makes the extra fee appear even more expensive, though I've no idea what commercial insurance would normally cost or covers.

unkel

johndaman66 wrote: »

So I imagine that if the tools don't belong to him he has no insurable interest in them and hence he himself cannot insure them. So why are the insurance company providing him with a quote in his name as such?

Because the fact itself that he is carrying goods / tools increases the risks of accidents / break ins / damage, even if the insurance company would not have to pay out a cent for any of those goods / tools lost or damaged

OP should probably try and get a few more quotes, but the extra premium his insurance company is quoting does not seem that extreme to me. And the tax free mileage allowances in this country are very generous compared to most other EU countries - there's a lot to say for keeping your own car instead of driving a company car

-Chris-

Usually there are three categories of insurance for people who are insuring their personal cars:
Social, Domestic & Private
SDP with occasional business use
SDP with occasional business use including transporting samples/tools

Quite often there's no additional charge to add occasional business use, I've never added cover for samples/tools so I don't know what the usual charge is.

johndaman66

unkel wrote: »

Because the fact itself that he is carrying goods / tools increases the risks of accidents / break ins / damage, even if the insurance company would not have to pay out a cent for any of those goods / tools lost or damaged

I take your point. I appreciate how carrying tools may increase the risk of break ins and maybe even damage but to a negligible extent on the damage. Accidents though?... A wee bit perplexed at that one. As such I can now see why a higher premium may be charged for carrying tools rather than insuring tools against loss, damage, theft per se. Having said that though €430 extra seems to me to be very much on the high side all the same for the level of insurance risk the insurance company would be shouldering. I'm sure it would mainly boil down to how high a crime area the car would be parked in at night for the most part though.

-Chris-

The risk will increase because of the change in usage profile too:

SD&P - You commute to work, you run a couple of errands in the evening, but by-and-large your car is parked for 8hrs+ per day while you're at work.

SD&P with Occasional Business Use - During the 8 hours of work you travel to a meeting or collect someone from the airport (the insurance company will ask how many business miles you expect to do and change the increase in premium based on your answer).

If you need insurance that covers you for using your car for business including the carrying of samples/tools, then it's reasonable to assume that your job requires you to regularly visit customer sites and that your mileage profile is appropriately increased.

More miles = greater likelihood of an accident.

Lex Luthor

the tools and value of tools is not in question with them. Its basically treated as a sales rep carrying samples, no matter what the job is.

Basically I'm told if I'm in an accident that there is a higher risk of me or someone else getting injured from the extra kit on board.

I just thought the extra premium was on the steep side...I'm kind of snookered with the insurance as I had a claim a couple of yrs ago and my ncb was affected.

If I was constantly on the road I'd say fair enough, but its only approx 10 times/year I'd use the car for this type of use.

CiniO

Wait o moment.
That made me think a bit.
I don't use my car for business uses at all. Only to get to and from my work.
So also my insurance is only for Social, Domestic & Private.
But anyway I always carry some tools in my car.
Usually 2 boxes - one with car fixing tools, another with bicycle fixing tools.
I need them to fix my car, as most work I do myself. I also do loadz of mounatinbiking, and often carry my bike with me on the car, so I also need bike tools.
All for private purposes.

But what if I crash, how I'm going to prove to insurance company, that I carry these tools for private puposes?