Commercial vehicle to private - issues

intothewest

Hi. We're expecting baby no4 in next week or so. Obv we've been having to look at vehicles. We currently have a salon car and a Mitsubishi L200..which is a crew cab vehicle. When we looked at people carrier options, the lack of boot space was obv a big turn off for us. We got told about the multimac which is a piece of kit that allows you to fit four kids into a typical three seater. We debated this over and back and decided it was our best option. We knew we'd have to change the vehicle from commercial to private. Road tax would be much higher, but was doable. On the insurance front though we are having zero luck. No one seems to even entertain the poss of insuring this vehicle as a private vehicle??? Can anyone advise on this? Why won't they?

bazz26

What sort of MPVs were you looking at that you found unsuitable?

Might be easier to just sell the L200 and buy a big SUV.

intothewest

We looked at the usual ones. They're all fine, but obviously you've next to no boot. We'd need all seats to be used so don't gain any space if a seat is down. Plus, by getting the multimac to use in existing vehicle, we were avoiding having to change vehicles and car loan. Are ins companies not willing to insure any crew cab for private use now?

bazz26

Insurance companies like things to be black or white, anything that goes into a grey area is a no no with them.

Maybe have a look at the Volvo XC90 or even VW Caravelle, might not be the cheapest way to go but changing cars might be the only option to you if nobody will insure you.

George Dalton

Your existing insurance almost certainly includes cover for social, domestic and pleasure use so I don't see the issue tbh.

The vehicle will still be classed as a commercial, just taxed at the private rate to allow for non-commercial use.

intothewest

George Dalton wrote: »

Your existing insurance almost certainly includes cover for social, domestic and pleasure use so I don't see the issue tbh.

The vehicle will still be classed as a commercial, just taxed at the private rate to allow for non-commercial use.

But if you happened to be in an accident with it on the occasion it was being used for social or domestic use, would the ins company make life difficult looking for a reason not to fulfill a claim??

aaakev

intothewest wrote: »

But if you happened to be in an accident with it on the occasion it was being used for social or domestic use, would the ins company make life difficult looking for a reason not to fulfill a claim??

They cant if its stated on the policy. My Vito Crewcab is insured for business, social, domestic and pleasure and that's exactly how it appears on the policy documents.

Gumbo

intothewest wrote: »

But if you happened to be in an accident with it on the occasion it was being used for social or domestic use, would the ins company make life difficult looking for a reason not to fulfill a claim??

They can't. You are covered for commercial, social and domestic use.
My crew cab is insured in the same way and I can't get commercial insurance unless it's taxed commercially also. (Insure my van broker through Axa insurance).

intothewest

And a crew cab, that up til now has been commercially insured and taxed, can't be changed to private?? Well, it can be taxed as private we've established (course it can cos way more for gov than commercial tax), but no insurance company will entertain insuring it as private. They're saying there's no 'car equivalent' to it. It's always been a crew cab, wasn't converted to one.

debaser13

Try fbd and allianz directly. Or aviva and patronans through a broker. Good luck.

bulleyes

This comes up over and over again,

A commercial vehicle is just that, and needs to be insured as that, usually with social, domestic and pleasure cover as standard.

A car needs to be insured as a car.
A commercial needs to be insured as a commercial.
A motorbike needs to be insured as a motorbike and so on.

Change of use of a vehicle does not alter what the vehicle actually is. Hence insurance companies not insuring commercial vehicles as something they are not.

Tax and insurance are entirely different issues.