Commercial vehicle for private use.

tritriagain

May have to get a second vehicle soon. I would like a van but purely for private use. I know I can tax it privately but is there much hassle with this. Also is it difficult to get insurance for private use.

Polo_Cluvie

Im in the process of doing the same. You just need to fill up a change of use form from commercial to private. As for the insurance most policy's have a social and domestic clause so you shouldn't have any trouble with it. Now good luck finding a decent second hand van ive been looking for weeks. They are like hens teeth down my way lol

Haughey Was Framed

I did this for a few years with an Opel Vivaro (handy for transporting all the toys — everything from kayaks to motorbikes).

I taxed it privately. I had to go into my local tax office to switch over, judging by the confusion this seemed to cause I don't think it happens often.

There're some news articles from a few years ago where the Gardai say they don't care and won't be checking if a commercially taxed vehicle is being used for private purposes. No idea if that's changed or is likely to. Getting your commercial tax requires you to make a declaration at your local Garda station. Again, I imagine they don't do much checking here, but I didn't like the idea of making a false declaration.

If it's a commercial vehicle, to the best of my knowledge, you will have to take out a commercial insurance policy even if it's being used privately. I couldn't find any insurance company who would treat it as a private vehicle but I made sure to tell them that's how I'd be using it (and had social-domestic-pleasure cover).

The good news is commercial policies weren't particularly expensive (worked out about €100ish cheaper for me than a quote on any Japanese family estate).

The bad news... when/if you decide to go back to a typical private vehicle your No Claims Discount can be impacted. I was on my own commercial insurance for about 6 years (out of 18 years driving). Range of answers I got from insurance companies were:
- I had no No Claims experience.
- I had 3 years experience (they halved the commercial experience)

I went through a broker and found a company that considered the full 6 years. The policy wasn't great but I switched to another provider after a year and they gave me a proof of No Claims that had my actual experience back, all nice and clean.

You do get to sneakily park in loading bays (I used to be an actual van driver and I hated when people did this, so...)

You'll need an annual CVRT instead of NCT. These test centres are in garages, so it's handy if you have a fail you can usually book it in pretty easily for repairs at the same place.

The other thing to watch for are any rules around your house/apartment building. Almost everywhere I've lived in Dublin has had a rule that says "no commercial vehicles can be parked overnight." I lived a hassle free life until I moved into a house on the south side where a local battleaxe invoked the full power of the residents committee. I don't know what they could have legally done to me, but in the interests of keeping everyone happy we agreed a compromise where I'd park my van on a side street out of the way (rather than in my own driveway).

Despite all that, would definitely recommend it. Nice driving position and people always assume you're in a rush. I'm two years back in a car and browsing vans on autotrader again...