Don’t do a favour for friends and family this Christmas by transporting their large presents or browning conifers once the festivities are over. The likelihood is, you van insurance policy, or your works fleet van insurance, will not cover you for such errands. No matter how many pints you’re bribed with, you could lose more than a clean license.
Transporting personal effects may not be covered
If your van belongs to a fair-sized operation, then it’s likely they have taken out a fleet van insurance policy. As such, they’ll be looking to shave as much of the bill, in these cash-strapped times, as possible. If it’s in the basic policy or a legal requirement, then they’ll be covered, anything else, well…
…if they’ve cut back on some of the ancillary products, deemed not necessary to carry out the company’s day-to-day activity, they most probably have not included them in the fleet van policy.
Using your van to ferry your personal belongings, whether it be to the car boot, taking the rubbish to the skip (such as that used Christmas tree) or nipping large presents for strangers in a pub or fetching your sister-in-law’s inebriated husband from the office do, all of the above fall into that category.
Whether you’re feeling in a giving mood or not, especially with the increased police presence on the road at this time of year, you run a real risk of flouting your employer’s van insurance policy.
Don’t drink and drive
Of course, no Christmas post would be complete without the traditional warning, almost as traditional as penguins on Christmas cards – no, I swear, thousands of Christmas cards have penguins on; go on, count yours and see how many do. WTF have penguins go to do with Christ? Where there some in the desert when he was born in the manger in Bethlehem? Sheep, pigs or calves, yes – but penguins – and some with polar bears! The world’s gone mad…
Anyway – the message is simple – it’s Christmas, booze builds up in your system and takes its time to filter out. If you must drive your van between the bank holidays this Christmas, make sure you’ve got a clear head and even cleaner blood stream before you hit the road.
If you’re working for yourself, being caught will not only wallop up your van insurance when you get your license back, but more importantly could jeopardise your liveihood in the interim.
It’s not worth the risk.