[…] from “Wheels and deals – it has to be the Internet”

One word of caution about the opinions of those who use forums and chat-rooms automotive in nature. If you’re logged on to ‘weloveourtrannies.com’ (for example) you’ve either got the wrong cross-dressing site or you’re on a forum that has been created by (and has a membership of) people who love the Ford Transit. Their opinions are, generally speaking, likely to be biased towards the legendary beast.

What is the right van for my business?

Getting the right van for your business will allow you to do two things:

1. negate the issue of ever having to wonder whether you can get to site to do your job properly or relying on others
2. never worry about paying too much for your van insurance as you are only paying for commercial cover that is in line with your business, helping you to retain focus on what you’re in the market for, thereby always promoting ‘Brand You’.

If you’re starting out, value for money is often the deciding factor when it comes to choosing the van itself, with one eye on being able to insure it cheaply, especially for young drivers. The temptation may be, if you’ve managed to secure finance for your venture, to splash out on brand new wheels. An older model with your logo emblazoned on the side – another factor that will help you secure cheap van insurance – could be a lot more cost-effective, yet still deliver the sense of achievement or the statement you were looking to make by going into business for yourself.

As well as the vehicle’s age helping you to make van insurance savings, the size of the engine will, too. The temptation may be to go for the biggest capacity engine ‘just in case’, but be pragmatic about what your business is trying to achieve. Do you really need a 2.4l gas-guzzler, or would something smaller with a more fuel efficient engine suffice? Insurance brokers love ‘green’ as the engines tend to be more efficient to enable the lower emissions; the more efficient, the less breakdown potential, the cheaper the van insurance deal; it is that simple.

Also, when thinking about the size of your van, do you need it box-shaped or will a hatch suffice for your business? Yep, it’s great being able to load your mates’ kit as well as your own to get to site, but this is your business. We’re all big boys (and girls) and the onus of getting to site falls directly on the shoulders of the tradesman or sub-contractor who takes on the work; you are no one’s nanny.

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To see how much you could shave off your next van insurance quote by dropping down a size, compare over 60 insurance firms using our bespoke online form.

(there is an addendum to this article – 15/02/2012 – PNCB only worthwhile for so long, states comparison website).

In theory, paying extra to protect an existing no claims bonus should mean that you escape a van insurance company’s wrath if you were to make a claim that is your fault. However, it doesn’t quite work to the full extent that you may think it ought.

Without the PNCB (protected no claims bonus) you would straight away lose two years’ no claims discount if you were to make a claim against your van insurance policy and you are the driver adjudged to be at fault. But even by paying for a PNCB, you still may incur a slight upheaval when you come to renew your van insurance, purely because of the way that underwriters assess your entire driving history. If there’s a blot anywhere recently on your copybook, it will be taken into account and your van insurance quote, though still cheaper than without PNCB, will not escape an increase outright.

Another aspect about PNCB, and why it isn’t included automatically in your van insurance when you take it out, is that you have to accrue a maximum no claims discount before you can actually protect it. At that point only is it genuinely worth adding this ancillary for a small additional fee to your van insurance quote. As it cannot be added retrospectively, i.e. after you’ve made a claim when it would have been worth it, many drivers kick themselves when they realise they’re not going to get the level of cheap van insurance they once enjoyed.

A PNCB works in the same way that you would usually be offered an introductory discount to match an existing no claims bonus if you were to compare van insurance companies and swap on the basis that you can get a cheaper premium.

If your no claims is in tact, when switching van insurance companies, you will qualify for a discount for the period you have remained claim free, otherwise you won’t

Likewise, you can protect that no claims by paying a fee when swapping as you would have done with your existing provider. If, however, you have recently been forced to claim against your van insurance, you will probably not be able to protect your no claims for a two year qualifying period. The only definitive way to check out whether PNCB is worthwhile for you and your business is to build the option into your application when you use our enquiry form and then do a similar comparison without to see what a difference it makes to your new van insurance quote.

Van hire as an ancillary product to your van insurance base policy is a must if you are a sole trader or a small business whereby your single van is your fleet. The reason that this aspect is not included in the policy straight away is because van hire can, obviously, be privately arranged outside the relationship between you and your van insurance broker.

However, for the minimal fee that your van insurance provider will usually charge you for this bolt-on, it is not normally worth the hassle of ringing around other hire firms to get the price for a van and insurance for the short-term period you are likely to be without your commercial vehicle in the event that it is lost, stolen or damaged.

What you do have to be wary of, however, when considering this as an ancillary option with your chosen van insurance firm is what type of van they are offering as a replacement whilst your van is either being repaired or it has not shown up in the event that it’s been, well, nicked.

If you’re used to a Ford Transit and you’re being offered a Bipper as a replacement, you may not get your tools into the courtesy vehicle they’re offering. They may also pass the responsibility of providing the replacement van on to the garage who are repairing your van after an accident. You would think it obvious that you want a like-for-like vehicle, however, you may only be offered a hatchback if that is all the garage has in the way of van-hire vehicles for insurance purposes, purely because it makes their overall fleet cost cheaper.

There are other aspects of your temporary van hire and insurance to look out for, too, by going through your insurance.

The level of your van insurance cover (fully comp or third party) may reflect on the terms and longevity of the replacement van – you will need to check the aspects of the van insurance offered with the hire vehicle to ensure it suits your purposes.

And you must report the incident that has occurred to mean you qualify for van hire to our insurers immediately, so that they can arrange the van hire and insurance for the period you envisage being without your vehicle. If your van has been stolen, you must also report the theft to the police.

This is a tricky one – you may want to push on and get your van insurance through as quickly as possible but, to be fair, you will probably struggle to find van hire cheaper yourself if you were to be without your own vehicle, for whatever reason. It may be worth an extra five minutes of your time when you’re processing our enquiry form to see what is available in case you decide you do want to add this ancillary product.

You may think that this is as simple an option as yes or no, but do you envisage travelling to Europe in your van, either as a result of your business or hopping across on Eurostar to pick up the beer for the works Christmas do? Ah – hadn’t thought of that last one, had you?

If the answer’s categorically no, then you definitely do not need the extra EU road travel van insurance that adding the Green Card onto your policy gives. Saying that, this is definitely one of those ancillaries that some van insurance providers automatically include to their base policy, which could make the question whether you want it or not mute, all depending upon the particulars of your policy.

This is an important bolt-on, though, if you know your business will take you to Europe and you need your van insuring for driving on their roads (and good luck with that!). Should you be discovered without green card cover, the penalties can be harsh.

As we said, as EU travel is now so common, some van insurance brokers will supply you with a European certificate even if you don’t ask for one when you first take out your policy, or renew it if they’ve only just adopted the practise.

For those companies yet to provide Green Card certification automatically, they still may have provisos in place to which you need to adhere, so it is worth checking with them if you have a trip across the channel planned to the EU member states or European countries who are not yet members – if you’re not sure, check with your van insurance provider, and, whilst you’re on, double-check how long you are permitted to stay under their cover! They may still need informing before you travel to get your document ready and they are perfectly within their rights to charge if that is what is agreed on your van insurance document.

So, that’s it for our little vancillaries mini-series; we hope you found it useful. Many of the things covered van drivers can tend to overlook, only realising they’re without an aspect of cover when they come to claim for it on their policy!  Let’s hope these seven articles have cleared up a few of those myths and raised your confidence about what you do and don’t need as extras to your van insurance policy.

If one or more of those aspects are important to you, please remember to highlight them when you process your appliation for cheap van insurance using our online form.

For van drivers who are sole-traders or sub-contract employees in the construction trade, they may be looking at this article wondering why tool cover is not part and parcel of all commercial van insurance policies.

It is so essential to have your livelihood covered by this ancillary if your career path means heavy investment in your own tools, that it just doesn’t make sense to risk doing without, especially with van theft seeing increase after increase in the press since we rode tentatively into 2012 on the back of the worst recession since the Tories were last in power.

However, given the nature of tool cover and how expensive an aspect it can be, depending upon the amount you wish to insure against loss or theft*, it has to be kept as a separate issue. Even two traders who perform similar tasks may view the import placed on their tools differently and opt for greater or lesser cover than the other. That is without even taking into consideration van drivers who do just that for a living – drive vans – who, for them, tool cover would mean an expense they’re never going to justify if it formed part of the base policy document.

Tool cover (also referred to as ‘Goods in Transit’ by some commercial vehicle insurance firms) insures against theft tools that you transport with you as a necessary component to perform your job. And it does have its own policy – if your van were to be taken from site along with your tools, you would claim for the van on its insurance policy and the tools separately on theirs.

Strict conditions for tool cover insurance apply

Due to the nature of the beast, i.e. thieves seeing tools like magpies see shiny things, you may have to meet certain security criteria before you qualify for tool cover. Replacing tools is not cheap; it’s difficult to prove exactly what was and wasn’t taken unless the thieves are caught red-handed. But, if you take your business and livelihood seriously, you should have all manner of security features fitted to your van, if for no other reason than to help you obtain cheap van insurance in the first place, irrespective of whether you’re taking out separate tool cover, or not.

*One last point about tool cover. If you have a specialist career and the tools you carry with you are, in their own rite, extremely expensive to replace, check the details of the policy carefully. Some van insurance tool cover bolt-ons set a maximum value for any one single item. You may have to pay a little more overall, but it’s better than paying for insurance that will hardly touch the cost of what it’s supposed to cover in the result that the tools are stolen.

To see how much you can bolt-on tool cover to a cheap van insurance quote (you may save enough through our providers to cover the extra cost) compare policies using our online form.