Van insurance

[petesta]

Do all vans have to go on commercial insurance because i have yet to insure my little Berlingo van but my brother has an astra van and said the insurance companies he contacted said it had to have commercial insurance , even if he just wanted it for private use and not for work related purpose.
In his case this worked out ok when someone crashed in to it and it was classed as an Economical write-off because he repaired it but didnt need to re M.O.T it after the repair because of the commercial insurance and the lite damage he just changed the bumper and rear light and carried on using it.
Any hoo
Can a commercial van be insured for private use ???

[CourierJim]

I gave one of my well-worn old vans (346,000 miles) to my Nephew for commuting purposes, and he had quite a palaver getting it insured for "Social Domestic and Pleasure". For some reason, Insurers don't want to believe that someone would willingly use a van, like they would a car. Eventually, after a lot of chasing around, he got cover for £250 per annum. This is considerably less than the £1,200 a year that I have to pay for combined Courier Van Insurance and Goods In Transit Insurance (and I've got full No Claims Bonus!).

I don't know which company he went with, but could find out if asked. He lives 35 miles away from me.

[brodfather11]

my old berlingo Y reg , for social , dom and pleasure comp insurance for £132.00 through the Post office insurance, didn't take the legal protection at another £28.00. just renewed in october

I think as it is not signwritten they consider it as a private vehicle.

[Ewanm77]

I was told that all vans needed commercial insurance thats why I got a multispace instead of a van

[Tomcat3]

I had a berlingo van for 2 years on social domestic and pleasure as it was just used to cart the retriever about. There are plenty of insurance companies that will cover you.

[Jed Clampit]

Look around you will find insurance sdp i had van's before never had a problem with insurance

[petesta]

Well i did as advised and went on the post office website and got a quote for social domestic and pleasure insurance (S,D,P)
And did indeed receive a quote £267 TPFT £100 EXCESS
so YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET COMMERCIAL insurance on a van.
Thanks for your help and advice everyone.

[Jed Clampit]

Glad to see you got your insurance just one thing you got TPFT sounds strange but did you ask for a quote for Fully Comp a lot of the time you will get a F C quote cheaper also if you put a named older driver on your insurance even if they don't drive your van the price will come down ?? that's the way they work so keep that in mind

[geoff]

Bit late to this one but I've had private van insurance for years for modest money, I found it was cheaper to have my wife insure my van with me as a named driver and I'd maintain my NCD by insuring her car. She gets the van cheaper by approx £90 and I pay £15 more for her car, on balance a good deal !

[ddb]

Bit late to this one but I've had private van insurance for years for modest money, I found it was cheaper to have my wife insure my van with me as a named driver and I'd maintain my NCD by insuring her car. She gets the van cheaper by approx £90 and I pay £15 more for her car, on balance a good deal !

If she is not the main driver then what you are doing is called "fronting", if you ever make a claim you may get some bad news, as well as the insurance being invalid it is also a criminal offence.