business use insurance

[marl]

Can anyone advise as to why, apart from moral reasons and honesty, I ought to take this out and pay more for this addition to car insurance? Presumably one can always say you are going shopping so why does to make a difference as to where you are going and merit paying more for? Just about to investigate this and renew my insurance this year but I'm sure a long time in the past it didn't cost more and yet now it does...

I'm not an expert but I wouldn't have thought it was as simple as saying 'I was just going shopping' in the event of an accident. After all you will have provided them details of your employment as part of the insurance application and if you have an accident in the daytime I would have thought it was actually fairly simple for them to verify if you were at work or not - e.g. if you were on a day off or non working day? I am sure your work can be compelled to release details if it got as far as a court case. I suppose for a small prang they might well not bother checking the details out but if it was a large claim e.g. god forbid serious danger to life or limb of yourself or a third party, the payout could be very substantial and you could be sure they will look into all details then - you don't want to be saddled with a 5 or 6 figure level bill without insurance to cover it.

And if you did try and lie and were caught out that could be a criminal offence - driving without valid insurance or even fraud.

For me, it is 100% not worth the risk. I do agree it's annoying to pay more especially if you are only an occasional business user but still. Shop around to find the best deal - for me adding business use actually made the policy cheaper for some providers...

I've never paid extra for business use. It has always been included as standard or I just had to ask for it and it was added for free. I guess this may depend on the insurance company/your job/your claims history.

Are you paid mileage for using your car for work purposes? The current tax free rate is meant to cover, petrol, wear & tear and business insurance.

If you were to have an accident whilst using your car for work it could be easily found out.

It doesn't cost me any more to add business use.

Do you get paid mileage? If so most companies ask for proof of business use cover. It should only be around £10 a year extra if it's not free.

Thank you all. Definitive and helpful answers. Much appreciated and I will start shopping - ugh.