What is Vehicle Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles Motor Trade Insurance?
Whether you work as a solo breakdown and recovery agent or you own business that operates a fleet of breakdown and recovery trucks, you’ll need to have vehicle breakdown and recovery vehicles motor trade insurance to run your business safely and legally.
Getting motor trade insurance will cover you for all the major risks that come with owning and operating a breakdown and recovery vehicle, including the risks associated with working on and transporting customer vehicles.
Policies can easily be tailored to suit your needs, with all types of road risks cover available as well as combined policies.
What the experts say…
“Working as a breakdown and recovery agent means constantly working with other peoples' vehicles. Doing this comes with some inherent risk and in order to protect yourself against these risks and work legally, you'll need to have vehicle breakdown and recovery vehicles motor trade insurance in place. ”
– Ian Beevis, Founder of Clean Green Compare
What Can Vehicle Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles Motor Trade Insurance Cover?
Each business is unique but breakdown and recovery vehicles motor trade insurance often includes:
- Road risks insurance: This will allow you to drive customer vehicles for business purposes.
- Premises and asset cover: If you have a premises, then you can get it covered with a combined policed that will protect you for structural damage from risks such as fire, flooding and vandalism.
- Money and keys cover: You can also get cover for any cash you keep on site as well as replacement costs for customer locks and keys.
- Goods in transit: If you transport vehicles between sites, then you will be covered for their contents.
- Personal accident and sickness: If you or any of your employees become sick or injured and cannot work, wages would be covered.
- Legal expenses: This would cover legal expenses up to a set amount if you had to fight a liability claim in court.
You can easily tailor your policy so it includes the cover you need most.
Extra Types Of Vehicle Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles Motor Trade Insurance
Some excellent types of additional cover you can get with a motor trade policy includes:
Liability claims from your employees (if you have them) and members of the public are something you always need to be weary of. Having this type of cover will ensure you don’t have to pay out of your own pocket if a claim goes against you.
If you or an employee’s work was considered to be defective and caused damage and a customer wanted compensating, then this would be covered by your insurance.
If you were unable to continue working for a period of time due to a reason that’s covered in your policy, then you’d be compensated until you were able to get going again.
You can also get cover for your tools and equipment, both on-site and in transit.
What’s Not Covered By Vehicle Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles Motor Trade Insurance?
Motor trade businesses can vary quite a lot and not every business has the same needs. Although there are plenty of things that are covered by motor trade insurance, not everything is included and it’s useful to know what the exclusion are.
The main things that won’t be covered by your insurance are:
- Non business use of vehicles: – You and any named drivers on the policy will be able to operate vehicles under your car for strictly reasons related to working on them as part of your main job and nothing else.
- Unlisted drivers: – If you have employees that you want to be covered on your policy, they’ll need to be named specifically and their driving experience, record, age etc. provided.
- Repairs needed due to defective workmanship: – Although resulting damage from defective workmanship can be covered, any further repairs that might be needed as a result are usually not.
- Malicious damage: – If you or an employee were to purposely damage a customer or member of the public’s vehicle, this would not be covered by your insurance.
- Claims made with inaccurate information: – It’s important to provide accurate and up-to-date information when you take out your policy since claims might be denied if not.
Always make sure you check the full details of any policies you’re considering so you know exactly what you’re covered for.
Who Needs Vehicle Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles Motor Trade Insurance?
Motor trade insurance tends to be highly tailored to the needs of the specific business and vehicle breakdown and recovery vehicles motor trade insurance is a specialised type of cover that certainly isn’t suitable for all motor trade businesses.
Bearing this in mind, below are the main types of businesses that this type of cover is suited for:
- Dedicated breakdown and recovery operations: The most obvious business type that needs this type of cover are dedicated breakdown and recovery services. This is true for both solo breakdown and recovery agents and recovery operations with a fleet of vehicles.
- Businesses offering vehicle transportation and delivery: If you have a businesses that offers vehicle collection and delivery and you also provide breakdown recovery as part of your service, then you can certainly benefit from having vehicle breakdown and recovery vehicles motor trade insurance.
- Garages offering breakdown recovery services: Many garages and MOT centres have at least one breakdown recovery vehicle for picking up customer cars and if this is the case, it’s necessary to have cover for transporting the vehicle.
- Scrap yards and vehicle dismantlers: Scrap yards and dismantlers that use their own recovery vehicle will also need to have this type of cover.
In short, if your business puts you in charge of vehicles that aren’t your own—even for a few minutes—you’ll need motor trade insurance tailored to car jockeys or valet work.
Get Vehicle Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles Motor Trade Insurance Quotes Today
The Steps Involved in Getting a Vehicle Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles Motor Trade Insurance Quote
Getting a quote for vehicle breakdown and recovery vehicles motor trade insurance is not difficult at all. Below are the main things you’ll need:
How Much Does Vehicle Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles Motor Trade Insurance Cost?
Cost can vary based on a number of key factors that motor trade insurance providers take into account. Below are the main ones:
- The level of cover you take out: The level of cover you take out will certainly affect cost. A basic third party only policy will cost less than a comprehensive policy that includes a lot of extras for example.
- The size of your operation: How big your operation is will determine how much you pay for cover too. A sole breakdown and recovery agent will nearly always pay less than a large operation with several vehicles to insure.
- Number of named drivers: The number of named drivers, including their driving history, will have a big impact on how much you pay for cover also.
- How you choose to pay: Typically it costs less overall to pay for a policy annually compared to monthly since you can avoid interest payments.
- The insurance provider: Lastly is the insurance provider you get your cover from. This is why it’s always a good idea to get quotes from multiple providers.
You should always shop around when it comes time to renew your motor trade insurance so you can get the best deal possible for your business.
How You Can Save Money on Vehicle Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles Motor Trade Insurance
Below are some great ways to save money on vehicle breakdown and recovery vehicles motor trade Insurance:
By following the steps above, you should be able to significantly reduce the cost of your insurance.
FAQs – Vehicle Breakdown and Recovery Vehicles Motor Trade Insurance
What types of vehicles can be covered under a breakdown and recovery vehicles motor trade insurance policy?
The main types of vehicles that can be covered include:
- Tow trucks
- Service vans
- Mobile diagnostic units
- Courtesy cars (in some cases)
Should I get public liability insurance?
This depends on your budget but having public liability insurance as a breakdown and recovery vehicle driver can certainly give you more peace of mind when you’re on the job.
How long will I be covered for with vehicle breakdown and recovery vehicles motor trade insurance?
Policies will typically cover you for one year, after which time you can choose to renew your policy with the same provider or look elsewhere if you’re able to get a better deal.
Is this type of insurance expensive?
It can be depending on whether you’re a sole operator or you’re insuring a fleet of breakdown and recovery vehicles. It should be said though that insuring several vehicles as a fleet is usually less expensive than insuring them individually.
