Does your motor insurance cover volunteering?

Not sure if this is exactly the right section but a lot of volunteers look in here. There is an interesting item on Yahoo news about some car insurers not covering volunteering This blunder could void your car insurance - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Finance

Now I think they are meaning volunteer driving e.g. ferrying people about in your car, but what if you are taking some item from your railway to a local engineering company, or picking up buffet supplies from a cash and carry and you have an accident? Could be a bit of a grey area, and insurers will do anything to get out of paying these days.

Dave

 

It is always a good idea in any circumstance to get cover of the "use by the policyholder in person in connection with his/her business" kind as even giving a work colleague a lift from one work venue to another can be problematic. Such cover may not actually cost any extra.

Paul H.

 

Most insurance companies will cover volunteer running around without extra charge IF you talk to them first. Ring them up and ask them. The problems usually arise when they find out after an incident.

 

I can certainly see the disctinction where the car is used for the operational business of the volunteer activity, but where the car is used simply to go to and from or for a butty or tool run with no remuneration, it is surely within the "pleasure" element of permitted use.

 

As long as you are a volunteer and receive no payment (and this includes 'petrol money') this comes under the heading of Social, Domestic and Pleasure. Taking any form or payment, i.e. petrol money, could alter the status however.

 

If volunteering isn't pleasurable... Then why do it ?

 

A volunteer colleague was concerned about carrying sales stock and took it up with his insurance co. He was assured by them that, even though the railway is a business, he was doing it for social or pleasure purposes and not in connection with his business and was thus insured.

Always pays to ask, though. If you buy cheap insurance, it may be cheap for a reason.

 

I would agree it needs checking with individual companies; It is particulary problematic if you are carrying (a) locomotive spares which will be heavy and may cause extra damage if involved in an accident [not necessarily the driver's fault] (b) toxic or flammable materials such as oils / lubricants / gas cylinders for welding gear etc (c) (c) carrying out tasks for the railway such as taking tokens to signal boxes, staff to work places / signing on points or (d) assisting with the railway business as a volunteer but for which there is no insurance cover from the railway.

Agreed that most companies will honour the policy bu - mmainly - if they are aware of the risk before granting insurance; their usual weasel way out is to say that they were unaware of the risk therefore had not included that level of cover in their quote or policy.

 

And always get their answer in writing...if they won't commit to writing they probably don't mean it.

Steve

 

I think that something is being missed here. The issue seems to revolve around your declared occupation. If you declare yourself as (say) 'retired', that would carry a lower risk than in the insurer's eyes than 'volunteer' (whether or not you are using the vehicle in conjunction with your volunteering). What isn't clear is when casual, infrequent volunteering is regarded as an occupation. And if you are in a more risky employment (most if not all occupations), then the volunteering element is presumably irrelevant. If in doubt, read the original article - it's more informative than second hand speculation. The good news is that it's not an issue with most big name insurers.