Van insurance, Northern Ireland - questions and answers

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Here are some typical questions relating to van insurance, Northern Ireland and costs etc.

What do insurers mean when they refer to uses of the vehicle?

This may be hard to generalise because it depends upon the exact context.

Typically though, they may be referring to the uses you put your van to.

For van insurance, Northern Ireland insurance providers may use slightly different terminology to each other, however, they typically they may see your van use coming primarily into one of the following categories:

• personal transport - this category may, for example, include plumbers that need to transport their tools and equipment with them when they are travelling to and from jobs;

• owned goods - perhaps including the transport of your own goods to and from your work address;

• hire or reward - essentially selling your services and van to others, as a way of transporting their goods to and from various points.

This distinction isn't an academic one. In terms of van insurance, Northern Ireland providers may see significantly different risks in the above categories and may adjust their pricing accordingly.

Does what I carry in my van make a difference to the insurance?

It may do.

If, for example, you were transporting potentially hazardous materials (e.g. toxic, inflammable etc), you may need to discuss the situation with your insurer and seek special cover arrangements.

It is important to check rather than make assumptions in such cases.

What sort of vans can I drive?

First and foremost, this is primarily a question for the prevailing road traffic laws surrounding licensing, rather than an insurance issue.

However, some policies may have their own requirements relating to, for example, the minimum ages of drivers permitted for certain types of vehicle. They may also, in some instances, require that a fully qualifying licence have been held for a certain minimum number of years.

Some policies may allow younger and inexperienced drivers (provided they meet minimum legal requirements) but your premium may increase as a result.

There is typically no alternative but to read the detail of a policy in advance of purchase, to be sure about this and other similar points.

How can I reduce the cost of my van insurance?

There is no real mystery here and in principle, the usual steps may apply (though check your provider's offerings to be sure):

• keep the numbers of drivers on the policy down and all licences clean;

• garage your van securely, when not in use;

• fit additional security devices and trackers if necessary;

• avoid carrying hazardous loads or those that are very high value;

• as with all insurance, for van insurance, Northern Ireland offers increasing amounts of choice - so shopping around may also help keep your costs down.

Roger Jones is a writer for Northern Ireland Insurance centre. Compare car insurance Northern Ireland - cheaper quotes are found online. We only show companies that quote for Northern Ireland.

SOURCE : http://goarticles.com/article/Van-insurance-Northern-Ireland-questions-and-answers/5477673/