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UK commercial motor insurance
UK commercial vehicle motor insurance claims
The broader UK commercial vehicle motor insurance picture. Carriage of own goods, carriage of goods for hire and reward, haulage class, business-use endorsements on private policies, IPT at 12%, the RTA 1988 s.143 compulsory cover duty, s.144A Continuous Insurance Enforcement, fleet versus individual policy distinctions, Goods-in-Transit cover, Employer's Liability under the 1969 Act, and the claim mechanics - FNOL, independent engineer instruction, like-for-like commercial replacement under Bee v Jenson and inter-insurer subrogation under Part VI RTA 1988.
- Independent engineer instruction
- Like-for-like commercial replacement
- Lost-trade-day evidence pack
- Non-regulated accident support
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UK response
Recovery dispatch and live claim handlers, 365 days a year.
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Cost
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What does UK commercial vehicle motor insurance cover and which class do I need?
UK commercial motor insurance is the statutory third-party cover required under section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 for any vehicle used on a road. Commercial classes are carriage of own goods (the policyholder's own business stock), carriage of goods for hire and reward (third-party goods for payment), haulage (long-distance and international freight), and the separate public and private hire taxi classes. Insurance Premium Tax at 12% sits on top of the net premium under Schedule 6A of the Finance Act 1994. A business-use endorsement on a private-car policy does not extend to paid delivery work and is the single biggest claim avoidance trigger on UK commercial files. The cover is distinct from Goods-in-Transit (which responds for the cargo), Employer's Liability under the 1969 Act and Public Liability.
UK commercial vehicle motor insurance is not one product but a small family of statutory and contractual covers that sit alongside each other. The motor policy itself responds for the vehicle and for the road traffic act third-party liability required by section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Around it sit Goods-in-Transit cover for the cargo, Employer's Liability under the 1969 Act for employees and Public Liability for off-road third-party loss. Get the class wrong, miss the FNOL window or accept a generic substitute vehicle and the commercial-claim recovery falls apart. This page covers the broader UK commercial motor insurance picture - the minicab and PHV vertical sits on the separate hire and reward insurance claims page.
Commercial motor insurance classes: carriage of own goods, hire and reward, haulage
UK commercial motor insurance separates into three principal classes plus the separate taxi and private hire regime. Carriage of own goods (CoG) covers the transport of goods owned by the policyholder's own business - a sole-trader plumber's van carrying the business's own boilers and copper, a builder's tipper carrying the business's own aggregate, a florist's van delivering bouquets supplied by the florist itself. CoG is the lowest commercial rate because the insurer underwrites only the policyholder's own stock and the policyholder's own driving exposure.
Carriage of goods for hire and reward (HR) covers the transport of goods belonging to third parties for payment. Multi-drop courier work, removal firms, parcel-delivery operators, sub-contracted distribution and most ad-hoc delivery work for paying customers sit in HR. The rate is higher because the insurer takes on the broader cargo-liability exposure and the higher annual mileage. Haulage class is a sub-class of HR specifically rated for long-distance and cross-country freight movement; some underwriters rate it separately because of the higher motorway exposure and the international trade pattern with its CMR overlay.
The decisive question on every commercial claim is which class was on cover at the moment of collision and whether the use at that moment matched the class. A CoG van carrying a sub-contracted third-party load was not on the right class. An HR van running international freight to Calais without the haulage rating was not on the right class. The certificate of motor insurance and the policy schedule are the authoritative documents - the underwriter's avoidance position is set by reference to those documents and the contemporaneous dispatch record.
Business-use endorsements on private policies: where the cover quietly fails
Many UK sole traders run a Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3 business-use endorsement on what is otherwise a private-car motor policy. Class 1 covers business travel by the policyholder; Class 2 extends to a named spouse or partner; Class 3 covers commercial travelling - typically for sales-rep work covering a regional territory. The endorsement is appropriate for a mobile mechanic visiting clients, a consultant driving between client sites or a sales rep on a regional territory because the vehicle is not used to carry goods for payment.
The endorsement is not appropriate, and does not lawfully respond, for any vehicle used to deliver goods for payment. A van used to deliver parcels for an operator, a vehicle delivering the policyholder's own goods to paying customers, or a van running an Uber Eats / Deliveroo / Just Eat food-delivery shift requires a proper commercial CoG or HR policy. Insurers routinely refuse own-damage and recovery cover where the use exceeded the policy class at the moment of loss. The third-party road traffic act minimum still responds under s.151 RTA 1988 because the statute overrides the contract for the protection of the third-party victim - but the policyholder is then exposed under s.152 to a reimbursement claim from the insurer for the third-party indemnity paid out. This is the single biggest avoidance trigger on UK commercial files.
IPT
03
Section 3 of the walkthrough.
Insurance Premium Tax: the 12% standard rate on commercial motor premiums
Insurance Premium Tax has stood at the standard rate of 12% since 1 June 2017, under Schedule 6A to the Finance Act 1994. IPT applies to general insurance premiums including commercial motor - sole-trader van, fleet, HGV and minibus policies. The standard rate was 6% from launch in October 1994, rose to 9.5% on 1 November 2015, to 10% on 1 October 2016 and reached the current 12% on 1 June 2017. The higher rate (20%) applies to travel insurance and to insurance sold with certain consumer goods, not to commercial motor.
On a typical broker quote the IPT line is shown separately. A £1,200 gross commercial motor premium contains roughly £128.57 of IPT (12% of the £1,071.43 net premium); the broker keeps its commission on the net. When the policyholder compares quotes, the relevant figure is the net-of-tax premium because IPT is fixed by statute and identical across underwriters. IPT is not recoverable input VAT for most businesses (motor insurance is exempt from VAT but subject to IPT), so the full gross premium is a real trading cost. A non-fault claim recovery does not refund the IPT element of the policy year - IPT is paid on the premium, not on the claim - but the policyholder's earned-premium credit on a mid-year cancellation does include a proportionate IPT refund.
Compulsory cover under RTA 1988 s.143 and Continuous Insurance Enforcement (s.144A)
Section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires every motor vehicle used on a road or other public place to be insured against third-party risks. The statutory minimum is unlimited cover for bodily injury and £1.2 million per claim for third-party property damage. The cover must be evidenced by a certificate of motor insurance issued by an authorised insurer; an electronic certificate is acceptable under regulations made under the Act. Driving a vehicle without that cover is a summary offence with six to eight penalty points and a fine, plus a discretionary disqualification.
Section 144A creates the parallel Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) duty: a registered keeper must keep a vehicle insured at all times unless a Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN) is in force. The duty was introduced by the Road Safety Act 2006 and came into force on 20 January 2011. CIE is enforced by the DVLA in conjunction with the Motor Insurers' Bureau via the Motor Insurance Database; the Insurance Advisory Letter goes to the keeper, the £100 fixed penalty follows, and if the vehicle is still uninsured the police seizure power under s.165A RTA 1988 attaches. For a commercial fleet, every vehicle parked up between contracts on a public road must still be on cover - a vehicle in a depot yard on private land does not engage the duty, but a vehicle on a public adopted road does.
The UK commercial motor insurer landscape
The principal UK commercial motor underwriters include Aviva Commercial, Allianz Commercial (rebranded from Allianz Insurance plc in 2024 to align with the global Allianz Commercial brand), AXA Business Insurance, RSA Insurance (incorporating the legacy NIG - Norwich Union Insurance Group - brand inside the wider RSA commercial book; NIG continues to operate as a broker-only specialist arm), Zurich Commercial, Direct Line for Business, NFU Mutual (the dominant agricultural and rural-commercial underwriter for farm vehicles and agricultural fleets), and Markerstudy Commercial.
A long tail of managing general agents (MGAs) and Lloyd's of London syndicates writes specialist trades - refrigerated distribution, hazardous goods, abnormal loads, classic-commercial restoration. Tradesman, Tradesmen Saver and a handful of broker-led schemes occupy the sole-trader-van market. The detail that matters on every claim is which underwriter holds the actual risk - many policies are sold under a broker brand but underwritten by one of the above; the certificate of motor insurance is the authoritative document showing the underwriter, the policy number and the underwriter's claims helpline. Mis-routing a notification through the broker's general enquiry line when there is a dedicated underwriter FNOL line adds days to the reserve.
06FLEETKey takeaway
Fleet policies, individual policies and the "any driver" eligibility threshold
A fleet policy covers four or more vehicles on a single master schedule. Per-vehicle rating is replaced by experience-rated whole-fleet rating, which usually drives the per-vehicle premium below the individual-policy level once the fleet exceeds five to ten vehicles. Fleet policies almost always permit "any driver over 25" or "any driver with two or more years' experience" rather than naming each driver. They permit fleet-wide telematics integration with group-level data feeds - the telematics provider's monthly report is shared with the underwriter and feeds the next year's renewal rating.
Fleet policies tend to carry higher excesses and a more aggressive own-fault treatment, with the trade-off of administrative simplicity for the operator. Fleet claims are notified through a dedicated fleet claims line and a fleet loss adjuster rather than the individual-policy panel. An individual commercial policy, by contrast, names specific drivers, the specific vehicle and a defined use, and is the right structure for the sole trader running one van. The notification route, the panel arrangements and the renewal mechanics are materially different - handling a one-van sole trader through the fleet pipeline, or a forty-vehicle distributor through the individual-policy pipeline, costs days of reserve time and adds avoidable friction to the lost-trade-day quantum.
Telematics, dashcam and tachograph evidence on commercial claims
Commercial fleets are now overwhelmingly telematics-equipped. Fleet-grade telematics - Lightfoot, Webfleet, Microlise, Quartix, Geotab, Verizon Connect - record GPS location, speed, harsh-braking events, cornering forces and idle time at one-second granularity. Dashcam systems (VisionTrack, SmartWitness, Brigade, Streamax) record continuous video for between 24 and 96 hours rolling, with G-force-triggered incident clips preserved in cloud storage for 30 to 90 days. HGVs of 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight and above carry a digital tachograph under EU Regulation 165/2014 retained in UK law, recording driving and rest-period data on a personal driver card and on the vehicle unit.
All three categories are admissible as evidence in civil proceedings under the Civil Evidence Act 1995. The discipline on a commercial claim is to pull the telematics extract for the two hours either side of the collision, secure the dashcam clip inside the preservation window (typically 14 days before automatic overwrite), and request a tachograph card download from the driver and a vehicle-unit download from the operator within the day. The combined evidence pack is then served on the third-party insurer in a single coordinated bundle - late or piecemeal disclosure pushes the file toward split liability where the underlying facts support a full-liability finding.
Goods-in-Transit, Public Liability and Employer's Liability around the motor policy
The motor policy covers the vehicle and the road traffic third-party liability. It does not cover the cargo, third-party off-road property damage from operating the vehicle, or employee injury claims against the employer. Three adjacent covers fill the gaps. Goods-in-Transit (GIT) insurance responds for loss or damage to the goods being carried; per-load limits typically run from £20,000 for general courier work up to £100,000 or more for high-value loads, with optional extensions for refrigerated goods, hazardous goods and overnight storage. Domestic GIT sits under English contract law and the relevant trading conditions - most commonly the Road Haulage Association Conditions of Carriage 2020 - and international GIT falls under the CMR Convention given force in UK law by the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965. Sea-leg integration runs under the Hague-Visby Rules.
Public Liability is optional under statute but normally required by contractor and commercial-client agreements. Most haulage contracts require £5 million or £10 million PL as a minimum. PL responds for off-road third-party property damage or injury arising from the operation - a delivery to a customer's premises that damaged the building, a loading operation that injured a non-employee, a forecourt incident. Employer's Liability under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 is compulsory for every UK employer including a single-employee firm; minimum cover is £5 million per occurrence. EL responds for employee injury claims against the employer arising in the course of employment. The three covers coordinate but do not duplicate - a commercial collision that damaged cargo and a third party's forecourt and injured the employee driver engages all three, plus the motor policy.
MECHANICS
09
Section 9 of the walkthrough.
Claim mechanics: FNOL, independent engineer, like-for-like replacement, subrogation
Every commercial motor policy carries a First Notification of Loss (FNOL) duty - usually "as soon as reasonably practicable" and in any event within seven days. The FNOL line, dedicated commercial helpline or online portal of the actual underwriter is the right route, not the broker's general enquiry desk. The policyholder has a common-law right to instruct an independent engineer to inspect the vehicle. The at-fault insurer commonly nominates a panel engineer whose commercial-vehicle valuation is structurally low - an independent engineer's report identifies the conversion specification (Luton body, refrigeration unit, tail-lift, racking, livery), mileage-adjusted market value, and like-for-like replacement specification. The report is instructed the same day as recovery, not after the at-fault insurer has set its first reserve.
Bee v Jenson [2007] EWCA Civ 923 is the Court of Appeal authority anchoring the like-for-like principle. Applied to commercial vehicles, it requires a replacement of equivalent class and capacity - a 3.5-tonne Luton box van cannot be substituted by a car-derived van; a refrigerated multi-drop courier vehicle cannot be substituted by a non-refrigerated van. Subrogation between commercial motor insurers runs under Part VI of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the ABI inter-insurer protocols. The loss adjusters work to the documentary record - dashcam, telematics, tachograph and the independent engineer report drive the fault classification. Where the claim exceeds the OIC small-claims threshold or concerns vehicle and continuing-trade loss only, the case proceeds in the county court or the High Court, not the OIC portal.
Related commercial vehicle and insurance pages
Each linked page deepens one part of the commercial-vehicle claim picture. The commercial-vehicle accident hub covers the broader collision picture. The LGV driver, Driver CPC and tachograph pages cover the regulated heavy-goods regime in detail. The hire-and-reward insurance page is the minicab and PHV vertical - the taxi-class regime sits there, not on this page.
Six-step UK commercial motor insurance claim notification flow
Step 1
Verify the policy class actually in force at the moment of collision
Pull the certificate of motor insurance and the policy schedule. Confirm the insurance class on cover - carriage of own goods, carriage of goods for hire and reward, haulage, public hire or private hire - and confirm the use at the moment of the collision matched the policy use. A delivery being made under a sub-contract chain that the policyholder did not declare to its insurer is the single most common avoidance trigger on commercial files. Where there is any doubt, take a statement from the driver, the dispatch operator and the customer before notification so the use position is documented contemporaneously.
Step 2
Comply with section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and report to police where required
Stop, set hazards, check anyone injured and exchange names, addresses, vehicle registration and insurer details with every driver involved. Where injury is present, where details are not exchanged at the scene, or where an animal listed in s.170(8) RTA 1988 is hurt, the collision must be reported to the police as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 24 hours. For non-injury collisions the relevant force's online collision reporting service is the route. On a motorway or smart motorway live lane do not exit the vehicle - wait for National Highways or police to attend.
Step 3
Notify your commercial motor insurer through First Notification of Loss (FNOL)
Every commercial motor policy carries an FNOL notification duty - usually 'as soon as reasonably practicable' and in any event within seven days of the loss. Use the underwriter's dedicated commercial helpline or online portal (Aviva Commercial, Allianz Commercial, AXA Business Insurance, RSA / NIG, Zurich Commercial, Direct Line for Business, NFU Mutual, Markerstudy Commercial). Provide the policy number, vehicle registration, date, time and location of collision, a brief narrative, the names and contact details of every other driver and any independent witness, the police reference where police attended and any dashcam, telematics or weighbridge data. Failure to notify inside the policy window is a recognised ground for the insurer to refuse cover under the conditions precedent in the policy schedule.
Step 4
Instruct an independent engineer before the at-fault insurer's panel engineer sets a reserve
The policyholder has a common-law right to instruct an independent engineer to inspect the vehicle. The at-fault insurer commonly nominates a panel engineer whose valuation is structurally low; an independent engineer's report - written to the BS 10125 / PAS 125 repair standard, recording the vehicle's commercial role, its conversion specification, its mileage-adjusted market value and the like-for-like replacement specification - is the document the third-party insurer must engage with. For a Luton box van, a refrigerated multi-drop courier vehicle, a tipper conversion or any specialist body the like-for-like specification is decisive on quantum. Instruct the engineer the same day the vehicle is recovered, not after the at-fault insurer has set its first reserve.
Step 5
Coordinate Goods-in-Transit and Public Liability cover where the cargo is damaged
Where the collision damaged the cargo, the motor policy does not respond for the goods - the Goods-in-Transit policy does, under its own per-load limit and conditions. Notify the GIT insurer separately and inside the GIT notification window (typically 14 days). Where a third party's property was damaged by the cargo or by the operation of the vehicle off-road (a delivery to a customer's premises, a forecourt incident, a loading operation), Public Liability may also be in scope. The three covers - motor, GIT, PL - coordinate but do not duplicate. For CMR-governed international carriage, the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road regime under the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965 takes over the cargo loss treatment.
Step 6
Document lost-trade-day evidence and place a like-for-like commercial replacement
Pull two years of Companies House accounts (or two SA302s for a sole trader), the prior twelve weeks of invoices, the tachograph or telematics record of working hours, fuel-card and toll-card data and any sub-contract cover invoices. Compute lost net contribution week by week against the prior-period run-rate. In parallel, place a like-for-like commercial replacement of equivalent class and capacity - Bee v Jenson [2007] EWCA Civ 923 applied to commercial vehicles requires equivalence not a notional generic substitute. A 3.5-tonne Luton box van cannot be substituted by a car-derived van; a refrigerated vehicle cannot be substituted by a non-refrigerated vehicle. CityGrip routes the engineer report, the lost-trade-day evidence pack and the replacement vehicle through one file so the third-party insurer engages with a single coordinated quantum.
Ranking factors
Six factors that strengthen a UK commercial motor insurance claim
Commercial motor claims succeed or fail on six structural questions: was the right policy class on cover, was an independent engineer instructed early, was the replacement vehicle equivalent in class and capacity, was the right policy type (fleet versus individual) routed correctly, did the Goods-in-Transit and Public Liability covers coordinate with the motor policy, and was the inter-insurer subrogation evidence served in one disciplined bundle. The six factors below sit beneath every CityGrip commercial file.
Correct insurance class verification at the moment of collision
Carriage of own goods, carriage of goods for hire and reward, haulage class and the public/private hire classes are not interchangeable. The single biggest commercial-claim failure mode is a vehicle used outside the policy class at the moment of collision - a Class 1 business-use private car used for paid delivery work, a CoG van carrying a sub-contracted third-party load, an HR van running international without the haulage rating. The first task on a commercial file is to evidence the use that was actually in force and align it with the certificate of motor insurance.
Certificate of motor insurance + policy schedule + dispatch record + customer evidence aligned on one date and one use.
Independent engineer evidence to the BS 10125 / PAS 125 standard
Commercial vehicle valuations are routinely set low by at-fault insurer panel engineers who treat the vehicle as a generic light commercial. An independent engineer's report identifies the conversion specification (Luton body, refrigeration unit, tail-lift, racking, livery), mileage-adjusted market value and like-for-like replacement cost. Bee v Jenson [2007] EWCA Civ 923 anchors the commercial like-for-like principle. The engineer's report is instructed before the at-fault insurer sets its first reserve, not after.
Independent engineer instructed inside 48 hours; report served on third-party insurer before its panel engineer attends.
Like-for-like commercial replacement matched to class and capacity
A replacement commercial vehicle must match the lost vehicle by class (3.5-tonne LCV, 7.5-tonne rigid, 26-tonne rigid, articulated tractor unit), body type (panel van, Luton, tipper, curtain-sider, refrigerated), conversion specification and (where applicable) clean-air or emission compliance. The third-party insurer is liable to the credit-hire provider at the reasonable like-for-like rate. A generic courtesy car or a non-equivalent light van does not preserve the policyholder's earnings and does not discharge the at-fault insurer's duty.
Replacement vehicle placed within 24 hours; specification matched to the engineer's like-for-like description.
Fleet vs individual policy distinction and the right notification route
Fleet policies (four or more vehicles) use a master schedule, fleet-wide telematics integration and 'any driver' eligibility; individual commercial policies name the driver and the vehicle. Notification routes, FNOL windows and panel arrangements differ. Mis-routing a fleet claim through the individual-policy helpline - or treating an individual sole-trader van as a fleet claim - adds days to the reserve and undermines the lost-trade-day evidence. The first hour of the file confirms which route applies.
Master fleet schedule vs individual certificate identified; correct FNOL line used; broker engaged where the broker is the placing intermediary.
Goods-in-Transit and Public Liability coordination with motor cover
Motor, Goods-in-Transit and Public Liability are three distinct covers. The motor policy responds for vehicle and road traffic third-party liability; GIT responds for the cargo (RHA Conditions of Carriage 2020 domestically, CMR internationally under the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965); PL responds for off-road third-party property damage or injury arising from the operation. A commercial collision that damaged the cargo and a third party's forecourt engages all three. Coordinating them through one claim file prevents duplicate excesses and missed notification windows.
Three separate notifications served inside policy-stated windows; one consolidated evidence pack shared across all three insurers.
Subrogation timing and inter-insurer evidence discipline
Where both vehicles in a commercial collision carry commercial motor cover, the two underwriters subrogate under Part VI of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the ABI inter-insurer protocols. The loss adjusters work to the documentary record. Dashcam, telematics, tachograph and weighbridge data - admissible under the Civil Evidence Act 1995 - drive the fault classification. Late or poorly indexed evidence pushes the file towards split liability where the underlying facts support a full-liability finding. The discipline is to serve the evidence pack early and in one go.
Dashcam clip, telematics extract and independent engineer report indexed and served inside the 14-day window for CCTV preservation.
UK commercial vehicle motor insurance FAQs
- What are the main commercial vehicle motor insurance classes in the UK?
- UK commercial motor insurance separates broadly into three policy classes plus the public/private hire taxi regime. Carriage of own goods (CoG) covers the transport of goods belonging to the policyholder's own business - a sole-trader plumber's van or a builder's tipper carrying the business's own tools and materials. Carriage of goods for hire and reward (HR) covers the transport of goods belonging to third parties for payment - multi-drop couriers, distribution firms, removals businesses, parcel-delivery operators. Haulage class is a sub-class of HR specifically rated for long-distance and cross-country freight movement; some commercial insurers rate it separately because of the higher motorway exposure and the international trade pattern. Public hire and private hire are the separate taxi and PHV classes covered on /hire-and-reward-insurance-claims.
- Can I run a delivery van on a private car policy with a business-use endorsement?
- No - not lawfully for paid delivery work. Many sole traders run a Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3 business-use endorsement on a private-car policy where the vehicle is used only for travelling between work sites (a mobile mechanic visiting clients, a sales rep covering a territory). That endorsement does not extend to the carriage of goods for payment. A van used to deliver parcels for an operator, or a vehicle delivering the policyholder's own goods to paying customers, requires either a carriage-of-own-goods or carriage-of-goods-for-hire-and-reward commercial policy. Insurers routinely refuse claims where the use at the time of the loss exceeded the cover; the third-party road traffic act minimum still responds, but the policyholder is exposed for own damage, recovery and personal-injury heads.
- What is the current Insurance Premium Tax rate on commercial motor insurance?
- Insurance Premium Tax has stood at the standard rate of 12% since 1 June 2017, set under Schedule 6A to the Finance Act 1994. The rate applies to general insurance premiums including commercial motor - fleet, sole-trader van, HGV and minibus policies. The standard rate was 9.5% from 1 November 2015, rose to 10% in October 2016 and reached the current 12% on 1 June 2017. The higher rate (currently 20%) applies to travel insurance and to insurance sold with certain consumer goods, not to commercial motor. Premium illustrations on broker quotes show IPT as a separate line - verify the net-of-tax premium when comparing.
- Is commercial motor insurance compulsory in the UK?
- Yes. Section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires every motor vehicle used on a road or other public place to be insured against third-party risks. The statutory minimum cover is unlimited for bodily injury and £1.2 million per claim for property damage. Section 144A creates the parallel Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) duty: a registered keeper must keep a vehicle insured at all times unless a Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN) is in force. Breach attracts a £100 fixed penalty under the Continuous Insurance Enforcement framework operated by the DVLA and the Motor Insurers' Bureau via the Motor Insurance Database, plus the police seizure power under s.165A RTA 1988. The duty applies to every commercial vehicle the keeper has on a public road - including a parked-up van outside the depot.
- Which UK insurers underwrite commercial vehicle motor policies?
- The principal UK commercial-motor underwriters include Aviva Commercial, Allianz Commercial (rebranded from Allianz Insurance plc in 2024), AXA Business Insurance, RSA Insurance (incorporating the legacy NIG - Norwich Union Insurance Group - brand inside the wider RSA commercial book), Zurich Commercial, Direct Line for Business, NFU Mutual (particularly strong on agricultural and farm vehicles), Markerstudy Commercial and a long tail of MGAs and Lloyd's of London syndicates writing specialist trades. Tradesman, Tradesmen Saver and a handful of broker-led schemes occupy the sole-trader-van market. The relevant detail on any claim is which underwriter holds the actual risk - many policies are sold under a broker brand but underwritten by one of the above; the certificate of motor insurance names the underwriter.
- What is the difference between fleet insurance and an individual commercial policy?
- A fleet policy typically covers four or more vehicles on a single contract under a master schedule. Per-vehicle rating is replaced by experience-rated whole-fleet rating, which usually drives the per-vehicle premium below the individual-policy level once the fleet exceeds five to ten vehicles. Fleet policies almost always permit 'any driver over 25' or 'any driver with two or more years' experience' rather than naming each driver. They permit fleet-wide telematics integration with group-level data feeds. They tend to carry higher excesses and a more aggressive own-fault treatment, with the trade-off of administrative simplicity. An individual commercial policy, by contrast, names specific drivers, the specific vehicle and a defined use, and is the right structure for the sole trader running one van.
- Do I need separate Goods-in-Transit (GIT) insurance on top of commercial motor?
- Yes for any operator carrying third-party goods, and frequently in practice for own-goods carriage as well. Commercial motor insurance covers the vehicle and the road traffic act third-party liability - it does not cover the cargo. Goods-in-Transit cover is a separate policy line that responds for loss or damage to the goods being carried; per-load limits typically run from £20,000 for general courier work up to £100,000 or more for high-value loads. Domestic GIT cover sits under English contract law and the relevant trading conditions (commonly the RHA Conditions of Carriage 2020); international road carriage falls under the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR), given force in UK law by the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965. Sea-leg integration runs under the Hague-Visby Rules. Without GIT, the operator's own balance sheet absorbs cargo loss.
- Who pays for a replacement commercial vehicle while mine is off the road after a non-fault collision?
- The at-fault driver's insurer is the ultimate compensator under English credit-hire and credit-repair authority. A non-fault commercial vehicle owner is entitled to a like-for-like replacement of equivalent class and capacity - Bee v Jenson [2007] EWCA Civ 923 applied the principle to commercial vehicles, holding that the replacement must match the lost vehicle's role and earning capacity. A 3.5-tonne Luton box van cannot be substituted by a car-derived van; a refrigerated multi-drop courier vehicle cannot be substituted by a non-refrigerated van. Where a credit-hire provider arranges the replacement, the rate must be reasonable and the duration tied to actual repair or replacement progress. Continuing loss while the vehicle is off the road - lost contracts, sub-contracted work, agency cover - is recoverable subject to evidence of the actual trade loss.
- What evidence do commercial insurers expect for a lost-trade-day claim?
- Materially more rigorous evidence than a personal claim. The compensator's claims handler will expect at minimum: the last two years' filed accounts at Companies House (or the last two SA302 self-assessment summaries for a sole trader), a sample run of the prior 12 weeks of invoices or job sheets showing the run-rate immediately before the collision, evidence of contracted work that could not be performed (the contract, the cancellation notification, the sub-contract invoice for cover), the tachograph or telematics record of working hours immediately before the collision, fuel-card and toll-card consumption data, and a contemporaneous narrative from the operator explaining the trade pattern. Loss is computed on net contribution - gross revenue less variable cost, not gross turnover. CityGrip's approach is to assemble the evidence pack at intake so the lost-trade-day quantum is not a surprise to the insurer.
- How does subrogation work when both vehicles in a collision are on commercial policies?
- Subrogation is the doctrine under which an insurer who has paid its own insured's loss steps into the insured's shoes to recover from the at-fault third party. Where both vehicles carry commercial motor insurance, the two underwriters cross-claim under Part VI of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the inter-insurer protocols administered by the ABI (the Memorandum of Understanding between motor insurers). The fault classification (full liability, split liability, agreed contribution) determines the direction and size of the recovery. Independent engineer evidence and dashcam telematics are decisive at the inter-insurer stage because the loss adjusters work to the documentary record, not to the policyholders' own accounts. A subrogated recovery does not affect the at-fault insurer's customer's no-claims position automatically - that is a separate policy-level decision.
- Does the Official Injury Claim portal apply to commercial vehicle collisions?
- Only in narrow circumstances. The OIC portal under the Civil Liability Act 2018 and the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 (as amended by the Whiplash Injury (Amendment) Regulations 2025) is the route for road traffic accident personal injury claims where general damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity are valued under £5,000 and the claim is otherwise within the small-claims track. Vehicle damage and lost-trade-day heads on a commercial collision sit outside the portal entirely. A commercial vehicle owner whose injury is below the threshold can use the portal for the injury part of the claim only - the vehicle, recovery, storage, replacement and continuing trade loss are pursued in parallel against the at-fault insurer. Where the injury exceeds the threshold or the claim is otherwise complex, the case proceeds through an SRA-regulated solicitor on the standard litigation route, with continuing-loss heads typically claimed in the county court or High Court depending on quantum.
- What is Employer's Liability cover and do I need it on top of commercial motor?
- Yes if the business employs anyone. The Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 requires every UK employer - including a single-employee company - to hold Employer's Liability cover of at least £5 million per occurrence. The duty is separate from motor insurance. An employed driver injured in a workplace road collision who pursues a personal injury claim does so principally against the at-fault third-party motor insurer, but where the employer's own act or omission contributed to the injury (defective vehicle, excess hours, unsafe loading), the Employer's Liability policy is in scope. Public Liability is a third category and is optional under statute but normally required by contractor and commercial client agreements - most haulage contracts require £5 million or £10 million Public Liability as a minimum.
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Open a UK commercial motor insurance claim fileUK accident support, end-to-end.
Commercial vehicle motor insurance claim management for sole traders, fleet operators and hauliers. Independent engineer instruction, like-for-like commercial replacement under Bee v Jenson, FNOL coordination across Aviva Commercial, Allianz Commercial, AXA Business Insurance, RSA / NIG, Zurich Commercial, Direct Line for Business, NFU Mutual and Markerstudy Commercial, and lost-trade-day evidence assembled at intake. CityGrip Accident Claims (Citygrip LTD).
Calls may be recorded for quality and compliance. We do not provide legal advice. Personal injury enquiries are referred only with your consent to authorised partners.
Visit our team
London office
124 City Road
London, EC1V 2NX
Coverage
- Phone & accident form24 / 7
- Recovery dispatch24 / 7
- Repair coordinationMon-Sat 8:00 - 18:00
- SundaysEmergency only
45+UK cities
9vehicle types
GDPRcompliant
Tip: submit the accident form first - our team will call back with a reference and next steps.