Van insurance

There are a couple of ways you can find out if your van is insured. Try checking your emails for any correspondence from insurance providers or your bank statements for direct debits. If you’re still unsure you can check with the Motor insurance database (MID). Enter your van's registration into their tool and it tells you if you’re insured or not.

What you pay for your insurance policy depends on a number of factors like:

• Your age
• Where you live
• Your driving history
• How much your van is worth
• Whether it has any modifications, like exhausts, body kits or alloys
• How powerful it is
• Whether it has any extra security systems

Commercial insurance is also known as ‘business use' and lets you use the van for work if you're making deliveries or transporting tools and equipment. Private insurance doesn't cover using a van for work but lets you use the van for social, domestic or pleasure use.

Yes. Most insurers allow you to transfer a no-claims bonus between different types of vehicle but it can only be used on one vehicle or insurance policy at any one time. Some insurers might also give you discounts for taking out a second policy with them. Check with your insurer first to find out if they offer a discount like that.

No. Your no-claims bonus can only apply to one van at a time. Insurers may offer discounts on insuring a second van by mirroring your no-claims bonus, though. If you find an insurer that allows your no-claims bonus to be applied to a second van, there's no guarantee of meeting their criteria. If this is important to you, it's worth checking with the insurer directly before taking out a policy.

Insurers know younger van drivers tend to be less experienced than older drivers. They use historic claims data to find the groups of drivers more likely to have an accident and make a claim. Young drivers are one of these groups, so insurers adjust their insurance prices (usually higher) to cover the increased risk. Over time as you build up driving experience and NCB, your prices should start to come down. The type of van you drive can also affect how much you pay.

Yes you can normally add another driver to a van insurance policy. Just let your insurer know and they'll ask for the second driver's details. Remember that if you add a less experienced driver your prices may go up. Some insurers might charge an admin fee too.

Yes. Many insurers offer multi-van insurance. Putting more than one van on the same policy can often be cheaper than insuring each one separately. We don't currently compare multi-van insurance but it's something we're hoping to offer in the future.

You normally need to be 21 or over but some insurers allow drivers age from the age of 18 to be added to a policy. When you get a quote we'll ask your date of birth so the list of prices you get back are from insurers able to offer you van insurance based on your details.

To make getting a quote easier, we estimate the value of your van based on a few assumptions. If you disagree with the valuation you can enter it yourself manually.

If you've recently bought your van, you could use the price you paid for it as a guide. Be careful not to say it's worth more than it is as this can affect the insurance price. If your van is stolen or written off it would generally be worth the market value at the time of the claim.

Your occupation could impact how much you pay for your van insurance depending on how much of an additional risk it is.

Let’s say you’re a florist who uses their van to pick up supplies and take them to their shop. Travelling to a small handful of locations, and having non-hazardous materials in the van could mean a relatively low insurance cost.

Compare this to a courier. Someone who’s on the road for most of the day, making multiple stops to a number of people’s houses and carrying potentially expensive goods that don’t belong to them.

The risk of a high-value damage or theft claim is a lot higher, so they might find their insurance costs relatively high in comparison.

Your van insurance provider should have a dedicated claims line you can call or you can claim online using their website. Get in touch with them and talk through what’s happened. They should be able to guide you through the process.

It helps if you have this to hand:

• Any photos of the scene of an accident
• Witness statements, including names and contact details
• The registration of other vehicles involved
• Insurance details of anyone else involved
• A crime reference number (if your van was stolen)

Yes. Commercial van insurance, as well as van repairs and fuel used for business driving, are all allowable business expenses. For more information, visit GOV.UK.

Any driver van insurance is a policy that allows anyone to drive the van. This could be useful for employers who need multiple employees to be able to drive their vans.

Given the added risk of letting anybody behind the wheel, any driver van insurance tends to be more expensive than a standard policy.

Yes. If your van is on the road, it’s a legal requirement to have a valid insurance policy for it at all times.

If you don’t, you could face a fine, points on your licence or even have your van seized by police.

Having a conviction for driving without insurance is also likely to make future insurance policies more expensive, too.

Standard van insurance policies often don’t cover any goods or tools that you carry in the van. If you want to cover these, it’s worth considering tools in van insurance cover. This is usually an add-on to your policy.

If your company van is registered to your company and not to you personally, then you have to insure the van under the company name.

Otherwise, the policyholder should be the same as the registered keeper of the van.

Some van insurance policies let you add courtesy van cover as an optional extra. Check with the provider that they offer this before buying, though. Some policies might offer you a ‘like-for-like’ courtesy van, whereas others might only offer a basic model.

You can get a cheap van insurance quote for almost any kind of van. So if you’ve got a tipper van or a refrigerated food van, you should be able to compare van insurance quotes.

If you’re looking to insure a HGV or lorry, you might need a specialist policy.

Most van insurance policies should offer some level of cover while you’re driving abroad, usually for 30 to 90 days.

If you want to stay covered for longer than that, you might need extended cover to drive abroad. Get in touch with your insurance company to see if they can extend your insurance cover.