Motor Trade Insurance
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Insurance - Service & Repair
Motor Trade Insurance for High Street Garages,MOT Test Centre, Service Centre, Commercial
Vehicle Repairers. Insurance tailored to your exact needs.
More about motor trade insurance.
Bodyshop Insurance
Bodyshop Insurance for Accident Repair Centres,Car & Commercial Bodyshop's, Smart Repairers.
More about bodyshop insurance.
Motor Trade Vehicle Sales
Car Sales & Commercial Vehicle Sales with premises,franchise & multi- site sales operations.
More about vehicle sales insurance.
What do we do?
Firstly as a specialist in this sector we only deal with motor trade insurance where the business has premises, we don't provide insurance for Road Risks Insurance in isolation - eg, where you only wish to insure Road Cover without premises. Selective this may be, but what it does do is allow us to focus our expertise on the larger motor trade business that has premises and fall into one of the three catagories we deal with.
Motor Trade Insurance for Service & Repair Garages
Insurance for Service & Repair Garages, probably the largest sector of the motor trade, garages that provide Service and Repair, MOT Test Centres, Auto Electricians, Car Valeters and similar. Specialist Motor Trade insurance is required for this sector. Cover for contents such as your vehicle lifting tables, MOT test bays, both the business' and employees hand tools, customers cars, own vehicles. To keep your business on track should the worse happen there is Business Interruption Insurance, Compulsory Employers Liability Insurance where you have employees, Public Liability Insurance with various Indemnity Limits to suit your requirements. The liability section of Motor Trade Insurance policies has a special extension called Defective Workmanship Insurance this type of insurance cover is generally only found under Motor Trade polices and covers exactly what it says on the tin.
An example of Defective Workmanship Insurance
You have have serviced your customers vehicle and fitted a new cam belt, unfortunately whilst you correctly tensioned the belt you didn't make sure it was tightened, your customer collects his vehicle only to find that 100 yards down the road it grinds to halt. Yes the cam belt has slipped with the obvious consequences. So what are you covered for? The resultant damage but not the item that you have fitted, covered is the head, all of its components, pistons where damage has occurred as well as other damage but NOT the cam belt itself.
There are many insurance covers that you can add to your motor trade insurance policy, all tailored by RealAutomotive to your business requirements.
Bodyshop & Accident Repair Centre Insurance
Motor Trade Insurance for Bodyshop's is slightly different to that of the Service & Repair Garage, the covers are the same of course its just that you have to take into account things like your oven or painshop. Do you do Full Re sprays, Touch ups only, Smart Repairs all have different types of equipment which you need to insure on the correct basis, RealAutomotive can go through all these types of equipment with you to ensure that you have the correct cover.
Insurance for Car Sales Businesses
Depending on the size of your Car Sales business, depends on the cover you require. Small Car Sales pitch, you may need Motor Trade Insurance cover for the vehicles you have, your own vehicles, your portacabin or show room perhaps
Don't forget that if you are selling products such as GAP Insurance, Payment Protection etc then you will need Motor Traders Professional Indemnity Insurance.
As a motor trader what insurance cover do I actually need?
To many, even experienced motor traders, insurance is something that you purchase every year, you purchase the cover as you think you have to, although you don't always necessarily understand why you are actually purchasing motor trade insurance to the extent that you are.
Lets explain, it doesn't matter really whether your business is big or small, for most of the time the insurance cover purchased is very similar, whether your premium is £1000 or £10,000. Lets look at the "statutory insurance" covers, these are insurance covers you need to have by law.
Road Risks Insurance, if you are in the motor trade then the chances are that this is going to be the minimum amount of cover you need (RealAutomotive doesn't insure traders who require road risks insurance in isolation). This insurance cover enables you to drive not only your own business vehicles but customers vehicles as well. There are restrictions to this cover which is dependent on the the insurance company providing the motor trade road risks policy as well as the number of drivers that you need.
If I have a motor trade insurance policy can I drive any motor vehicle?
Actually no, vehicles loosely fall into two categories, vehicles owned by the business and of course customers vehicles.
[A quick lesson on the principals of insurance - this will enable you to understand ownership in terms of insurance. When you insure something, such as property, vehicles and the like, you are insuring your "financial interest" in that item, you are not actually insuring the item itself]
So back to business vehicles, we will look at the status of two businesses, one a sole trader and the other a limited company. Ivor Carortwo t/a Lowdsa Motors, the owner and registered keeper of this vehicle can either be Ivor Carortwo or Lowdsa Motors, or both. If lets say it Ivor becomed Ltd, Lowdsa Motors Ltd is a separate entity and therefore all vehicles used within the business needs to be owned and registered to Lowdsa Motors Ltd. Ivor decides its time to have limited liability, Ivor is now a director and therefore his vehicles have to be registered to the Limited Company. (There can be exceptions to this but they have to be agreed by your insurance company)
What about drivers? On a Motor Trade Insurance policy, can I let anyone drive my vehicles?
It might state any driver, in fact its not quite that simple. Generally if you remember that its any driver in connection with the business. Scenario, you and I go to the pub, you have a jar too many and want me to drive home, I am not an employee, purely your mate. The vehicle isn't being used in connection with the business - therefore NO COVER!
The problem could however be very easily solved! Good news, an option under most Motor Trade Insurance policies is the relatives and friends extension, this can be added for an additional premium, it will then allow individuals "with the permission of the agreed directors named on on the policy" to drive
On the subject of drivers, what about drivers who have pleasure use, can they drive any vehicle. This depends on the age of the driver, many policies have a cc restriction to younger drivers and may limit them to 1400cc or 1600cc for instance.
Do I have to pay an insurance policy excess?
Many policies have excesses, the standard at the time of writing is generally £250 or £350, but this can vary, again depending on the insurer. You will also have an increased excess usually where there are younger drivers or maybe for specific vehicles depending on what they are, particularly high performance, or high value.
Do I have to disclose all the vehicles that I have when I get a motor trade insurance quote?
In a word yes, but that depends on whether they are on the road. The premium you pay is dependent on the vehicles you have at the time of giving the details to us, conveniently forgetting about vehicles isn't an excuse, you need to disclose all vehicles that you have in your possession that are taxed and used on the road.Employers Liability Insurance is usually a cover that is a legal requirement where you have employees. The definition of an employee as far as most motor trade businesses are concerned is people that you employ, perhaps on a PAYE basis. However you can be caught out a little here, self employed persons or perhaps say the saturday boy who cleans your cars, work experience persons or even volunteers who are under your control as a motor trader are termed as employees on a motor trade insurance policy. There are exceptions but our motor trade insurance specialists at RealAutomotive will identify these for you.
Despite what many people understand, inspection of your lifting plant and pressure vessels are also a statutory requirement. These include your lifting tables, air receivers, engine cranes and similar, and the fact that you have under 5 employees doesn't mean you are exempt from the regulations. Health & Safety at Work Act comes in to play - just remember that its easier to have them tested.
What other types of motor trade insurance do you need?
The obvious one of course is the the contents of your business, this can include many items such as engine lifting tables, air receivers, tyre changers, trolley jacks and depending on the type of policy you may have also includes the tool boxes your shiny SnapOns live in.
Under a motor trade insurance policy your contents will extend further than just the obvious such as your plant and machinery and will include office equipment as well as electronic business machines and similar. The most important point is that the sums insured you provide us with is based on the "as new" price for that item and not what you can replace it for secondhand. This is a common mistake made by many, the good thing is that because we understand your business we have a very good feel for motor trade businesses that doesn't appear quite right.
Portable Hand Tools, motor trade insurance usually has a separate section for this, although not always as it can be included in the overall sum insured for the contents. The important point on Portable Hand Tools on a motor trade insurance policy is that tools have been built up over many years and can include many of the quality named tool suppliers, Snap-On, Facom, Mac etc. Finally, on the subject of Portable Hand Tools this section also needs to include diagnostic hand-held equipment, pods etc.
Motor trade insurance policies have the option to include Business Interruption, in a nutshell this covers the reduction in gross profit of your business following a loss that includes damage or loss under the material damage section of the insurance policy. This insurance cover is essential although for many when it comes to motor trade insurance this can be one of the first covers to go.
There are many essential covers that your business in the motor trade really does need, Public Liability Insurance really is a must but this usually extends to include Product Liablity Insurance as well as Service Indemnity and Defective Workmanship Insurance. Defective Workmanship Insurance is certainly an essential item on a motor trade insurance policy, fit a cam belt but forget to tighten the tensioner, repair an engine that very shortly afterwards blows up - you probably get the picture.
There are other covers typically found on a motor trade insurance policy, such items as Money Insurance, Goods in Transit Insurance, Loss of MOT Licence Insurance, Legal Expenses Insurance amongst many others.
Although online applications are increasingly becoming available for motor trade insurance, these can never replace the experienced a specialist Motor Trade Insurance Broker such as RealAutomotive, what we would view as an important item, you may not and therefore your insurance may not respond in the event of a loss as you would expect. Every business is different and similarly every motor trade business is unique and needs specialist advice.
Finally insurance cover for the motor trade should extend to include Commercial Legal Expenses, this can some times be included automatically, if its not then it really should be considered as an essential cover. It protects you (subject to terms and conditions) with defense for employment tribunals, revenue and collection investigation amongst others.
When obtaining quotations for motor trade insurance, speak with a motor trade specialist. RealAutomotive are the appointed broker to many businesses throughout the UK.
We can be contacted on 0845 241 8550.
RealAutomotive, the specialist motor trade insurance broker.
Find out more about motor trade insurance