Car insurance fun

That doesn’t make sense. Surely all “business” use is rewarded with money?

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Interesting take. On our side, we are not paid VA at the time we leave home, we are paid VA for the time we are on duty. If I am driving to a camp, I am on duty when I get there. If I drive to meet a minibus, I am on duty from that point as that is where the cadets are. The sticking point is when we claim MMA or HTD, as then we are actually paid for the driving bit.

Our VA includes travel interestingly. So if we did a 6-hour training session and it took an hour to get there, and an hour to get back, that counts as the full 8-hours needed to claim a full day of VA. We can also claim MMA at the same time.

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Sorry to resurrect old thread but:
Do you put that you have a second job (ie cadets) and if so, what do you put it as? E.g. youth worker, RAF NCO/Officer.

I’m looking to get insurance, I’ll need business for work so that’s fine but just unsure about the RAFAC volunteering bit and if it is another job or not.

If you’re going to be using the car for transporting cadets you need the business insurance anyway, so stick with that.

Its volunteering, best to just put your main job and then call up and explain to whichever company your going to choose.

Its when your a uniformed CFAV that it gets a bit more complicated as the daily rate is above what HMRC class as reasonable expenses, hence it being taxed, so the insurers assess it differently to a CI for example who potentially just gets mileage.

Aviva included business cover for me at no extra cost for the volunteering though but don’t think they are on comparison sites.

Also be careful with NCD if you have more than 5 years. I got stung by Direct Line who gladly accepted and included my 9 years at the time on the proposal form but when I had an accident informed me their max was 5 years and would only provide proof of 3 at renewal. For the £20 or so they were cheaper that was a costly lesson to learn.

That is what I am worried about as I am uniformed. I did actually get the best price on a comparison site (a couple of £100 different) but I’ll try ringing up tomorrow.

I do also want to go self employed and do some other bits but not yet so I’ll only let the insurance company know when/if I do this but that’s a separate story.

Check with direct line they come with free business insurance.

14 years with them and Direct Lines quote to me for this year was ridiculous i bit of research and I got exactly same deal from Hastings for less than half price both included business,

Direct Lines words where youve been with us for a long time we dont want to lose your custom we will give you £54.00 off… no where near enough considering most other companies where over half price.

Certainly pays to check it yearly.

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I put my job title down m, which contributes to calculating the premium and say I want business cover.

This is more hobby, so is SD&P in my book but needs business for claiming the fuel.

If I had an extra job as an Uber eats delivery driver that wouldn’t be on their either.

The would need commercial cover anyway, rather than business :wink:

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Thanks all. It’s my first time needing car insurance so it’s a massive pain.

Apparently from next year companies can’t charge new customer less than existing so it will be interesting to see if prices rise next year.

The big thing I would try and find out is how they handle claims.

Many insurers now pass any claims and repairs etc to a third party claim management firm, effectively washing their hands of the matter. I had this with my present insurer.

Cut a long story short, once this happens often you get the run around between the two, making life difficult, and the claim management people are notorious at inflating prices, especially for courtesy cars so they make more money. You are often made to sign a credit agreement for the courtesy car, basically so if the insurers refuse to pay the hyped up prices, they come after you. Gone are the days of getting a little run around car from the repair centre for the duration of the repairs.

I had a real battle to get any answers or confirmation that the claim I had had been recorded as no fault, and also to make sure the claim management company were not underhand with the costs etc, as they tried to put extra days hire fee on the car after it had been returned.

If there are still insurers out there that handle claims in house, then I would pay a little more to insure with them.

Not super relevant to the original post, but my recent non-fault claim was handled by a claim management firm called WNS, and the service was excellent. I declined the hire car though, as I’ve heard the horror stories.

That suprises me. I used to be happy when given a brief where WNS had handled things for the other driver. They would make so many mistakes that it was an easy win.

I had WNS manage my claim too. I was offered a “like for like hire car” and ended up going from a 10 year old grey, diesel Ford Fusion to a brand new Fiat 500 “lounge” in cherry red with 28miles on the clock.

I’m not convinced their version of “like for like” tallies with mine.

When I joined this “organisation” many years ago I did the decent/proper thing and told my insurance company that I was a) carrying shotguns and small bore weapons (privately), b) carrying small and full bore weapons (cadet use), c) driving on airfields, d) carrying cadets, and anything else we could think of (ex is an insurance broker so well aware of the need and that insurance companies adore not paying out!).
Anyhow, changing car so using the 6 Ps got various quotes. At one, spoke to a very nice lady who queried why I needed Business use as I am now retired. Explained abt ATC, Sqn OC etc. She had been a cadet so knew what we were about. Talked about cars and minibuses. She called back later with a quote which was quite a lot more than others. When I queried it she said “it’s because you are carrying cadets. Some insurance companies will not cover carrying passengers as part of your volunteering”.
NB the question of VA didn’t apply. Going to eg courses/camps on my own wasn’t an issue, even if I was getting VA!!

That’s pretty interesting! I hope you have it in writing :stuck_out_tongue: As I said above, I’ve always been told I’m fine as a CI with them just adding a ‘all cadet related activity is covered so long as only fuel money is claimed’ but if I go to uniform and get VA then I’ll need business. That’s at least always what they’ve said to me :slight_smile:

That’s fine, without Business Class you can’t even claim back fuel money.

That’s what I thought but 1771says “was insured iaw ACP 300, FI 31” which, in its turn says “ensure that the vehicle insurance policy covers the risks and is insured for business use (which, notwithstanding the voluntary nature of the RAF Air Cadets, will require insurance for occasional business use or as advised by the individual’s insurer” - my italics so if JoeBloggs has been advised as above by his insurer then business use is not required, but, as he says, get it in writing!