Coronavirus lockdown conditions saw many businesses needing to change the way they worked to keep afloat during the pandemic.

Some sectors, such as the restaurant industry and small retail businesses, have had to radically change their business models and this meant that many companies started undertaking deliveries or using a vehicle to transport goods and materials for work.

Making sure you have the right business vehicle insurance

If you are using a van to carry goods, deliver services, or to transport items as part of your work – building materials, food and drink, or anything you may use as part of your business – then you need to buy commercial van insurance.

When you use a van for business purposes, standard personal insurance won't cover you if you have an accident or your vehicle is stolen or broken into – even if you've got commuter cover on your personal insurance.

If you've changed the way you work, making sure you have the correct cover in place is extremely important.

Is your vehicle a van or a car?

Some family cars are classified as light commercial vehicles, so it's important you have received an insurance quote for the right type of vehicle.

Your V5C logbook will help you understand the category of your vehicle for van insurance purposes: Check out the information on line J.

• Category M1 – Car
• Category M2 – Motorhome
• Category N1 or N2 – Van

If you are using a light-commercial vehicle (category M1) or a car for business purposes, you will need to make sure you have the correct level of car insurance for business.

If you are using a van for business, you will need commercial van insurance.

What type of commercial van insurance?

If you previously used your van purely for social reasons and you now want to use it for work, even if it's just to commute in, you'll need to upgrade your private van insurance to commercial van insurance.

There are three types of commercial van insurance and the type you purchase will depend on how you intend to use your van:

Carriage of own goods – suitable for self-employed tradespeople etc. who transport goods and tools as part of their work or who commute to a place of work in their van.
• Carriage of goods for hire or reward – for when goods are being transported for payment such as couriers and food deliveries.
• Haulage – this covers drivers who travel longer distances for single deliveries.

Who will be driving your van?

Standard commercial van insurance allows one person and any named drivers on the insurance policy to be able to drive the van.

If you need more flexibility or you're unsure which members of your team will need to drive the van in the future, any driver van insurance means you won't need to name individuals when taking out your insurance or make costly amendments to the policy if your needs change.

There may be certain restrictions in place, such as minimum age limits (some insurers won't cover drivers under the age of 25 or 21) and almost all any driver van insurance policies will require that drivers have a clean driving licence.

Changing times for businesses

Coronavirus has definitely dealt a blow to many small businesses, but the ingenious and determined nature of many SMEs and sole-proprietors has meant they have changed the way they work in order to keep trading.

Almost all changes come with provisos and commercial van use is no exception. If you have changed the way you use your van, give iVan a call today to make sure you're getting the best deal on your commercial van insurance and any driver van insurance today.