Insuring a company owned car
Insuring a company owned car
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Discussion

Silverage

Original Poster:

2,267 posts

146 months

Wednesday 10th March 2021
quotequote all
I'm buying a car through my company. I've never done it before and I've reached the stage where I'm arranging the insurance for it.

The car will be owned by the company but I'll be down as the registered keeper. Do I just insure it as I would any other privately owned car? I've been on a couple of the comparison sites and they don't seem interested in who owns the car.

Ean218

2,020 posts

266 months

Wednesday 10th March 2021
quotequote all
That seems a bit peculiar. We have never put drivers down as registered keeper, always the company and the company organises the insurance in its name.

C350Akra

13,440 posts

296 months

Wednesday 10th March 2021
quotequote all
Ean218 said:
That seems a bit peculiar. We have never put drivers down as registered keeper, always the company and the company organises the insurance in its name.
Agreed, why would the V5C be not in the company's name?

Ziplobb

1,461 posts

300 months

Wednesday 10th March 2021
quotequote all
If its a company vehicle why would the company not be the registered keeper and why would the company not insure it ? Just bought another 'company ' vehicle and got the V5 through this am in the companies name and the insurance will be the same . I would think you may have issues insurance wise trying to arrange insurance in your name for a company vehicle for business use.

Silverage

Original Poster:

2,267 posts

146 months

Wednesday 10th March 2021
quotequote all
C350Akra said:
Ean218 said:
That seems a bit peculiar. We have never put drivers down as registered keeper, always the company and the company organises the insurance in its name.
Agreed, why would the V5C be not in the company's name?
It can be, I don't mind either way. The company is just me and it's the same address.

Same question though - when I'm doing the insurance where do I tell the comparison sites that it is a company owned vehicle? They ask endless questions about the driver as you would expect, but nothing about ownership.

RicksAlfas

14,102 posts

260 months

Wednesday 10th March 2021
quotequote all
My company car is registered and owned by my company.
The insurance is in my name to maintain my NCB.
When I insure it (Aviva) the website says "who owns the car" and there is an answer "a company".
Much like if you were leasing a car, you don't own it.

Silverage

Original Poster:

2,267 posts

146 months

Wednesday 10th March 2021
quotequote all
Never mind - ignore me being stupid. I'm looking at the comparison sites for personal insurance - I didn't appreciate they run separate ones for business insurance. D'oh!

PistonBroker

2,668 posts

242 months

Wednesday 10th March 2021
quotequote all
Silverage said:
The company is just me and it's the same address.
In that case you're overthinking it.

The issue is insurable interest - who actually stands to lose out if the car gets nicked/written-off etc.

You should be able to have a policy in your name but have the insurer note that it's registered in the company name. Of which you're the sole director. They'll be happy there's a common insurable interest.

Might be a job for a decent local broker or A-Plan or similar as opposed to comparison sites though.


surveyor

18,402 posts

200 months

Wednesday 10th March 2021
quotequote all
Try LV also. They don't seem to care who is owner / keeper etc.

Silverage

Original Poster:

2,267 posts

146 months

Wednesday 10th March 2021
quotequote all
PistonBroker said:
Silverage said:
The company is just me and it's the same address.
In that case you're overthinking it.

The issue is insurable interest - who actually stands to lose out if the car gets nicked/written-off etc.

You should be able to have a policy in your name but have the insurer note that it's registered in the company name. Of which you're the sole director. They'll be happy there's a common insurable interest.

Might be a job for a decent local broker or A-Plan or similar as opposed to comparison sites though.
I’ll take a look. The quotes even from the comparison sites aren’t coming out at fortunes but any saving is worthwhile.

E902717

118 posts

159 months

Friday 12th March 2021
quotequote all
Direct line do it no problem. I’ve just moved my 2 month old Tesla model x off my fleet policy through my company to insuring if myself. I’ve paid for the cover and my company has reimbursed me.

Saved £1800 per year and DL don’t want a tracker fitted. Only rules are it can’t be used as a pool car and only me and my wife can drive it which isn’t an issue.

Car is owned by my limited company. 120+ employees

Silverage

Original Poster:

2,267 posts

146 months

Saturday 13th March 2021
quotequote all
E902717 said:
Direct line do it no problem. I’ve just moved my 2 month old Tesla model x off my fleet policy through my company to insuring if myself. I’ve paid for the cover and my company has reimbursed me.

Saved £1800 per year and DL don’t want a tracker fitted. Only rules are it can’t be used as a pool car and only me and my wife can drive it which isn’t an issue.

Car is owned by my limited company. 120+ employees
It was Direct Line I went with in the end.

MOMACC

521 posts

53 months

Friday 19th March 2021
quotequote all
E902717 said:
Direct line do it no problem. I’ve just moved my 2 month old Tesla model x off my fleet policy through my company to insuring if myself. I’ve paid for the cover and my company has reimbursed me.

Saved £1800 per year and DL don’t want a tracker fitted. Only rules are it can’t be used as a pool car and only me and my wife can drive it which isn’t an issue.

Car is owned by my limited company. 120+ employees
I've just insured a clients Tesla on their company fleet for £1500 annually, any driver over 30.

Why couldn't your broker have found you a better option than direct line?

MOMACC

521 posts

53 months

Friday 19th March 2021
quotequote all
I'd be careful on the comparison sites if you're not an insurance minded person.

Use your broker or a broker for help that way if anything goes wrong they will be on the hook.

lord dubington

5 posts

53 months

Friday 19th March 2021
quotequote all
Silverage said:
It was Direct Line I went with in the end.
Same here. DL seemed very used to dealing with this exact scenario. It was super simple, no different at all to taking out a personal policy, same price and everything. I've had a claim too, and all fine.

They also came out top on price, so not sure what value a broker would add?

chrispmartha

19,389 posts

145 months

Saturday 20th March 2021
quotequote all
Silverage said:
I'm buying a car through my company. I've never done it before and I've reached the stage where I'm arranging the insurance for it.

The car will be owned by the company but I'll be down as the registered keeper. Do I just insure it as I would any other privately owned car? I've been on a couple of the comparison sites and they don't seem interested in who owns the car.
Ive just got a Polestar through the company, i just insured it myself (the company is paying) and told the insurance company that the registered owner and keeper is the leasing company (my company is leasing it so doesn’t own it), they were fine with it and the premium didn’t change, they said it was fairly common these days.

madmover

1,743 posts

200 months

Saturday 20th March 2021
quotequote all
Been through this previously.
V5 is not proof of ownership. We registered in the company address as this is where it was kept although it doesn't matter from a tax perspective (that's my understanding anyhow).

Fleet insurance won't work for a single vehicle. My experience suggests you need at least 4 before it becomes anywhere near worthwhile. We used to insure via the comparison sites as a normal car with business use but declare the business owned the vehicle. Once we got past 4 vehicles, we purchased a fleet policy via Insurance jon (lockyers).

Whilst we had only 2 cars, insured separately, we were inspected and nothing was said in relation to this. However, the cars were sign written and kept on the premises. We had it as a pool car as everyone within our management team was named on the insurance and was free to use it for client visits. There's quite specific rules around alot of this stuff so it would pay to check with your accountant as i'm possibly outdated.

Sheepshanks

37,662 posts

135 months

Saturday 20th March 2021
quotequote all
lord dubington said:
Silverage said:
It was Direct Line I went with in the end.
Same here. DL seemed very used to dealing with this exact scenario. It was super simple, no different at all to taking out a personal policy, same price and everything. I've had a claim too, and all fine.

They also came out top on price, so not sure what value a broker would add?
I know people are doing this - this question comes up regularly, usually when someone gets a quote and is gobsmacked how expensive it is. I honestly think something is slipping through the cracks. If the car is leased by a company, then the company should be insuring it. The driver has no insurable interest in the car.

It even says so on Direct Line's website:
"A company car should be insured by the company that owns or leases it, as part of its fleet insurance."

https://www.directline.com/car-cover/magazine/busi...

Silverage

Original Poster:

2,267 posts

146 months

Saturday 20th March 2021
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
I know people are doing this - this question comes up regularly, usually when someone gets a quote and is gobsmacked how expensive it is. I honestly think something is slipping through the cracks. If the car is leased by a company, then the company should be insuring it. The driver has no insurable interest in the car.

It even says so on Direct Line's website:
"A company car should be insured by the company that owns or leases it, as part of its fleet insurance."

https://www.directline.com/car-cover/magazine/busi...
I was quite specific that the company owned the vehicle when I approached Direct Line for my quote. I even double-checked with them on the phone before I accepted it. I don’t know if it makes any difference, but in my case the vehicle was bought outright rather than leased and the company’s “fleet” is just this one car. I paid for the insurance as I don’t have a company credit card, but I’ll be claiming it all back from the company, which I believe is correct. It’s their car, so they can pay the insurance for it. Just like they’d pay the road tax, if there was any.

chrispmartha

19,389 posts

145 months

Sunday 21st March 2021
quotequote all
Silverage said:
Sheepshanks said:
I know people are doing this - this question comes up regularly, usually when someone gets a quote and is gobsmacked how expensive it is. I honestly think something is slipping through the cracks. If the car is leased by a company, then the company should be insuring it. The driver has no insurable interest in the car.

It even says so on Direct Line's website:
"A company car should be insured by the company that owns or leases it, as part of its fleet insurance."

https://www.directline.com/car-cover/magazine/busi...
I was quite specific that the company owned the vehicle when I approached Direct Line for my quote. I even double-checked with them on the phone before I accepted it. I don’t know if it makes any difference, but in my case the vehicle was bought outright rather than leased and the company’s “fleet” is just this one car. I paid for the insurance as I don’t have a company credit card, but I’ll be claiming it all back from the company, which I believe is correct. It’s their car, so they can pay the insurance for it. Just like they’d pay the road tax, if there was any.
I also rang and checked when I set up the insurance that even though I took out the policy it was the company that was leasing the car, they said this was fine and fairly common - this was with Churchill.