A Guide To Purchasing Insurance For Multiple Vehicles

However, owning multiple vehicles for personal or commercial purposes can often come with a reduction in insurance costs by purchasing in bulk and also putting all the paperwork under one account. So if you own more than one car, bike or van, our guide explains how to purchase insurance for multiple vehicles effectively.

Multi Car Policies

This refers to putting 5 to 10 vehicles under the same policy. Common for family households, it allows a variety of cars to be placed under the same account and a discount is applied for every extra vehicle that is added to the policy, using the idea of economies of scale.

• All vehicles must have the same start and renewal date to be eligible.
• Those vehicles without the same renewal date can receive temporary insurance in the interim.
• Policyholders do not need to be living at the same address for the policy to be applicable. The policy extends to family members, neighbours or friends living at different addresses.
• A variety of cars, bikes and vans can be placed under the same account.
• Policies are renewed on an annual basis

Fleet Insurance

This refers to businesses placing up to 500 vehicles under the same policy and is common for taxi companies, couriers and companies that transport goods. A fleets insurance policy caters to large and scalable businesses that have several employees and very similar vehicles. Putting all vehicles under one policy saves time on administration and bulk discounts are available.

The price of the insurance premium depends largely on the following factors:

• Experience of the drivers
• The group rating of the vehicle (speed and size of the engine)
• Contents and goods that are transported
• Driving purpose and level of risk

It is common for those with fleet insurance to purchase additional cover to protect the passengers and goods that they carry. Other liability claims are usually considered to protect the general public and their employees.

Company Vehicles And Tax Relief

Tax relief is available to those driving company vehicles including:

• Driving their own vehicle for work purposes
• Driving a company vehicle under a multi car policy
• Driving a company vehicle under a fleet insurance policy

If your employer does not pay you a mileage allowance you can claim the full approved amount of Mileage Allowance Relief.

If your employer pays you a mileage allowance but it is less than the approved amount, you can claim Mileage Allowance Relief on the difference.

Tax: Rates Per Business Mile

Type of vehicle                 First 10,000 miles                               Above 10,000 miles

Cars and vans                            45p                                                  25p

Motorcycles                               24p                                                  24p

Bikes                                        20p                                                 20p

The first 10,000 business miles in a tax year can allow drivers to claim a 45p tax relief per mile. See the updated figures here.

Named Drivers

Specifically, for multi car insurance policies, the named driver has quite an impact on the cost of the premium. There is the main driver who is the main person on the policy and is assumed to be doing the most mileage out of everyone. The named driver is anyone extra on the policy that they wish to add to drive their vehicles such as spouses, children and other family members.

By having a main driver who is an experienced driver (aged 40 to 60) and has a low claims history, this will have a positive effect on the cost of your policy. This considers that the main name on the account does most of the driving and because they are low risk, this will result a a cheaper premium.

On the contrary, having a young and inexperienced person as the main driver will mean that there is a greater risk of a claim and this will result in a more expensive quote. Motorists must avoid ‘fronting’ which refers to putting an inexperienced or high-risk individual as a named driver when they are actually the main driver of the account. This is considered an illegal way to lower the price of your insurance and can lead to prosecution.

Any Driver

The ‘any driver’ extension can be added or removed from your policy at any point. This allows all the drivers named to be able to use all the vehicles freely under the same account. This is ideal for families that share cars and also for large organisations to be flexible to add new drivers and vehicles such as couriers and taxi drivers. The driver’s level of experience and claims history will be factored into the cost of adding the any driver extension. There may be a small administration fee charged by your insurer for every change or additional driver and vehicle that you add to your policy.