Insurance giants Admiral have warned that thousands of drivers need to check their class of use on their motor insurance policies to ensure that they are not at risk of invalidating their cover.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, 6,552 drivers using Admiral switched their policies over to "Social, Domestic and Pleasure" due to being able to work from home.
However, as the world has started opening back up and people are having to commute to work again, it means that people may be invalidating their policies if they haven't changed the class in case their policy does not meet their current circumstances.
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Since January 2020, an average of nearly 13,000 Admiral customers have changed their class of use each month.
The average number of customers changing their class of use peaked in March 2021 with 15,879 customers making this change.
During the pandemic, the UK also saw an increase in delivery drivers, so Admiral launched a new class of use called "Carriage of goods for hire and reward" in response to the rise of people using their cars to make deliveries.
Courier drivers encounter having to stop more often and higher mileage than day-to-day drivers and this new class provides cover for that.
Clare Egan, Head of Motor Insurance at Admiral, said: “We know that many motorists changed their car insurance cover during the pandemic to suit their needs at the time – whether that was adding cover to allow them to make deliveries, or removing cover for commuting or driving for business as they were working from home."
She added: “While we all know it’s illegal to drive without car insurance it’s also illegal to have the wrong type of cover, so it’s vital that drivers make sure they have the right class of use in place.
“As we return to a form of normality, we urge drivers to check their policy to make sure it fits their current situation. It’s not just people returning to the commute who need to be aware of this, many drivers have changed jobs or have acquired a second job so we’re asking them to ensure they’re correctly covered.”
The new category of cover insures the vehicle, but any goods or merchandise being carried aren’t covered. It allows someone to deliver food or parcels but excludes the carriage of paying passengers for hire and reward, so couldn’t be used by someone using their car as a taxi.
What is class of use?
The class of use is what you tell your insurer what you use your vehicle for.
If you declare the wrong class then your insurance company could refuse a claim if you’re ‘under-insured’ or the circumstances of your claim don’t fit the car use.
Social Domestic and Pleasure usage covers day-to-day driving such as shopping, visiting friends or family and also pleasure, such as driving to the park or on holiday. It doesn't cover travelling to work.
Commuting covers all of the above plus driving to and from one place of work in a day. It doesn't cover using your car for work purposes, like attending offsite meetings or visiting clients.
Business use class covers you using your car as part of your job if you travel to multiple sites in one day. This class doesn't cover hire and reward such as delivering parcels or cover for your partner.
The carriage of goods for hire and reward class is aimed at car insurance customers who use their car to deliver parcels. It doesn't cover any paying passengers or the goods being carried.
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