Every vehicle on one policy, with one renewal date.
Cars, vans, HGVs and specialist vehicles on a single schedule, whether you run one or a whole fleet. Vehicles come on and off mid-term without starting a new policy each time.
Commercial motor & fleet insurance
Usually includes
Third party liability
Accidental damage, fire & theft
New vehicle replacement
Windscreen & glass
Keys & locks
Personal accident
Know your cover
One schedule, however many vehicles.
Commercial motor covers the vehicles your business runs for work, and one policy can carry all of them, from a single van to a mixed fleet of cars, vans and HGVs. What changes as the number grows is how the premium is worked out, not what the cover does.
One policy, every vehicle
Cars, vans, HGVs and specialist vehicles on one schedule, with one renewal date. Vehicles come on and off mid-term.
Two ways it’s rated
Either each vehicle on its own no-claims discount, or the whole book on your claims experience. Insurers differ on where that line sits.
It stops at the vehicle
Tools in the van, your premises and your liabilities as an employer are separate policies. Goods you carry for other people need goods in transit cover, which we arrange alongside the motor policy.
What we cover
What each cover does, and where it stops.
The cover, the conditions attached to it, and the things it typically won’t reach, set out side by side rather than three clicks apart.
Cover
What comes with it
Commonly excluded
Third party liability
Injury to other people, and damage to their property, caused by a vehicle you are responsible for.
The part the law requires before a vehicle goes on the road. Injury to other people is normally covered without a stated ceiling; damage to their property is capped, and the cap is set in the policy rather than by statute.
Damage to your own vehicle. Injury to the person driving it. Anything happening while the vehicle is used outside the use shown on the certificate.
Accidental damage, fire & theft
Damage to your own vehicle, however it happened, plus fire and theft.
Settled on what the vehicle was worth immediately before the loss, not what you paid for it or what is still owed on finance. Each vehicle carries its own excess, and inexperienced drivers usually carry a higher one.
Wear, mechanical and electrical breakdown. Theft where the keys were left in the vehicle. Damage to tools, equipment or goods carried inside.
New vehicle replacement
A new equivalent vehicle rather than a cash settlement, if a nearly-new one is written off.
Conditional on the vehicle’s age, on you being the first registered keeper, and on the damage exceeding a stated proportion of the list price. All three conditions have to be met, and the proportion is set by the insurer.
Vehicles past the qualifying age. Vehicles you did not buy new. Contract-hire and lease vehicles on many wordings, because you are not the owner.
Windscreen & glass
Repair or replacement of the windscreen, windows and glass roof panels.
Usually carries its own excess, lower than the main one, and a repair is often cheaper to you than a replacement. On most wordings a glass-only claim does not disturb the no-claims discount.
Scratched or chipped glass that has not broken. Sunroofs and panoramic panels on some wordings. Work done outside the insurer’s approved network, which can cut what is paid.
Keys & locks
Replacing keys, fobs and locks after they are lost or stolen.
Normally includes reprogramming and recoding, which on a modern commercial vehicle is most of the cost. Often has its own limit and its own excess, separate from the vehicle cover.
Keys left in or on an unattended vehicle. Duplicate sets you cannot account for. Some wordings require the loss to be reported to the police first.
Personal accident
A fixed payment if the driver is killed or seriously injured in the vehicle.
Paid on a scale set out in the policy rather than assessed on your actual loss, and paid regardless of who was at fault. Age conditions apply, and they are the insurer’s rather than a legal requirement.
Injury while getting in, out, or working on the vehicle on some wordings. Passengers, unless the cover is specifically extended to them. Anything outside the stated scale.
Motor legal expenses
The cost of recovering what the policy itself does not pay. Your excess, hire, lost earnings.
Usually an optional add-on rather than part of the policy. It pays legal costs, not the sums in dispute, and it normally has to be satisfied a claim has reasonable prospects before it will fund one.
Matters that arose before the cover started. Anything pursued without the insurer’s consent. The excess or losses themselves where recovery fails.
Trailers & foreign use
Trailers you tow, and taking a vehicle out of the UK.
A trailer is normally covered for third-party liability while it is attached to an insured vehicle. Foreign use is included for a limited period each year, with the number of days set by the insurer.
Damage to the trailer itself, unless it is specified on the schedule. A detached trailer on many wordings. Time abroad beyond the included period, unless extended in advance.
Breakdown & recovery
Roadside assistance, and getting the vehicle and its load moved.
An add-on rather than insurance, and the version bundled with a motor policy is usually thinner than a standalone contract. For a loaded commercial vehicle the question is whether the load is recovered too, not just the vehicle.
Breakdowns caused by running out of fuel or a missed service on some contracts. Recovery of the load, unless specifically included. Vehicles above the contract’s weight or size conditions.
Goods in transit
Other people’s goods, and your own stock, while they are on the vehicle.
Arranged alongside the motor policy rather than being part of it, in one conversation and usually on one renewal date. The cover follows the load rather than the vehicle, so it answers for theft, damage and loss in transit, and normally reaches loading and unloading too.
Goods left in an unattended vehicle outside the security conditions on the schedule. Carrying for hire and reward on a policy written for your own stock. High-risk categories such as tobacco, alcohol and electronics unless they are declared. The vehicle itself, which is the motor policy.
The van is covered. What’s insideit usually isn’t.
Tools, equipment, and goods you’re carrying for someone else sit outside a motor policy on
most wordings. That is the most common surprise on a commercial vehicle claim, so it’s on this
page rather than in the small print.
Words you’ll see
Six terms that decide what a motor claim pays.
No-claims discount
A reduction earned on one vehicle’s own claims record. It belongs to the vehicle and the policy, not to you personally, and it takes years to build back.
Fleet rating
One rate applied across every vehicle, set by the claims experience of the whole book rather than each vehicle’s own discount. One bad claim moves the renewal for all of them.
Market value
What the vehicle was worth immediately before the loss. Not what you paid, and not what is still outstanding on finance.
Total loss
The insurer pays market value instead of repairing. Any shortfall against your finance agreement is yours unless you bought cover for it separately.
Use class
What the certificate says the vehicle may be used for. Driving outside it. Carrying goods for hire and reward on a policy that doesn’t allow it, for instance. Can cost you the claim.
Excess
The first part of a claim you pay yourself. Glass usually carries its own, and inexperienced drivers usually carry a higher one than the rest of the policy.
Why Vara
Bespoke service for you & your business,
without the big-firm minimum.
01
A vehicle list isn’t a quote
Motor is priced on who drives, what the vehicles do and what has gone wrong before. We ask for that up front, because a list of registrations gets you a number nobody will stand behind.
02
We present the risk properly
How your drivers, your garaging and your claims record are described changes the terms you are offered. We know what motor underwriters are actually asking for.
03
Named insurers, not a black box
We place with a published panel and tell you who’s on it. You can see where your risk went and who’s carrying it.
04
We recommend, and we write it down
We set out cover, limits and exclusions, recommend a policy from our panel, and put in writing why we consider it meets your demands and needs, so you can check it. The decision is always yours.
You talk to a person. The machines do the typing.
Alongside this policy
The three that sit next to it.
Legal expenses
Employment, contract and property disputes, and the cost of defending a prosecution. Motor legal expenses only reaches the accident.
Commercial combined
Premises, contents, stock, liabilities and lost income. The business off the road, on one contract.
Cyber
Data, systems, and the money that leaves after a convincing email. A separate policy, not a cover on this one.
Free commercial motor & fleet cover and cost review.
Leave your details and we’ll call you straight back. One conversation covers your vehicles, how they’re used and your claims record.
What the review covers
We go through the policy you have now, so you can see what it does and doesn’t cover against the vehicles you run and the way they’re used.
We point out the terms that catch fleet operators out most often, use class and fleet rating among them, so you can check yours.
We approach insurers on our panel who write commercial motor and fleet cover, and come back with what they’ll offer.
We explain each option in plain English, including what it doesn’t cover.
If it’s not a risk we can place, we’ll tell you straight away rather than leave you waiting.
No obligation to switch. You decide what fits.
Rather not wait? Call us on 0333 091 3663
Good to know
Motor and fleet questions, answered straight.
How many vehicles make it a fleet policy?
Who's allowed to drive?
Are the tools in my van covered?
What about the goods I'm carrying?
What happens if a vehicle is written off?
Can I add and remove vehicles mid-term?
Can I drive abroad?
Does one claim affect the whole fleet?
Vara Commercial Insurance · 0333 091 3663
Vara is a trading name of Koral AI Operating Company Limited. Vara is an appointed representative of Innovative Risk Labs Ltd, under Firm Reference Number 1060955. Innovative Risk Labs Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, under FRN 609155. We are registered in England and Wales under Registered Company Number 17256222. Registered office: 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London, W1W 5PF.