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A guide to car insurance classes

It’s important that you choose the right class of use when applying for your car insurance policy or you could find any future claims are turned down. In this guide, we’ll outline the different car insurance classes, so you can be confident you’ve selected the right one. 

What are the different car insurance classes?

There are three main classes to choose from: 

Social, Domestic & Pleasure

This covers you, as the named driver, for any driving that isn’t work related. It would cover you if you were going shopping, driving to see friends/family members or going away on holiday. 

Social, Domestic & Pleasure and Commuting

This type of cover includes social driving (as above), as well as driving to and from one permanent place of work. If you drop someone else off at their workplace this could be considered commuting by your insurer. They may also count driving to a train station to catch a train to work as commuting too, which is something to bear in mind. 

Business use

If you will be using your car to drive to more than one permanent place of work then you will need to select business driving cover. It will cover you for social and commuting, too. 

Your insurer will want to know specifics, if you require business use for yourself, business use for yourself/or your spouse or commercial travelling cover. If you travel as part of your job, from different sites or clients’ premises for example, you would need commercial travelling cover. 

You will be expected to tell the insurer: 

  • Your job role and what it entails.
  • How many hours you spend driving.
  • How many miles you drive for work in a year. 

Why does it matter?

Insurers consider a number of factors when deciding how much to charge you for your car insurance premium. These include your car insurance class, your age, how many years’ no claims bonus you have, where you live and the car insurance group[1] of your car. If you’re deemed high risk, you will end up paying more than you would if you were deemed low risk. 

A business use policy will usually cost you more than a social only policy because you’ll be more likely to make a claim, so will be considered a higher risk by insurers[2]. You’ll be spending more time behind the wheel, driving at busy times and more likely to be driving on unfamiliar roads, than someone with a Social, Domestic & Pleasure policy[3]. 

Getting quotes

If your current policy has the wrong car insurance class, make sure you inform your insurer straight away. You may have to pay more to stay insured, but it will be worth it. You don’t want to risk invalidating your insurance policy. 

If you want to save money, you do have the option of shopping around. Getting a few quotes and comparing could work out a lot cheaper. Click here to get a quote for Rias car insurance >