What Insurance Do I Need to Be a Chauffeur?
To drive any passenger as a service, you first require some form of private hire insurance. For chauffeurs, this extends to chauffeur insurance, which is a type of private hire vehicle insurance. The main difference between chauffeur insurance and standard private hire vehicle insurance is that chauffeurs are also expected to look after the well-being of their passengers with more structured codes of ethics and a service catered to the comfort of their passengers, rather than simply getting from A to B as quickly as possible. Chauffeur insurance takes this into consideration by offering protection for a high-end luxury vehicle and your and your passenger's health.
As well as chauffeur insurance, there are a number of other insurance policies you should consider. Because of the nature of chauffeur work, there are several types of policies that may help to secure you against the most common issues you may face when driving for your passengers. While they are not legally necessary, taking out comprehensive cover against legal or practical issues will help to keep you protected against any losses you would otherwise incur.
What types of insurance should you consider as a chauffeur?
While your chauffeur insurance policy will help to prevent the financial losses you would otherwise incur in incidents that cause damage to your vehicle or injury to your passengers, there are a number of issues that your policy will likely not cover. Below, we have listed a number of insurance policies that may benefit you.
Depending on whether you are driving your own car or your employer’s, we recommend that chauffeurs take out the following insurance:
- Breakdown cover - while chauffeur insurance will pay for some types of damage to your vehicle, breakdown cover will help you to get your vehicle back on the road more quickly. This may be especially important for both you and your employer if you only have access to one car. These policies are also generally affordable, so they can help if you are concerned about your financial security and whether you will be able to pay for repairs
- Public liability cover - if a client or a member of the public suffers injury or has their property damaged as a direct result of your actions while working, public liability insurance will help you to cover costs that you incur
You should also consider the following insurance policies that may benefit you while working as a chauffeur:
- Personal accident insurance
- Interruption of earnings insurance
- Prestige car fleet insurance
- Legal expenses cover
If you are also an employer, you should consider:
- Employer's liability insurance
- Commercial buildings insurance
It would be expensive to take out all of the policies listed here, so you should assess your situation and decide which are best for your situation. You should consider asking your employer whether they can take out the insurance for you, as they will also want to make sure you are able to do your job securely.
How to choose the right insurance policy
It can be difficult to understand what to look for and what to avoid when choosing an insurance policy, as different providers offer different benefits and payment plans as standard, and you may be able to customise your policy according to your needs. To choose the right one for you, consider the following tips:
Decide whether you want to pay in one go or in instalments
Insurance can be expensive, especially if you are considering taking out several different types of cover. To ensure you can manage your finances and avoid missing any payments, you should decide on what sort of payment plan would best suit you.
If you intend to insure yourself for a full year, it can work out cheaper to pay the full lump sum rather than do it in monthly instalments. However, this is not suitable for all private hire drivers, however, as you may not have long-term career prospects that will ensure you are able to pay. In this case, paying in monthly instalments might be the best option, as you will be able to switch plans without worrying about getting your money's worth. If you choose this option, you will need to make sure you meet your payment deadlines - otherwise, you risk driving on the road without the insurance cover required to meet your legal requirements.
In some cases, you may be able to switch your insurance provider and get a partial refund even if you have paid in full, but this will depend on the policy of the insurance provider and what you agreed to
Choose a plan that meets your needs
Some insurance providers will offer packages that have benefits for individual drivers, those with multiple private hire vehicles, or chauffeur business owners. If you are an individual driver, you will need to make sure you choose a plan that benefits you; if you pick one that is catered towards business owners, you may buy the wrong type of cover or end up paying more than you need to. Additionally, by comparing different plans and providers, you may find one that includes insurance cover for specific issues that you are concerned about, or save you money that you could use for an additional policy to account for those issues.
Look for chauffeur insurance specialists
You may be able to find insurance providers that offer tailor-made chauffeur insurance packages, or policies that are designed with the most common needs of chauffeur drivers or employers in mind. These may be more affordable than those from a provider with less experience in chauffeur insurance cover, and will most likely deliver extra benefits to help cover the challenges that are unique to the chauffeur profession, or identify areas of cover that you might not have considered that you may need.
Is chauffeur insurance expensive?
Any insurance can be expensive - when deciding which insurance policies you want to take out, you need to weigh up the positives and negatives, learn the legal requirements, and compare prices from different providers. Firstly, you can not conduct chauffeur services without value chauffeur insurance, and you run the risk of expensive repair costs for any high-end luxury vehicles if you only have standard private hire insurance for your standard private hire operations, so these are the primary reasons that you might consider taking out insurance policies.
By speaking to our team, you can best understand what type of challenges you may face, whether as a chauffeur or as an employer. From here, we can help you to understand the relationship between an employer and a chauffeur so that you can set yourself up for success.
Call us on 07736 337065 or send us your CV to info@nannies-matter.co.uk. For more information on what our clients are looking for, visit our Chauffeur Services page