Use of private cars to travel to delivery ?

[Ciderboy1957]

Posties still using their own cars to travel to first point of delivery, whilst van share partner takes van up to delivery.
Obviously this benefits postie who can " get home " quicker and Royal Mail as postie finishes out on street and possibly deliver more mail

BUT if an accident occurred whilst said postie was travelling to delivery , irrespective if it was his fault or not , would his own insurance be valid as technically he his using vehicle for work ?
Ps management are aware of this practice.
Thoughts gents

[scoobydo79]

It will depend what their insurance policy covers them for. They may only have social and domestic use. Royal Mail arnt covering them.Presumably they shoot off while the guy with the van clocks them out later. Another big NO.

[Barnacle]

If they have an insurance policy which covers commuting to a place of work - which I do - they would have to try to argue with their insurer that they were driving to or from that place of work.

I don’t know why you would take such a financial risk with your second most valuable asset after your home.

[SpacePhoenix]

The big question is would an insurance company class it as business use, if they do then the person won't be covered by insurance

[Barnacle]

The big question is would an insurance company class it as business use, if they do then the person won't be covered by insurance

It’s a ridiculous risk to take. There are posties who get all misty eyed talking of the days when they all took their own cars out. I can’t think of anything worse.

[thefox]

Wish i had a pound coin for every time this was discussed on here

[ted_e_bear]

Wish i had a pound coin for every time this was discussed on here

I know, pretty sure last time someone confirmed that it's a flat no, not permitted, end of, from Royal Mail regardless of your manager turning a blind eye to it.

In a similar way it's a while since the seatbelt discussion has cropped up which is also Royal Mail policy that if you drive a van anywhere even if it's from one side of the yard to the other then you must apply the seatbelt, but that doesn't stop people from quoting the highway code, don't know why some can't just follow simple rules.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.mustard.co.uk/car-insurance ... %20station.

However, the issue is possibly now moot as Royal Mail has revoked permission to use a PMV for delivery purposes. If your insurance company is not informed of this change, it could void any insurance coverage. Failure to disclose Royal Mail's prohibition in the event of an accident may also lead to legal complications.

Nevertheless, I have not obtained a conclusive response regarding these matters. Therefore, I recommend that individuals utilizing their vehicles for deliveries seek clarification from their insurance providers.

[jimmynailsalive]

As someone who has had more years working in motor claims than royal mail, the odds of the insurance company actually finding out you were driving to a different destination of employment is almost zero, probably only way is if someone grasses you up to the insurance company.

There's also the ambiguity of whether driving to a street is actually a place of work compared to driving to a different D.O.

[Ashley’s]

Who cares!

[Basildon Bond]

Any insurance provider just loves to wriggle out of paying up - I wouldn't advise you give them a chance. You give them that chance and they could argue you are not covered and you're left without the money to fix or replace your car.

Forget about fully comp. or third-party only or whatever - that's not relevant. What matters is if you have "social domestic pleasure only" as this means you cannot use your car to travel to and from work (shops, lifts for friends, Sunday drive etc. only). Next level up is "social domestic pleasure and commuting" so now you CAN use your car to travel back and forth to work BUT check the policy because I bet it'll say something along the lines of "driving to and from one place of work in a day". So one place only. You cannot go to one DO on Mon-Tue and then a different DO for the rest of the week - if you get loaned out you probably are not covered. You must then get "business use" if you want to be legal. This generally only gets added for the policy holder so if you need all named drivers you must state this. With "business use" class insurance you can zig-zag around different delivery offices and park outside but you CANNOT deliver anything using your car. Why? Because there is another class of insurance called "carriage of goods for hire and reward" which you would need if you carry just one letter or one parcel. This class of insurance only covers "goods" so it excludes people - taxi drivers or Uber drivers etc. need yet another level to transport humans (for money/reward).

Technically if you ALWAYS park on a particular street and walk over to your partner's van and start delivering and never touch the car until a break period or at the end of shift that would/could/should be ONE place of work but you should mention this to your insurer so they know and so they cannot wriggle out of paying up in the event of a claim.

[funkflex55]

I know that it's not allowed to use private cars for delivery but I've seen it done by management and it's also an option on the PDA under the fleet/hire/private tab. That should probably be taken off to prevent misinterpretation.

[Smoothbackground]

As someone who has had more years working in motor claims than royal mail, the odds of the insurance company actually finding out you were driving to a different destination of employment is almost zero, probably only way is if someone grasses you up to the insurance company.

There's also the ambiguity of whether driving to a street is actually a place of work compared to driving to a different D.O.

But doesn’t an SDP+C policy generally only cover the commute to one permanent place of work rather than any place of work unless you have put your insurer on notice beforehand that you have various places of work and they agree to assume risk? I previously had to have business insurance when I was working as an agency driver because I didn’t have one permanent place of employment and thus technically wouldn’t be fully covered for all risks.

[Barnacle]

I know that it's not allowed to use private cars for delivery but I've seen it done by management and it's also an option on the PDA under the fleet/hire/private tab. That should probably be taken off to prevent misinterpretation.

Good point.