While over 68% of the UK’s population commute to work by car each and every day, there is quite a stark difference between using your car as transport and using your car for business purposes. Insurance companies tend to count ‘business use’ as using your car for anything relating to the business other than commuting, including travelling to and from clients’ homes or businesses, travelling between multiple work sites and transporting goods, such as samples, to and from a client’s location. This could include a childminder transporting children to and from clubs, salesmen going door-to-door in their car, an estate agent visiting a property and more. For those looking to use their car for deliveries, this will extend further than just ‘business use’, however, the tips we’ve gathered below can still help you prepare your vehicle for additional hours on the road. Read on to find out more.

Get The Right Insurance

First things first, before you can even consider using your vehicle for business, you need to make sure that you are adequately covered by your insurance. Most insurance companies will offer you three different categories when choosing your cover level – Social, Domestic and Pleasure, Commuting, and Business. The latter two also include social, domestic and pleasure as standard. For those wanting to use their vehicle for deliveries, you may need a Courier or Food Delivery-specific insurance policy, so make sure you check with your insurance company in these cases. For those who have a Social, Dometic, Pleasure and Commuting insurance policy, you cannot use your vehicle for things that would be deemed ‘business’ use, or you risk having invalid cover. You can travel to and from a single place of work, but any travel conducted in your vehicle within work hours as part of your job will need to be covered by an appropriate insurance policy.

Be Smart With Fuel

With fuel prices seemingly fluctuating faster than we can keep up with, ensuring that you are taking care with your fuel consumption can help you save money in the long run. If you’re using your car for business, your employer may offer you expenses for the fuel, but some companies will have a cap on what you can claim. If you are self-employed or running your own business, then you won’t get any help at all with fuel costs, so it’s important to look into not only the cheapest or most cost-effective petrol stations in the area but also whether your vehicle will be cost-effective to run in the long-term. If you’ll eat through more fuel than you’ll earn, you could consider switching to a more fuel-efficient vehicle, or an Electric car to avoid the fuel costs altogether.

Stay On Top Of Maintenance

Servicing, MOTs and general maintenance are all crucial to ensuring that you don’t end up breaking down on the road to a client’s home. You should make sure that you are not only staying on top of your servicing schedules by booking your vehicle in for a service when it needs it but that you also keep an eye on other maintenance schedules, including everything from switching out the windscreen wipers to changing the oil and of course, other fluid levels. We are on hand to help you keep your car in top shape so that you can run a reliable and efficient business for your clients. 

For more information about maintaining your car and ensuring it’s ready for business use, we are on hand to help. Simply get in touch with a member of our team and we’ll book you in for a service to ensure your vehicle is in top shape and ready for the road.