Minibus Insurance

However you intend to use your minibus, you need to keep it on the road and protect your business if things goes wrong. Specialist minibus insurance provides that cover, whether your vehicle is for personal use, private use or contract hire.

Getting the best minibus insurance for your business’ needs is vital, so you can concentrate on running your organisation successfully. Similarly, if you are using a minibus for a charitable, voluntary or community purpose such as schools, nurseries, church groups, charities and sports clubs, you want the peace of mind minibus insurance provides you.

There are many potential areas where you need to have specialist cover to ensure you are protected, such as:

• Accident management for your minibus – if you have a claim whilst on a minibus operating contract you need to ensure the vehicle and occupants are recovered to a safe location, and the accident reported swiftly to your insurer.
• Minibus breakdown cover – As a minibus operator it is vital that should you break down you can get you and your vehicle as well as any passengers to a safe location.
• Public liability insurance for minibuses – When dealing with members of the public it is important to consider public liability cover. Should you accidently damage property or injure a member of the public during your minibus operations you need to be protected against claims.
• Glass cover for your minibus – With minibuses having more windows than the average vehicle, having glass cover through taking a comprehensive policy could save you time and money should your vehicle be vandalised or have a cracked windscreen.

Minibus insurance is specialist cover designed to be flexible and to meet the demands of a busy operator.

The exact details of cover will depend on the policy, but typical features of a minibus insurance policy might include the below:

• Comprehensive or third-party, fire and theft (TPFT) minibus insurance
• Protected no-claims bonus
• 24-hour claims service
• Trailer cover
• Public liability insurance, with between £1 million and £10 million available
• Breakdown cover
• Legal expenses and replacement vehicle cover - a replacement vehicle can be arranged for claims that are not your fault
• Legal expenses and accident management
• Cover for minibuses up to 25 years old

Other additional aspects might include:

• Cover for previously banned and previously convicted drivers
• Cover for special types of minibus, such as those modified for persons of reduced mobility
• Multi-vehicle cover
• Payments in instalments to help spread the cost
• Uninsured loss recovery to cover your out-of-pocket costs

Our policy is designed for vehicles with between 9 and 17 seats. For a smaller vehicle, we would recommend speaking with a standard vehicle insurer before contacting us. It is likely that you can find adequate cover for this, either on the high street or via many insurance aggregators online. The exception to this would be where seats have been removed to take a wheelchair, or the vehicle has been adapted for a particular trade, such as a school that requires seats to be removed to carry equipment.

Absolutely, but if you have a vehicle that has more than 17 seats, we would class this as a coach and look to offer you insurance under our coach policy.

You’ll find the claims number in your policy documents. This line is open 24 hours per day. Our in-house claims teams are on hand to answer any queries and guide you through the claims process.

Yes, you can add additional drivers to your policy at any time. Simply give us a call and we will make the necessary changes. We would advise you to check the terms and conditions of your policy beforehand, to make sure the driver meets the minimum criteria. We may also be able to offer you an ‘any driver’ policy that will eliminate additional charges to add or remove drivers.

You may be able to drive a minibus if it is not used for hire and reward, so payment in cash/kind on behalf of the passengers.

If you passed your test on or before 1 January 1997, you can drive a minibus up to a maximum of 17 seats, including the driver seat. A PCV (passenger carrying vehicle) licence permits you to drive category D1 minibuses. This allows you to drive a vehicle of 9-16 seats, and category D allows you to drive larger vehicles.

With comprehensive minibus insurance, as a driver you can claim from your insurer for accidents that are deemed to be your fault. It also applies when fault can’t be proven, for example if you return to your minibus after parking in a car park to find that someone has hit you and driven off.

Without comprehensive cover, you risk having to pay out for potentially expensive repairs yourself. A comprehensive policy gives you that added level of cover and importantly peace of mind that you won’t have to pay for expensive repairs – just your compulsory and voluntary excess.

We can offer flexible payment plans, allowing you to spread the cost of your policy over 10 months (subject to the provider’s terms and conditions).

Minibus insurance is usually designed for vehicles with between 9 and 17 seats. For smaller vehicles standard vehicle insurance is a better choice, and if you have more than 17 seats coach insurance will be more suitable.

Other common exclusions for vehicle insurance may also apply, such as:

• The minibus being damaged or stolen due to the keys being left in the ignition or the vehicle left outdoors during the hours of darkness
• Using the minibus for purposes other than included in the insurance
• Losing the keys

Full terms and conditions are available on request from your Towergate advisor, and in your policy documents.