When applying for a car insurance premium, one question you’ll always be asked is how you plan to use the vehicle. This question determines your vehicle’s class of use, which plays a big part in deciding how much your insurance will cost.
When asked about your planned car usage, you must be accurate and honest to get insurance that covers you adequately. Here’s a look at the different classes of use and how much they’ll cost.
What are the different Insurance Classes of Use?
Insurance providers typically use six different use classes to categorise your vehicle to determine how much your premium should cost. These different categories are:
Social only
Also known as social, domestic, and pleasure, this class covers all driving unrelated to work. This means that your car is only used for things like shopping journeys, day trips, and visits to family and friends, to name just a few examples.
In fact, social only is pretty generous and covers you for any instance where you’re not commuting to and from work.
If you think you’re vehicle is going to be used even once for a trip to your place of work, then you’re going to need a different class.
Social and commuting
This insurance class of use is an extended version of social only, including cover for the same scenarios in addition to cover for a single place of work. This class of use is perfect for drivers who drive to and from their office and also want to use the car for social activities. You’re also covered if you drive the car to a train station and then complete your commute on a train.
This type of cover is only suitable for those with one place of work and for those that don’t drive long distances to get to their job. You may need to get a different class of use if you spend more time in your car for work.
Class 1 Business
Class 1 business is a more comprehensive business-orientated insurance class, covering drivers for their commute and business trips. For example, if you have one dominant place of work but need to drive to a different site for meetings, this type of insurance class of use suits you.
This insurance class also includes the cover included in social only, which is why it’s one of the most popular insurance classes of use that people get.
Class 1 business won’t provide adequate cover for workers doing a lot of stop-start driving, such as mobile sales workers or delivery drivers. For this, you’ll need a different insurance class of use.
Class 2 Business
The class 2 business insurance class of use is an elevated version of class 1, allowing you to include named drivers in the policy. This means that you can add co-workers to the insurance. Although useful, this type of insurance class of use can’t be used if you’re looking to insure your spouse, who works at a different business. This is because all named drivers need to work at the same company as the policyholder.
Class 3 Business
This insurance class will be allocated to those who use their car a lot as part of their job, such as delivery drivers or workers who have many clients they need to visit at their location.
This insurance class covers long-distance driving and even light goods transportation, provided it’s part of your job. This insurance class of use will not cover you if transporting personal household items, for example.
Some job roles still may not suit class 3 businesses, as they use their cars too often. These professions, like taxi drivers and driving instructors, will need an even more comprehensive insurance class of use.
Commercial
Many people confuse the commercial class of insurance with class 3 business because the areas they cover cross over. To help differentiate from them, commercial class is only used for those who depend on the vehicle solely for their job. For those in this class, the car isn’t just a way to get to their job; it instead serves an essential function of what they do.
This type of insurance class is ideal for those travelling long distances daily for deliveries or taxi drivers and driving instructors.
How much does each class of use cost?
To help illustrate how much each insurance class of use affects your overall insurance cost, here’s a table of the average price of an annual plan for each type of insurance use, with information obtained from Confused.com.
| Class of Use | Average Insurance Cost |
| Social Only | £710 |
| Social and Commuting | £688 |
| Class 1 Business | £472 |
| Class 2 Business | £371 |
| Class 3 Business | £572 |
| Commercial | £1,109 |
As you can see from the table, the cheapest class of use is typically for business purposes. This is because cars used in this way are at less risk of accidents and maintenance issues because they’ll be used less often than cars used for social and commuting purposes.
Although you may be able to save money on your insurance by declaring a different class of use, doing so could lead to you being underinsured. This means that your insurance provider could refuse your claim. This is why it’s critical to be accurate when declaring your class of use.
Conclusion
The insurance class of use you’re under when getting your premium is one of many modifiers determining how much your annual policy will cost. These classes of use are essential in figuring out how the vehicle will be used, so it’s vital that you don’t lie and are accurate with the information you give.
To ensure that you’re appropriately insured, you want to be classified in the right insurance class of use. By knowing the differences between each class, you’ll be able to figure out which is right for your specific situation, ensuring that you’re not over or underpaying for your insurance.
No matter what your vehicle is used for, check that it’s in the correct class of use so that you can claim if anything goes wrong.
