Car Insurance For Police Officers – Do You Have The Right Cover?
As police officers you will all be aware that not only do
drivers need car insurance, they need the correct Class of Use cover. Insurance
is something we all like to pay as little as possible for, and insurers are
always happy to reduce the price if you reduce the level of cover or take
higher excesses. Many also offer a discount if a car isn’t used for any
business purposes.
This has led to more and more members of the public buying
Social Domestic and Pleasure, including commuting (S, D, P&C) Class of Use.
We at Roland Smith Insurance are also seeing more and more police officers
doing the same. We are concerned that this could cause problems for police
officers around the country who could find themselves uninsured if they only
have S, D, P&C cover.
Under the S, D, P&C clause the commuting is normally
restricted to and from your permanent place of work. The examples below show
why many police officers will find S, D, P&C to be inadequate for their
circumstances:
• As police officers, whilst you may be stationed somewhere,
it is not always a permanent place of work as you have to be able to respond
quickly and work elsewhere for operational reasons. This is something that is
unique to the police service and therefore not always fully appreciated by
insurance companies
• You may also have to travel to court, to headquarters or
to a training establishment – all on official police business
• It is possible that travelling to work could be on
official police business. Think of a case where you may need, for operational
reasons to return home during your shift and then travel back to work
• If you are a Police Federation Rep travelling to meetings
that you claim mileage for.
In all of the above cases if your cover is on an S, D,
P&C basis you may be uninsured.
We know of officers who have got into problems because of
this and all to save a few pounds on their insurance premium. Money may be
tight but it could be even tighter if you have to pay for the repairs to your
own car, pay a fine for driving uninsured, perhaps have to pay a third party
for injury or damage you cause and also suffer any disciplinary action that may
be taken.
When you are looking to buy car insurance, you need to make
sure you buy the cover you need, which would normally be Class 1 including use
on official police business. It’s right to look for the cheapest premium but
not at the cost of the right level of cover.
There are hundreds of places to choose from when you buy car
insurance and it is a very competitive marketplace, but as part of your
shopping process give Roland Smith Limited a try. We at Roland Smith Insurance
have been arranging insurance products to the police service for over 45 years.
We currently arrange car insurance for over 37,000 serving and retired officers
and home insurance for over 23,000. This makes us one of the UK’s leading
insurance arrangers for the police service. We fully understand the nature of
your job and how important it is to select the right Class of Use.
You can call us on 0151 242 7640 or visit
www.rolandsmith.co.uk.
Roland Smith Insurance is a trading name of Roland Smith
Limited, registered address: 1st Floor, India Buildings, Brunswick Street,
Liverpool L2 0XH. Registered in England & Wales No. 01073408.Roland Smith
Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is
a wholly owned subsidiary of Police Mutual Assurance Society Limited. Calls are
recorded and may be monitored.
