Courier Insurance Buyer's Guide

What is a courier?

A courier delivers other businesses goods to individuals at their homes or to businesses at their commercial premises to multiple locations in the UK for which the courier receives payment. The vehicles used to deliver the goods could include the likes of a van, car or motorbike.

What does Courier Insurance cover?

It provides a choice of three levels of cover:

Third Party – It provides cover for damage or injury to other people and property but no cover for your own vehicle. This is the minimum legal level of cover. 

Third Party Fire and Theft – It provides what is covered by third party insurance plus, if your vehicle was subject to fire damage or be stolen, it would be covered.

Fully Comprehensive – It provides what is covered by third party fire and theft insurance plus your vehicle would be covered if it were accidentally damaged say in a road traffic accident.

In addition, you will also need to ensure that the goods that you are transporting are covered. You may also wish to include public liability insurance. Employer’s liability insurance is a legal requirement if you have any employees.

Optional extras could include things like breakdown cover, windscreen cover, legal cover and temporary use of a replacement vehicle whilst yours is being repaired.

Can you use normal van insurance?

No, as standard van insurance does not provide cover while you are transporting other people’s goods – it only covers you for carrying your own material or goods.

What is the cost of Courier Insurance?

There are a number of factors that affect how much you will pay for such cover. For instance, the age of the driver(s), their claims history, the type of vehicle, the type of goods being delivered, the number of miles being driven each year, where the vehicle is kept overnight and where the vehicle makes deliveries to.

What is the difference between Courier Insurance and Hire and Reward Insurance?

The likes of a coal merchant or haulier would not be able to take out courier insurance as they would require a hire and reward insurance policy as they tend to deliver larger items to one location. A courier would deliver numerous smaller items to multiple locations and would therefore need courier insurance.