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Van insurance can be tailored to suit your needs to help you make your premium cheaper. Commercial van insurance is more complicated than car insurance because the van might be used for multiple tasks, hold valuable equipment or be modified in some way.
Van insurance tends to be more expensive than car insurance for the reasons mentioned above and because of where you live and how the van is parked overnight. Areas with a high crime rate will have higher premiums and parking your van curbside has more risk than one locked away in a yard.
The biggest factor in premium cost is age, young drivers will find van insurance more expensive, almost treble the price than an experienced 50 year old.
Modifying your van and insurance costs
Modifying your van includes campervan conversions, fitting lifts and racking and signage. You might think that adding signage is a good idea but it might attract people to what is inside your van. For the majority of tradespeople this is not enough to stop them advertising their trade but some might be put off especially if they leave their tools in the van overnight.
Fitting additional equipment to your van including lifts and racking to store tools might increase the weight and dimensions of the van and put them into another class and change the driving characteristics of the van. This has to be discussed or declared with your insurer when you are insuring the van.
Campervan insurance might be significantly cheaper than commercial van insurance if the van class of us is social. Because there might be significantly less yearly mileage and the van is not used during busy times when there are more accidents, you can get better deals for vans that have been converted to sleep in.
Van insurance and social use
If you insure your van for commercial use, business or haulage check with your insurer if you can drive the van for social use before you take it on holiday. Find a policy that suits you and allows flexibility if you want to use the van to do deliveries and pick up the kids from school.
Young driver van insurance
If you are under 25 you are classed as a young van driver and insurance costs more. Some insurers will give you a policy but most of the time is going to be expensive. If you are between 17 and 20 you are looking at a yearly premium around £1,450. If you are 21 to 25 your average premium cost will be around £950.
Having a telematics or black box policy might be a requirement for getting insurance. Telematics measure your driving characteristics to see if you are driving safely and within curfew hours.
We have run some van insurance quotes on a variety of vans to see which is the cheapest for young and older drivers.
*51% of consumers could save £622.09 on their Van Insurance. The saving was calculated by comparing the cheapest price found with the average of the next five cheapest prices quoted by insurance providers on Seopa Ltd’s insurance comparison website. This is based on representative cost savings from February 2024. The savings you could achieve are dependent on your individual circumstances.
Disclaimer: This information is intended for editorial purposes only and not intended as a recommendation or financial advice.
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Van insurance FAQs
Is commercial van insurance more expensive than private?
We looked at the cost of van insurance when used for social, domestic and pleasure (not commuting) while keeping all other credentials the same, and the cheapest quote was £586 - actually higher than when researched for business use. But it’s worth looking at the average for a true picture.
The average comprehensive van insurance for social, domestic and pleasure use was £1,162, which is £51 cheaper than the average premium for business use.
Someone only using their van in their downtime will probably drive a lot fewer miles. Perhaps they do a few road trips a year around the country, or head to a nearby beach every day with their surfboard.
We compared the cost of van insurance for someone driving the average car mileage in the UK which is estimated to be 7,400 miles. The cheapest van insurance came out much cheaper at £478 while the average was £977.
- Cheapest van insurance for business use: £545
- Cheapest van insurance for social use: £586
- Cheapest van insurance for social use with lower mileage: £478
- Average van insurance for business use: £1,233
- Average van insurance for social use: £1,162
- Average van insurance for social use with lower mileage: £977