Second vehicle - commercial

tin79

Hi all

I wonder if i could get some advice on this: a friend of mine and i tow a 17foot sea-fishing boat. We normally tow with a mondeo tdci, which is fine in most cases but it does not allow us to use steeper, slippery, damaged slipways.

We are considering getting an old commercial 4x4 or commercial pickup to use, maybe 10 times a year, for when we need it.

we both have our own insurance policies on our own cars. I am with zurich, and he is with Quinn. we would not be able to register the car to a business most likely. there is an off chance i could if it would really help

so what i am wondering is:

is there anyway to insure a second commercial 4x4 and get any sort of a discount based on our current NCB?

Would we have to tax and insure privately, or can we do it commercially even though we dont have a business?

Thanks for any info

Anan1

COuld one of you replace your own car with the likes of a Subaru Forester? It'd probably be a cheaper, nicer, solution to your problem.

Hi OP. A commercial vehicle does not have to be registered to a company you can put it in your own name and still tax and insure it commercially. However paying insurance for driving 10 times a year would be a bit of a waste. I would recommend that you buy a cheap 4x4 commercial or passenger model and just do a temp transfer of your insurance when ever you need to use it. If it were me I wouldnt bother with tax for all the use it gets so your only expense should be buying it.

macnab

tin79 wrote: »

is there anyway to insure a second commercial 4x4 and get any sort of a discount based on our current NCB?

Would we have to tax and insure privately, or can we do it commercially even though we dont have a business?

Thanks for any info

All of the above is possible, I got a Full NCB allowance on a comercial vehicle first time out, based on the fact that I had a Full NCB on my car.

peasant

how about a towbar winch instead ...something like this

http://www.watling-towbars.co.uk/4x4_winches.html

Buying a whole vehicle just because the Mondeo isn't good enough for the last 5-10 meters of the trip seems like a bit of a waste.

On ramps where the Mondeo doesn't hack it, just park it at the top and winch the boat and trailer up and down.

Obviously, you wouldn't really need the front towbar from the link ...just the winch that mounts on your existing towbar.

tin79

Hi all

Thanks all good advide there

Those winches look pretty good, must investigate that

Silvera

I always thought that old model Mitsubishi Pajeros/Shoguns would make nice second/tow vehicles ....always seems to be plenty of clean 10 years+ Pajeros for sale.

Another option would be to buy a pre-1978 jeep.... only €49 per year road tax and c.€300 to insure. e.g. a clean Land Rover Defender.
It really depends on what distances you cover when towing the boat, i.e. an old Defender wouldnt be very comfortable over long distances.

xt40

an ins co will usually give you a 2 year intro bonus on a new commercial policy if you already have a private full ncb.
Due to the perversely inflexible way they operate however, you may get hassle about the reason you want the vehicle which does not fall into one of their usual commercial categories. they dont seem to understand that private individuals can have a perfectly reasonable (and low risk) need to run a second vehicle.

CoDy1

Setanta Insurance are commercial vehicle insurer and they will mirror a full current live NCB from your private car policy onto a commercial vehicle policy. A friend of mine was in the same boat (no pun) as youself and he ended paying about €300 on an old pajero to pull his jet-ski.

I'm pretty sure they only go through brokers though so ring around your area to see who have them on their books.