Third Party Insurance section of your policy/Insurance GENIUS needed!

[Mike53]

Just dealing with my van insurance.

Different companies seem to call the third party section of the policy different things - I have come across Public Liability or Liability to the public. Guess it all means the same thing?

What is not the same is the level of cover different companies provide.

I am corresponding with NFU, Direct Line and LV

As far as I am able to determine Direct Line is £5m, LV is £20m and NFU is unlimited. Pleased to be corrected regarding these figures.

This got me wondering what other insurers limits are which I have discovered are virtually impossible to find.

It also got me wondering whether there is a legal minimum amount for Third Party Cover and I found the .GOV motor insurance web site.

This makes clear the minimum motor insurance required is Third Party but does not specify a minimum amount.

I did come across one third party policy obviously in USA that had $200,000 third party cover.

Is there a minimum amount in the UK?

Mike

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Are you confusing public liability insurance with motor vehicle 3rd party insurance ?

 

[MNW67]

With third party car insurance I believe there is unlimited cover for causing personal injury or death. And then a specified number of millions for causing damage to property, subject to a minimum of £1,200,000. I am sure MBK will know more.

 

[chirpychippy]

As you own a van your perspective insurance company will presume you will need Liability Insurance for your business should you have a business, they won't know, so they will be trying to sell you Public Liability Insurance.
My Public Liability Insurance pays out a max of £5000000. But it's not through the insurance company my van is insured through.

3rd Party only Motor Insurance or the 3rd Party within Motor insurance is statutory with any motor insurance policy, 3rd Party insurance covers everything other than the policy holder and vehicle insured by the policy holder in the event of an accident.

3rd party payout in the event of death is unlimited. In the event of injury it is limited.

 

[MNW67]

My forum search for insurance topics shows that @kingandy2nd actually works in insurance!

 

[Mike53]

Thanks all,

Complicated issue indeed.

I have always known Third Party Insurance (for the last 50 years) to be known as "Third Party Insurance". However it is clear there are other terms in common use nowadays describing the same thing.

In my searches I came across a statement on Money Saving Expert Forum from 30 April 2008

"The terms Public Liability Insurance and Third Party Liability Insurance are interchangeable in the insurance world".

Furthermore I have 2 policy books to hand.

LV Car Insurance.

Page 12. Section 3. "Liability to other people". Makes clear unlimited cover for injury and £20M for property.

NFU Light Goods Vehicle Insurance.

Pages 26, 27, 28 and 29. All entitles "Liability to the Public".

In the lists of contents in both books NFU page 2 and LV page 6 there is no mention of Third Party.

It would seem reasonable as an industry standard there would be an unlimited amount payable for death and personal injury but I am beggared if I can find such a statement anywhere from any official source.

In particular I have had 2 conversations with one very well known market leading insurance company and gave an example of me causing a pedestrian to lose a leg due to my fault and was told I would not be covered.

Phoned the same company back for clarification re the above (got a different operative) and gave another more extreme example of my dangerous driving causing the deaths of several school children on a school bus. Lots of tapping of computer keys and shuffling of papers then was told I would be covered for £500,000 for this incident. When I questioned this and pointed out other insurers had unlimited cover she looked again at her information and decided it actually said £5m.

I then sought clarification on another issue and asked.........

Am I covered for mis-fuelling?. The reply was "you are the only named person on this policy".

Mike

 

[MNW67]

It would seem reasonable as an industry standard there would be an unlimited amount payable for death and personal injury but I am beggared if I can find such a statement anywhere from any official source.

It comes from the Road Traffic Act 1988

s145 Requirements in respect of policies of insurance.​

(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, the policy—

(a) must insure such person, persons or classes of persons as may be specified in the policy in respect of any liability which may be incurred by him or them in respect of the death of or bodily injury to any person or damage to property caused by, or arising out of, the use of the vehicle on a road [F1or other public place] in Great Britain

Then statutory liability for damage to property is limited under subsection 4

 

[kingandy2nd]

Hello,

I do work in insurance. It terms of Motor insurance it's compulsory to have motor third party insurance under the road traffic act. That would cover circumstances of you causing injury to a third party while using your van.

I am a little confused by your post as public liability (aka third party liability) is a separate insurance that is unrelated to motor insurance, although some insurers/brokers may package it up as a bundle of products. Public liability insurance covers you and your employees for any loss, damage or injury is caused as a result of your carrying out work.

So motor insurance covers you travel (and is unlimited for third party cover), public liability insurance covers you while you work. For the latter you will need to decide the risk related to the type of work you carry out and what sort of injury or loss you could cause.

 

[Mottie]

Am I covered for mis-fuelling?. The reply was "you are the only named person on this policy".

Are you sure you said mis-fuelling and not Miss Fuelling………….

 

[motorbiking]

What Kingandy2nd said. The only thing I would add is that Public Liability doesn't cover claims against you by customers for negligence related damages. For that you need professional indemnity insurance.