Full Vehicle Assessor Insurance Guide

Posted on August 16, 2023 by David Mitchell

If all or part of your business involves assessing vehicles for insurance claims, you may need specialised motor trade insurance that can cope with the unique demands of vehicle assessment. When choosing Vehicle Assessor Insurance policies, there are two key considerations to make:

What insurance are you legally required to have in place for your business?
What would you not be able to afford if something were to go wrong (e.g. replacing equipment or compensation pay-outs)?

Vehicle assessors often have specific and expensive diagnostic equipment which is vital to their work. If this hardware were stolen or it broke down, would your motor trade insurance policy cover the cost of replacement?

What is Vehicle Assessor Insurance?

Vehicle Assessor Insurance is a type of motor trade insurance designed for assessors and engineers. If a business evaluates damage to or repair work done on vehicles of any type, whether part-time or full-time, insurance should be adjusted to cover the equipment and liabilities involved in this work.

Nash Warren is a leading motor trade insurance broker, able to tailor policies to cover all the insurance needs of a vehicle assessment business, such as road risks, equipment, public and employers’ liability and contents. Rather than taking out multiple policies for each of these, we can combine motor trade insurance aspects into one flexible and affordable policy tailored to your needs.

Motor Trade Insurance for Vehicle Assessors: What’s Included?

Depending on your business requirements, vehicle assessor insurance can include:

Road Risks: a comprehensive road risks policy, offering full coverage when test-driving and moving vehicles of customers
Vehicle Cover: for your own vehicles used for business, social, domestic and pleasure
Tools, Stock and Equipment: cover for all testing and diagnostic equipment, together with other tools of the trade, stock and machinery
Liabilities: Public liability, employers’ liability, products, sales and service indemnity
Business Premises: Buildings and contents cover for offices, including computer equipment and on-site cash
Business interruption insurance: in the event that you can’t trade for a period this insurance covers your losses

Do I Need Vehicle Assessor’s Insurance?

This guide should help you assess whether or not you need to take out vehicle assessor’s insurance.

What is a Vehicle Assessor?

A vehicle assessor, claims adjuster or claims assessor is usually an engineer or mechanic. Insurers arrange for a motor vehicle assessor to inspect cars, vans or other vehicles involved in an insurance claim for vehicle damage. The damage may be accidental or non-accidental.

The assessor uses testing equipment to determine the extent of damages sustained during the incident. They inspect all parts of the vehicle, inside and out, and determine the necessary repairs. This includes analysis of safety systems such as seatbelts, headlights, airbags, brakes and tyres.

They then create a comprehensive report for the insurer evidencing the state of the vehicle, including:

Whether or not the vehicle is roadworthy
The feasibility of repairs or replacements
The estimated costs for required repairs
Approximate timeframes for required repairs

If the cost of the damage exceeds the value of the vehicle they will declare it a write-off.

Vehicle assessors may do this work full- or part-time, from home or from business premises.

Do I Need Motor Trade Insurance?

If you operate as a motor trader at all, whether full- or part-time, from home or at business premises, you will need to take out a motor trade insurance policy. Vehicle assessors are included in the motor trade industry, and legally require road risks insurance at a minimum.

Your own private car insurance is not appropriate to use for motor trade activity, and this will likely be stipulated in the terms and conditions. It will not enable you to drive customers’ vehicles.

Motor Trade Insurance mainly offers Road Risk insurance, Third-party and Combined insurance.

Are you an Employer?

If you employ anyone in your business, even family members, you are also required to take out Employers’ Liability cover.

Policy Options for Vehicle Assessors

All vehicle assessor insurance policies should include a fully comprehensive road risk policy to allow you to test drive and move customers’ vehicles. You can ask your insurance broker to tailor the policy to cover everything from road risks, as well as tools, diagnostic and photographic and computer equipment.

You may also look at customers’ vehicle indemnity limits, public and employers’ liability and office, contents and equipment cover, business interruption and theft. These may be necessary depending on the scope of your business. It is often cheaper to take out a combined motor trade insurance policy than multiple separate policies.

If you wish to speak to a motor trade insurance advisor to discuss insurance for vehicle assessors, you can get in touch with our team at 0330 053 5110 or email info@nashwarren.co.uk.