Guide
Road risks or combined: where the cheaper policy stops
Updated
Almost every motor trader starts on road risks because it is the cheapest thing that satisfies the law. The question is not whether it is enough at the start, but which event takes you out of it, because that usually happens before anyone thinks to re-broke the policy.
What road risks actually is
Cover for driving vehicles held in the course of the trade, on a road or other public place. That is the exposure the law compels: section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires a policy in force in relation to the use of the vehicle by that person, and driving trade stock without one is an offence.
It is not cover for your stock standing still, your tools, your unit, or a customer's car you have taken in. Those are separate covers and none of them arrives automatically.
The three events that take you out of it
Taking premises. The moment stock stands somewhere with a lease, a fire or theft loss is uninsured under road risks and the exposure is the value of everything on site.
Working on customers' vehicles. Once a car in your custody belongs to somebody else, both the driving exposure and the liability change shape, and it is a distinct extension rather than a natural extension.
Employing anyone. Employers liability is a legal requirement for employers and it is not part of a road risks policy. Whether the people helping you count as employees turns on how the work is directed rather than on how they invoice.
The stock limit that quietly gets exceeded
Premises policies carry a stated maximum stock value, and traders exceed it in good weeks without noticing. An insurer will hold you to the figure on the schedule at claim, and a total loss in a strong month is the worst time to find out.
Ask whether the limit is per vehicle or in total, and whether there is an automatic uplift for short periods. If your stock swings seasonally, say so at inception rather than at renewal.
How to check what you actually hold
Read the schedule, not the quote email. The schedule lists the classes of cover, the limits and the endorsements, and anything discussed on a call but not endorsed does not exist.
Then check the Motor Insurance Database. If vehicles you hold are not showing, your stock looks uninsured to enforcement whatever your paperwork says.