Is Van Insurance Cheaper than Car Insurance?

It very much depends on the van and the car in question, but as a general rule of thumb – no, vans are not cheaper than cars to insure, in fact they can be more expensive.

If your van is used for work, if you carry tools in it, if it has any modifications or has more than 5 seats, all of these things push up insurance premiums.

Vans are also larger and heavier than cars, meaning that they can cause more damage and cost more to repair if involved in an accident and they have larger, more powerful engines, all of which drive-up insurance costs.

Can I insure my van as a car?

It almost goes without saying, but a van is not a car and a car is not a van – you cannot insure a van as a car or vice versa. Although this may seem reasonably clean cut, the whole ‘van / car’ debate is not without grey areas.

For example; some large family ‘cars’ are actually classed as LCVs (Light Commercial Vehicles) whilst many double-cab pick-ups have the functionality and payload capacity of a commercial van – 1 tonne, but all the comfort and luxury features of a car.

Classification

This issue is complicated further by the purpose for which the vehicle is being classified. Vehicles can be classified by:

Manufacturers for sales and marketing purposes

HMRC for taxation purposes

Insurers for insurance purposes

Vehicle classification can impact on both the cost to insure and possible tax advantages if the vehicle is for commercial purposes.

Although cars are typically cheaper to insure than vans, vans can have considerable tax advantages if bought through a business, whereas cars bought through a business will be taxed as a benefit in kind.