Carrying Guests In Your Car – More Difficulties
We recently e-mailed Guest House and B & B operators warning them of the dangers picking up guests from the station or ferrying them to or from pubs and restaurants (Am I covered to carry guests in my car?) Several replied saying their car insurer had increased the premium.
A typical reply is from Mrs L of Yorkshire
Dear John,
Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention, I have since contacted my insurance company to include the carrying of guests and have only had to pay an additional £33.00.
My husband is attending our local Hotel and Guesthouse Association meeting this morning and I have asked him to take a copy of the email with him, I am sure other guesthouse owners will also find this useful.
Thank you once again.
Mrs J of West Sussex insurer’s made no charge, but her reply opens up another can of worms.
Dear John,
Some years ago I informed my Insurance company I was giving guest's lifts to and from the airport, or to a restaurant, and they simply put a 'business use' loading on my policy. They were absolutely fine about it & there were no problems, so long as I did not charge a fare, as that would have constituted a 'taxi'.
(We did enquire about running a taxi service some years ago, but that was opening up a whole can of worms, so we decided not to do that).
Just out of interest: I no longer collect or drop off guests, but the B&B's who do, now require a pass from the Airport operators - at an annual cost of course! Another problem is some councils (Redhill & Banstead for example) now require the driver to have a PSV licence - at extra cost of course! The vehicle also needs a separate MOT if over 3 years old (at more cost) and the VOSA (I think) are involved in the long-winded paperwork - yes, another charge! As you say, they seem to regard anyone giving a lift as a 'taxi'. This seems a very grey area, as my local council does not require PSV licences from the B&B's in this area.
It seems to be more and more difficult to give a good service to keep our businesses competitive with the big hotels.
It just shows, that in today’s business environment a simple idea to give extra service can lead to unforetold complications.
