How the tool decides

Two questions settle most cases: whose goods are in the van, and whether anyone pays you to carry them. The tool applies the rules in this order.

If you are paid to carry other people’s goods, the class is hire and reward, whatever else you do. Many drops on a round is usually called courier work. Fewer, longer trips with one load at a time is usually called haulage.
If not, and you carry your own tools, stock, equipment, materials or waste from your own jobs, the class is business use: carriage of own goods.
If you carry nothing for work but drive to different sites or customers, that is still business use.
If the only work driving is to one permanent workplace, the class is social, domestic and pleasure plus commuting.
If you never use the van for work, social, domestic and pleasure (SD&P) is the class.

Paying passengers are outside every goods-van class, and so is driving customers’ vehicles when that is your only work. In those cases the tool tells you what you need instead.

Insurers word these classes differently. The definition that counts is the “limitations as to use” on your own certificate of insurance.

The four classes of use

Class	What it covers	Examples	Quotezone’s van page
Social, domestic and pleasure	Personal journeys only, with no travel to work	Tip runs, hobbies, moving your own furniture	Social-only
SD&P and commuting	Personal use plus driving to one permanent place of work	Driving to the same depot every shift	Social and commuting
Carriage of own goods	Your declared business, including different sites, with your own or your employer’s kit	A plumber with tools and fittings, a mobile dog groomer, a gardener taking away garden waste	Business
Hire and reward	Other people’s goods carried for payment	A parcel courier, takeaway delivery, man-and-van removals	Haulage

Taking away waste from your own jobs, such as garden waste or rubble, fits the own-goods test; clearing other people’s rubbish for a fee is closer to hire and reward. Carrying waste for your business usually also means registering as a waste carrier, which in England is usually free if you only carry waste you produce yourself. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own registers.

Quotezone’s van insurance page puts couriers and food delivery vans under haulage, because they carry goods for hire or reward. There is more detail in our guide to van insurance class of use, and in our guides to social, domestic and pleasure, carriage of own goods and hire and reward.

Commuting or business use?

Commuting usually means one permanent place of work. In Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-4565125, the quote form’s help text said exactly that, and defined business use as travelling to and from more than one location. The van was insured for SD&P and commuting, but the real main driver, the policyholder’s father, used it to reach different work locations. The insurer voided the policy and kept the premium. The ombudsman upheld that on the wrong class of use alone, finding the breach deliberate or reckless under the Insurance Act 2015.

Delivering your own products

A business delivering its own stock to its customers sits between two classes: in DRN-4717286 the ombudsman found a shop’s deliveries were within its carriage of own goods cover, but some comparison sites say own-goods cover excludes deliveries to customers. Our carriage of own goods guide covers the case and what to ask the insurer.

Why the wrong class matters

Using a vehicle on a road without the insurance the law requires is an offence under section 143 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. The quote form asks what the van is used for, so a wrong answer is a misrepresentation. On a consumer policy, the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 lets the insurer avoid the policy, refuse all claims and keep the premiums if the misrepresentation was deliberate or reckless. If it was careless, what happens depends on what the insurer would have done if told the truth: if it would have refused cover, it can avoid the policy but must return the premiums; if it would have offered different terms, the policy is treated as if it were on those terms; if it would have charged more, claims are cut in proportion. Business policies come under the Insurance Act 2015, which has similar remedies. Policies can also exclude use for any purpose not shown on the certificate. Even where a policy is avoided, the insurer may still have to pay injured third parties and can then recover that money from you (section 151).

In DRN-5292739, a double-cab pickup was insured for social, domestic and pleasure use. The owner had always meant to use it for his construction job, and said he drove past the work site on the way to personal appointments. When it was stolen from his driveway, the insurer treated the policy as void from the start, declined the claim and kept the premiums. The ombudsman found the misrepresentation reckless or deliberate.

Courier and delivery platforms

The platforms we checked list insurance as something the driver must arrange:

Amazon Flex asks for “Hire and Reward (H&R) insurance + minimum SD&P insurance”. The page states this for cars, and lists vans as eligible vehicles.
Uber Eats says the certificate “must cover food delivery or hire and reward not excluding food delivery”.
Evri says self-employed couriers “must have the correct level of 3rd party cover whilst you’re out making deliveries”.

For DPD, Yodel, Deliveroo, Just Eat and any other platform, check the platform’s current requirements before you start.

What class of use does not cover

The load. Motor insurance does not have to cover damage to goods carried for hire or reward (section 145(4)). Cover for parcels or a customer’s belongings is goods in transit insurance, bought separately.
Your tools. Tools are covered only if the policy has a tools section or you add tools cover, which has its own limit. Some policies exclude theft overnight unless the van is kept in a stated place such as a locked building or compound. Read the tools and overnight terms, and see our guide to whether van insurance covers tools.
Paying passengers. No goods-van class covers them. In England and Wales, carrying passengers for payment usually needs taxi or private hire licensing from your council or TfL; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes. A vehicle that carries 9 or more passengers, or charges separate fares, needs a PSV operator licence. Lift-sharing in a vehicle not adapted to carry more than eight passengers, with fares arranged before the journey and no higher than the running costs (including depreciation and general wear), is not treated as hire and reward for the compulsory third-party part of your insurance (section 150).
Customers’ vehicles. Driving them needs motor trade (road risks) cover.
Vans over 3.5 tonnes. In Great Britain, a goods vehicle over 3,500kg gross plated weight used for business needs an operator licence, with an exemption for vehicles fuelled entirely by alternative fuel up to 4.25 tonnes and used only in Great Britain (schedule 3, paragraph 31). Northern Ireland has its own operator licensing. Check your driving licence with the licence tool.

Rules last checked against the official sources on 5 November 2026. This tool gives general information, not advice. If your situation is unusual, check with the insurer before you rely on it.