Minibus Insurance

A Minibus is a passenger carriage vehicle used in a broad range of roles, from transporting the local sports team back and forth from games, driving schoolchildren to field trips and residentials or used by non-profit organisations such as churches and charities for community based projects.

Minibuses are less than 3.5 tonnes in weight, windows all round and typically have between 9 and 17 seats including the driver, but this can be increased depending on the vehicle up to 23 seats. Minibuses require a specialist insurance policy. CoverMy Minibus will provide quotes for the full range of minibus vehicles and uses.

Multi-passenger vehicles or MPVs are not Minibuses and will have up to 8 seats, these will be insured under a more traditional Private Car or SDP policy.

If you have a vehicle with over 17 seats we can still cover you but we would offer these under our Coach products.

CoverMy Minibus offer policies to cover a wide range of minibus uses :

Personal or Social, Domestic & Pleasure Use – this policy caters for private use only where you will be driving your family from A to B

Private Hire – similar to a Taxi policy, you will need the relevant licence from the local authority and will take fare paying passengers

Carriage of non-fare paying passengers – this policy covers charities, sports clubs and schools where there is no payment to the driver by the passengers

All minibus insurance policies will cover the minimum requirements of the Road Traffic Act for third party cover, to cover in the event of damage to third party vehicles, property or and injury to individuals.

To drive any minibus with 9 or more passenger seats you will need the correct category on your driving licence issued by the DVLA.

For all non-fare paying uses you will need a category D1 licence entitlement, which allows you to drive vehicles up to 16 passenger seats, a maximum length of 8 metres and a trailer of up to 750kg. If you got your driving licence prior to 1st January 1997 you will likely have D1 entitlement.

For private hire minibus and contract use you will additionally need a PCV (passenger carrying vehicle) licence and you or your firm will need a Public Service Vehicle (PSV) operator licence.

If you drive for voluntary community organisations and need to charge for running costs including fuel, you can apply for a Section 19 permit to allow this without needing a PCV licence.

For further information please visit the GOV.UK website www.gov.uk/driving-a-minibus

We can offer flexible payment plans and premium finance options allowing you to spread the cost of your policy over a longer period with the maximum being 10 months (subject to the provider’s terms and conditions).

You will find the claims number in your policy documents which you receive when you take out your policy. Their lines are normally open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, just have your policy number and vehicle registration to hand when calling them.

Yes, you can add up to 4 additional named drivers to your policy at any time. Simply give us a call on 0345 040 1941 and we will be on hand to make the necessary changes.

Yes, we can upgrade you to European cover for your minibus if you plan to drive abroad.

Unfortunately, at this moment we can only offer a yearly policy period for all our minibus options.

Unfortunately, our current insurer panel are unable to insure any vehicle in conversion stage. If you have the intention to convert the minibus into a campervan in the short term, we would be unable to offer a rate, however if it has been converted and the V5 has been changed with the DVLA we can offer a quote under our CoverMy Motorhome page.