What is impounded van insurance?

The last thing anyone needs is their van impounded, particularly if you rely on it to keep your business running. Whatever the reason is that your van has been impounded, you need to turn your mind to getting it released as quickly as possible.

There are a few things you’ll need to do in order to facilitate the release of your van, and one of those is making sure the vehicle has insurance cover. Without it, the authorities will refuse to release your vehicle, even if you have everything else in place.

However, getting insurance in place for an impounded vehicle can be tricky. Many insurers just won’t provide insurance for a van that’s in an impound. Thankfully, all is not lost. With specialist impound insurance from Tempcover, you can get cover that’ll give you exactly what you need to get your vehicle back.

This kind of policy is specially designed to let you retrieve your van quickly and without any hassle. The minimum length of cover that National Police Protocol and other authorities will expect to see is 30 days of insurance, so that’s exactly what you’ll get from van impound insurance.

If you need to get your van back as a matter of urgency, you’ll be glad to know that you can have cover in place almost instantly, and we’ve made arranging it as straightforward as possible.

Why has my van been impounded?

There are many reasons why the authorities may have decided to impound your van, and the most common include:

• The vehicle is on the road without insurance
• It has been driven by someone without a driving licence
• It’s reported as being involved in a crime
• It’s been reported stolen
• It was involved in a collision
• It was found parked illegally
• It was being driven in a dangerous manner or is causing obstruction.

The are several authorities that have the power to impound you van, including the police, DVLA and the local authority. If you’re listed as the van’s owner, they’ll make efforts to contact you once the van has been taken.

What do I need to get my van out of the impound?

impound insurance

Without specialised impound insurance, your van won’t be going anywhere. You may well have an annual policy already, but there’s every chance that your existing arrangement doesn’t cover for you for impound. Or there’s a chance your van doesn’t have insurance at all – it could well be the reason it was impounded. In either case, you’ll need to get something in place quickly.

You could pay to take out an annual impound insurance policy, but this could be very costly indeed, at a time when you’re already having to pay out other charges just to get your vehicle back. That’s why a temporary policy can make a lot of sense.

But you can’t just take out standard temporary cover. That’s because the time limit on one of those policies is set at 28 days, whereas you’ll need to have 30 days insurance to get your van back. Fortunately, there are temporary impound insurance policies that provide exactly what you need.

What else do I need?

Arranging 30 days of insurance isn’t the only thing you’ll required to provide or arrange in order to get your van back. You’ll also need:

• Proof of your identity (with photo)
• Your driving licence
• The certificate for your insurance policy
• Proof that you own the vehicle (e.g. the V5C/logbook)
• A valid MOT or proof of a pre-booked MOT appointment.

How long do I have to get it out?

You don’t have long to get your vehicle out if it’s been impounded, so you’ll need to get everything in place as quick as you can. You have just 14 days to reclaim the van, and the longer you leave it, the more you’ll have to pay. Most pounds charge a £20 a day storage fee, so the costs can start to mount if you don’t act fast.

If you don’t collect your van, and fail to present the documentation you need within 14 days, the vehicle can be disposed of.

What will it cost to get my van out of impound?

It’s hard to say how much it will end up costing you to get your van out of impound, as it hinges on several factors. What you’re charged will vary depending on the authority that has collected your vehicle, and how long they’ve ended up holding it for. You’ll also need to pay a set release fee before you can have it back, as well a pay your road tax if it’s overdue on the vehicle.

Impounded van insurance from Tempcover

If your van’s been impounded, the last thing you need is for your insurance to take days to arrange, and even longer to kick in. That’s why we’ve made getting impound van insurance as quick and straightforward as possible.

To start, you’ll just need to provide some key details about yourself, such as where you live and what you do for a living. We’ll also need to know all about your van, as well as why it’s been impounded.

With this information, we do all we can to bring you some quotes in minutes. From there, you simply select whatever suits you best and pay up. You can have your policy start right away, and all the documentation is emailed to you instantly, so you can focus on getting your van back fast.

Who can get temporary impounded van insurance?

Getting short-term impounded van insurance depends on a number of factors including your age, vehicle, driving history among others. We can, however, confirm that to be eligible for impounded van insurance you must meet at least the following criteria:

• Be aged 21 years or older
• Be the legal owner of the vehicle
• Held a full UK or NI driving licence for at least 3 years
• Been a UK resident for a minimum of 5 years
• Had a maximum of 1 fault claim in the last 3 years

Other types of insurance

We’re experts at finding the right temporary van insurance policies for van users. Whether it’s specialist temporary business van insurance or young driver van insurance to get new recruits to your business up and running, we can help. We also offer one day van insurance for those unexpected jobs.