Does Ageas do fast food delivery car insurance?

Ageas car insurance policyholders are NOT covered for using their vehicles to earn money as a paid food delivery or courier driver. Here's what you'll need to do if you have Ageas and want to work as a food delivery driver or courier.

Does Ageas cover food delivery or courier driving?

No, Ageas does not cover any type of paid delivery driving. However they may permit policyholders to buy a supplemental Hire & Reward (H&R) policy to cover delivery work. H&R is required by law for anyone earning money for making deliveries, and a 'supplemental' H&R policy essential sits on top of your underlying social, domestic and pleasure (SD&P) policy (e.g., with Ageas). Your SD&P policy would cover your regular, non-work, day-to-day driving and your top-up delivery driving insurance would cover your paid driving.

To confirm whether or not Ageas will accept top-up cover, we contacted the Ageas press office by email. They told us they policyholders aren't excluded from a top-up policy, making Ageas one of the few UK car insurers who will work with top-up H&R cover for delivery people. Here's what they said:

"There is nothing in our policy wording to exclude a top-up policy, so if one of our customers wanted to add a top-up policy on top of their normal policy with us, they would still be covered when they are using their vehicle for non-business purposes, with the top-up covering them for the additional usage through their top-up policy provider.

It is important to note that top-up cover in isolation does not mean you can avoid having a standard policy for social, domestic, pleasure and commuting use. If customers are ever unsure on what their insurance product covers, they can always speak to their broker or insurer."

That said, however, we've heard from a reader who left a comment in our article about which companies cover top-up H&R insurance who said in their experience Ageas doesn't accept top-up like Zego. Permissions might vary from person to person, so you'll need to call up to ask for yourself.

Can I make deliveries without hire & reward cover?

No, it is critical that you do not make any deliveries until you've secured H&R cover. Doing so would be illegal, invalidating your underlying SD&P cover—and if you have an accident or are caught it could result in points, fines, seizure of your car, having your licence taken away and possible financial ruin! Best avoided.

What do I do now?

If you want to work as a delivery driver or courier and you currently have Ageas insurance, you'll need to ring them to notify the company that you'll be working as a paid delivery driver and getting their permission to buy top-up cover. You must always declare your work/a new job to your car insurance provider, anyway.

If they won't allow this, you'll have to find delivery driver insurance another way. Here's a quick recap:

You can read our full Zego review to learn more about the company and the product. The way Zego top-up cover works is that a driver has a regular car insurance policy (say, with Ageas) that covers their personal driving, and then they buy Zego PAYG top-up H&R insurance which covers their delivery driving. And you can read our full review of Ageas car insurance here:

Read Full Review of Ageas Car Insurance

What to look out for

If you go with the top-up H&R insurance option and SD&P from Ageas or a competitor, be sure to inform your SD&P insurer of your delivery work.

Also, make sure that one of these policies covers your commute between work and home, so that you are driving legally with cover during that portion of your journey. That said, while commuting should show up on one of your certificates of motor insurance, it should not appear on both (you would get one certificate of insurance for your SD&P and another from your separate, top-up H&R provider), as this could lead to confusion regarding who was liable if you have an accident on the way to or from work.

Final thoughts

It is always critical to call up your insurer or potential insurers and confirm that you are covered on all fronts, such as whether or not your SD&P provider will accept top-up cover. That said, beware that not all car insurance customer support team members seem to know the rules as well as we'd hope—if you get a confusing or conflicted answer, perhaps ask the rep to check with the underwriting team, as they have the final say.