Insurance Needed to Work as a Man and Van

Quick answer: to work as a self-employed man and van you need three documents — Goods in Transit insurance, Public Liability insurance, and vehicle insurance with the correct business use class. Every reputable platform asks for all three before approving you, many customers ask to see them before paying a deposit, and at least one of them is a legal requirement. This guide explains what each covers and how the checks work.

1. Goods in Transit (GIT) insurance

GIT covers your customers' belongings while they are in your care: on the pavement, in the van, and during unloading. It is the policy that answers the customer's real question — "what happens if my things get damaged?" Premiums are priced against the value of goods you carry and the work you do, so describe your jobs honestly to the insurer: a mover carrying antiques weekly needs different cover from a mover doing furniture collections.

Check three things on any GIT policy before you buy it: the single-item limit (enough for the most valuable thing you realistically carry), the exclusions (some policies exclude flat-pack furniture or customer-packed boxes), and whether loading and unloading are covered, not just the driving.

2. Public Liability (PL) insurance

PL covers damage you cause to third parties and their property while working — the scratched hallway wall, the neighbour's car door, the customer who trips over a strap you left across the path. Movers work inside other people's homes and communal stairwells all day; PL is the policy that keeps one clumsy afternoon from becoming a business-ending claim.

3. Vehicle insurance — with the right use class

This is the one that is a firm legal requirement, and the one most often wrong. Carrying other people's goods for payment is business use: a social, domestic and pleasure policy — or even a basic commuting policy — does not cover moving work. Speak to your insurer, describe the work precisely ("I carry customers' household goods for payment, locally and sometimes long-distance"), and get the confirmation in writing. If the use class is wrong, every other policy conversation is academic: you are driving uninsured.

How platform verification works

Document checks are simple by design. At Man and Van Club, you complete the short online application first, then email your three documents to partners@manandvanclub.co.uk. A person reads them — we check the policyholder matches your application name, the cover types are the right three, and the policies are current — and your account is approved only once verification passes. Approval is deliberately manual: it protects customers, and it protects the reputation of every mover already on the platform.

Keep the policy schedule pages as PDFs on your phone. Customers who ask for proof before a deposit are not being difficult — they are being sensible, and movers who can reply with documents in one message win those customers.