Running a round as your own business
As an owner-driver courier, you are a small business. You pay for the van, the goods-in-transit insurance and the fuel, then get paid per parcel or per job. On a good week the numbers work. When you are injured, the income stops and the costs carry on.
Some networks will cover your round with another driver while you are off, but you will not be paid for those drops. If the absence runs long, you might lose the round altogether, which makes getting back to work harder and can mean starting again on a less profitable route.
Same-day, overnight and long distance
Same-day and dedicated couriers often drive hundreds of miles in a shift, sometimes through the night, to deliver one urgent consignment. Tiredness on long runs raises the risk of accidents. Sleep problems and weight gain are common among drivers who live on service station food and broken nights.
If you develop a condition that the DVLA says affects safe driving, such as sleep apnoea that is not yet treated, you may have to stop driving until it is under control. That gap is exactly where income protection earns its keep.
Showing what you really earn
Insurers base your maximum monthly benefit on your taxable profit after expenses, usually from your last one to three years of self-assessment. If you claim large van costs, your profit may look lower than the money you take home, so think about this when you set the benefit.
If your earnings have grown, some insurers will look at your latest year on its own. Others take an average over two or three years, which can drag the figure down. We can tell you which approach gives you a sensible level of cover for the round you run today.
- Have your recent SA302s or tax year overviews ready
- Know your typical monthly profit after van costs
- List fixed costs that continue while you are off
Protecting the family behind the business
If you died, would your family be left with van finance as well as a mortgage? Life insurance can pay a lump sum large enough to clear both and leave money for living costs. Many self-employed people also look at critical illness cover, which pays on diagnosis of a listed serious condition.
Without an employer, there is no death in service benefit to fall back on, so a personal policy is often the only protection your family would have. Decreasing cover can follow a repayment mortgage, while a separate level policy can cover van finance for its remaining term.
How Hi Tomorrow works with couriers
We find out what you earn, what you spend, and how long you could manage without income. Then we compare UK insurers that accept courier work and explain how each one classes the job, because the risk class affects both price and how a claim is judged.
We can arrange income protection, life insurance or both in one conversation and handle most of the paperwork for you. If an insurer asks for more on your accounts or health, we chase it. Acceptance depends on the insurer's underwriting and your answers to the health questions.