Top van insurance compared

About Top van insurance compared

Van insurance is thin ground: van cover appears at only 100% across the wider data set, so a handful of names carry the whole category. This ranking sets out 36 of them, ordered on cost, the depth of cover and how the account works day to day. The main trade-off is price against how much you have to do yourself when something goes wrong. A van policy can start cheaply, but the excess you carry and whether you can claim online or by phone shape what a bad month actually costs. Monthly payment is close to standard here, at 100%, and 86.7% of brands offer it, so that choice rarely separates the field. Where the ranking does separate brands is the excess, the support channels behind the policy, and whether a broker or the insurer itself stands behind the cover. Entry premiums across the category run from €3.49 to €319.60, with a median of €37.17, so the spread between the cheapest and dearest entry price is wide.

How we picked

Each brand is scored on the weights 40% for trust, 35% for cost and 25% for offer. Trust is the largest single weight, which is why the excess each brand starts at, the support channels it lists and the kind of company behind the policy carry more weight than the headline price alone. Cost reflects entry premium and the excess a policy holder would carry. Offer reflects the range of cover, including the limits attached to a policy. Data comes from each brand's own published pages, including its van insurance pages, its help and support pages and its claims pages, plus its terms of business or company details where it publishes them. Pricing, excess, support channel and cover limit figures all come from the pages named against each entry, and every figure in this ranking is the one the brand publishes rather than an estimate. Partner brands appear first, ahead of everything scored on evidence alone. Every other brand is then placed by score, and a computed label such as lowest-premium-from marks a brand only where its published figure supports that claim on its own. Where a brand publishes nothing on a point, that point is left open rather than guessed.

Our top picks

1. 3. Gigasure

   Gigasure closes this ranking as a broker whose published figures are drawn largely from travel insurance, which shapes how it reads here. Premiums start at £36.35 and the excess is quoted across a range rather than a single floor, so the amount you carry varies by product. Gigasure Services Limited is a UK broker, and van sits alongside travel in a book that is otherwise narrow. Claims run through app and website only, and the age range differs by product, set at 18-75 single trip, 18-70 annual multi-trip. Support is the stronger side, running on email, chat and phone. Compared with Start Rescue, ranked above it, Gigasure lists more support channels but publishes a higher entry premium and a narrower claims route.

   • Premium from: £36.35
   • Insurance types: Travel, Van
   • Provider type: Broker

   Pros

   • Excess on car hire excess cover runs £0 to £10,000, so a traveller chooses how much of the rental charge to carry instead of accepting a fixed figure.
   • Claims are filed through the app and website and support runs on email, chat and phone, giving policyholders live and written routes inside the same provider.
   • The FCA registration 1005421 sits on a broker, so the firm taking the instruction is named and checkable by the customer.
   • Travel cover opens at 18-75 single trip, 18-70 annual multi-trip, which keeps older travellers inside the bands instead of moving them to a separate later life product.

   Cons

   • The catalogue is travel and van, so anyone wanting home, motor or life in the same place has to move to another provider.
   • On entry price Gigasure ranks 199 of 252 across the site, so the starting figure sits high in a list sorted from the lowest premium.
   • The 5.1 overall score is a middling one, and its 5.1 cost part is the same, so the price case is the part that needs arguing.
   • Claims are filed through the app and website only, which leaves a policyholder without either of those to start with the email, chat and phone support routes.

2. 5. AA Breakdown

   AA Breakdown sits in this ranking as a long-established insurer rather than a broker, so the cover is underwritten by the company named on the policy. It also writes van insurance directly, alongside breakdown, car, home, travel and motorcycle lines. Its excess starts at £0, and premiums start at £5.49 with monthly payments available. Support is broad, running on phone, chat and email, and claims can be made by phone, through the app or online on phone, app and online, which is a wider net than the member ranked below it. The limits are specific: parts and garage cover is capped at GBP 535 per claim for Parts and Garage Cover. Founded in 1905, it is the longest established insurer in this ranking.

   • Premium from: £5.49
   • Insurance types: Breakdown, Auto, Home, and 3 more
   • Provider type: Insurer

   Pros

   • The excess starts at £0, so a covered claim does not open with a charge to meet.
   • Cover is written by an insurer, insurer, with the Financial Conduct Authority named as the regulator in Great Britain.
   • Monthly payments are available, so the cost can be spread rather than paid as a single sum.
   • The same firm sells breakdown, auto and home, so breakdown can sit beside car, home, travel, van and motorcycle cover.
   • Claims run on phone, app and online, giving a stranded driver more than a single route to help.

   Cons

   • For Parts and Garage Cover the limit stops at GBP 535 per claim for Parts and Garage Cover, so a large repair can exceed what the policy pays.
   • Personal cover starts at £5.49, and that figure is an entry point rather than a quote, so the premium a particular driver pays can sit above it.
   • breakdown, auto and home does not reach life, health or pet lines, so anyone wanting those alongside the car needs a second provider; Good Sam Insurance Agency covers them through auto, home and renters.
   • The firm is based in GB, so the wording and the price are set for that market alone.

3. 6. Aviva

   Aviva holds a mid-table place in this ranking because it is a large insurer writing van cover directly, with Aviva plc behind the policy rather than a broker placing it. The book is wide, covering van alongside car, home, life, health, travel, pet and breakdown lines, and monthly payments are available. Premiums start at £5, the stated age range is 18-77, and older drivers are a named audience. Support runs on phone, chat and help centre and claims can be made online, through the app or by phone on online, app and phone. Compared with Zego, ranked next, Aviva offers a much broader book and three support channels, while Zego publishes a firm excess starting at £25 and a wide set of claims routes.

   • Premium from: £5
   • Insurance types: Auto, Home, Renters, and 9 more
   • Provider type: Insurer

   Pros

   • One insurer covers auto, home and renters
   • Life premiums start at £5, under the site median of €8.37
   • Aviva is an insurer, so it carries the risk itself
   • Claims run through online, app and phone
   • Life cover opens at 18-77 and targets seniors

   Cons

   • £5 is an entry figure on life cover
   • monthly lists monthly as the only model
   • Support runs on phone, chat and help centre only
   • Business cover is limited to employers liability, professional indemnity and public liability

4. Z7. Zego

   Zego ranks here as the insurer in this ranking that states its cover limits plainly on the van policy page, setting published levels for third party property damage, personal accident and motor legal protection. It writes van, car and motorcycle cover as an insurer, Extracover Limited, with monthly payments available. The trade-off is the excess, which starts at £25, above the £0 floor several brands above it offer, so a claim begins with a cost to you. In return, support runs on email, chat and phone and claims can be made on app, online form and chat, the widest set in this ranking, covering app, online form, chat, phone and email.

   • Insurance types: Auto, Van, Motorcycle
   • Provider type: Insurer
   • Monthly payments: Yes

   Pros

   • An insurer, insurer, so the cover is underwritten by the company you deal with rather than placed by a broker.
   • A Financial Conduct Authority licence for the UK, 757871, which keeps the contract inside a supervised market.
   • The excess starts at £25 on the personal van policy, so a smaller claim costs less to absorb.
   • Claims can be opened through app, online form and chat, so the app, an online form, chat, phone and email all work.
   • Cars, vans and motorcycles sit with one insurer, auto, van and motorcycle, so a household with more than one vehicle stays in the same book.

   Cons

   • Cover stops at auto, van and motorcycle, while Euroasia Insurance also writes auto, home and travel.
   • The app and an online form are not among its support channels, email, chat and phone; both sit in the claims list, app, online form and chat.
   • Payments run on monthly only, so the monthly plan is the single listed way to pay.
   • The site's cost part is 5.5 against an overall 5.5, so the price signals sit in the middle of the range.

What to look for

The excess you carry on a claim

An excess is the part of a claim you pay. Inshur, Post Office, AA Breakdown and Start Rescue all list an excess starting at £0, while Zego starts higher at £25. On a single repair the gap between the lowest and highest excess here matters more to your outgoings than a small difference in the premium.

How you can reach a human being

Phone support is the most common channel in this category, at 86.1%, ahead of help centres on the same 83.3%. Post Office runs on phone and help centre, while iCarHireInsurance claims run through online claims portal, so check how a claim is made before you buy.

Whether you pay monthly or up front

Monthly payment covers this ranking at 100%, and 86.7% of brands offer it. iCarHireInsurance is the exception, with monthly payments marked no, so the premium is paid up front rather than spread across the year.

Who stands behind the policy

Insurers make up 44.4% of this category and brokers 33.3%, with comparison sites making up 22.2%. A broker places your cover with an insurer, while the insurer named on the policy carries the risk itself.

What you can buy from the same account

Car cover appears at 91.7% in this category, well ahead of the 52.8% of brands that also sell breakdown cover. Post Office sells van alongside home, life, pet and travel lines, so another policy may sit under the same account.

The limits printed on the cover

Check the published limits rather than the headline. iCarHireInsurance quotes Excess Europe: up to GBP 7,500 sum insured (single incident) and AA Breakdown sets GBP 535 per claim for Parts and Garage Cover, both of which tell you far more about a claim than the entry premium does.

Frequently asked questions

Top van insurance compared by country

• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV