University owned vehicles

The University has Comprehensive motor insurance with a £250.00 excess.  In the event of a claim the department is responsible for the excess.

Motor Fleet records

We are required by law to register all of our vehicles (including vehicles hired for more than 14 days) on our insurer's database.  It is important that our records are up to date because we risk a £5,000 fine if a vehicle is not registered.

Therefore, please notify the Insurance Office immediately if you have purchased a new vehicle or if you are disposing of an old vehicle.

Continuous Insurance Enforcement

The Department of Transport has introduced the Continuous Insurance Enforcement scheme to reduce the level of uninsured drivers.  This new scheme came into effect in early 2011, notifying vehicle owners by letter that they are uninsured and the possibility of a large fine due to non compliance.  If you do receive a letter relating to this please do not panic, contact the Insurance Office insurance-office@bristol.ac.uk notifying us that you are in receipt of this letter straight away.  Please note that there is a high possibility that the vehicle registration has simply not been recorded correctly and by notifying us we can rectify the situation forestalling any future problems.

Certificates

Motor certificates are sent to each department annually, in August, when our insurance policy is renewed.

A copy of the certificate can also be downloaded: Motor Certificate 2011-12.

We have recently been informed by our insurance broker that the police are now undertaking roadside checks using automatic number plate recognition cameras to identify uninsured vehicles.  If the police find a vehicle which is not on the database they have the power to stop and seize it.  Therefore, we would suggest that you keep copies of our insurance certificate in your vehicles so that if you are stopped by the police because the vehicle details have not shown up, they can make further checks on their telephone helpline, to verify your cover.

Drivers

Our insurance requires that drivers must be aged over 21 to drive cars and over 25 to drive minibuses. 

Departments must ask drivers to provide them with a copy of their driving licence (both the photo-id and paper sections) and a completed driver declaration form [26KB - Word Document] before they can drive.  If a member of staff answers "Yes" to any question on the form; a copy of the form must be referred to the Insurance Office.     

Departments should retain copies of these documents on file and ask drivers to complete new forms annually and inform the Insurance Office if any changes in their situation occur during the year.

Taking University owned vehicles abroad

Our insurance allows staff to take University owned vehicles abroad.  However, we are not insured to take minibuses abroad.  If you are driving abroad you should take a motor certificate with you and a photocopy of the vehicle's registration document.  It would also be advisable to arrange breakdown cover.

Please see the Hired Vehicles details if you wish to take a hired vehicle abroad.

Breakdown Cover

Please contact the Procurement Office to arrange AA Emergency Breakdown Assistance.

Windscreen Damage

Please call Autoglass on  0800 363 636 and quote Zurich Municipal policy number NHE-05CA06-0013-52.  Autoglass will bill the insurers for repairs but we will need to pay the £250.00 excess.  Do not pay the VAT on the repair bill as we have an arrangement with the insurers for them to pay this for us.