Interestingly enough no VW free insurance policy stipulates commuting as an exclusion in the factsheets for the last 3 years so quite why its on the certificate is a mystery, I'll await there explanation on that one as requested. Cheers Stu

Further to the above, having scoured all the VW insurance documentation and policy booklet, there is no mention of the definition of commuting or anything like that. The VW dealer did not flag up this massive exclusion clause (why would he, he probably didnt even know). The only place the commuting is written is on the original certificate which popped through the door after she'd already taken delivery of the car. I think this is a genuine error that relied on a mother to pick up , but effectively provided her with a policy that wasn't fit for her purpose . There are many websites offering solicitors who specialise in traffic/insurance issues , do any of you helpful folks know one off hand that I could head towards rather than taking a punt on one that looks Ok? Cheers Stu

Thank you chaps some good info there, I suspect that the original issue of the docs is the way to go as they are aware that she was driving to me at the hotel and I was going to then quickly drop her off at the T5 fast drop and carry on. Quite how VW can issue free insurance on a finance deal to a Stewardess who told them she works at an airport give her something not fit for purpose is beyond me. There is very little documentation apart from the original certificate which presumably arrived some weeks after taking delivery of the car. So in essence it is only mentioned on the certificate so in any case she'd have been clueless for those first few weeks anyway. This is the avenue a solicitor I'm sure will want to pursue and one I will encourage. Also all documentation is from VW , its only online I can see Allianz is underwriting, its pretty 'grey'. Will keep you all posted as I'm not letting this one lie. Cheers Stu

Hi All, My wife is insured with VW Insurance underwritten by Allianz, she was given one years free insurance when she bought a new car last year and she renewed it automatically. She is an airline stewardess and was reporting for duty at 7pm last night at Heathrow. We use her car mainly as it can take dogs and children, our only other car is an Audi TT which is impractical for the purpose. Normally I drop her off at the airport at the fast drop so I have use of her car as I'm a named driver, otherwise her car sits in a car park for 5 days 9 days etc, completely pointless. However last night I happened to be at the airport at a works function and had a hotel room booked, she was on her way to my hotel to have a coffee and hand me the car as I was obviously not coming home, I would drop her at the kerbside as usual and whizz off to my Christmas meal. Unfortunately she collided with the rear of another car coming off the M25 AT 1750, the car being damaged and undrivable. The insurance adviser has informed us her cover is social,domestic, and leisure and does not include commuting so they would not be covering it. No she never checked it and has learnt the hard way. HOWEVER - She was not driving it to work , she was bringing it to me so I had it for the 5 days she was away, the hotel is 20 mins from our house, I've sent them the hotel bill, my check in time etc etc. Normally I would have taken her in and dropped her off but couldn't as was in the hotel. Because ultimately she left home to go to work they didnt care about the details and said it was commuting. I replied that as she only goes to work 3 times a month as she's part time, I have the car to stop it sitting dead in a car park for ages, and certainly last night she was not commuting to work, she was delivering it unusually to me as I was in a Heathrow hotel. So having paid to get the car moved to a body shop I'm in limbo. Can they define this as commuting, her car sitting at a hotel unconnected to work then driven by me to drop kerbside? To me they are refusing on a technical point, it did not happen near the work car park it was miles away, I am angry, she is shaken and what if any are my legal avenues. Any help greatly appreciated by us both. Thanks Stu