All week you’re the picture of professionalism – buying, selling, servicing, keeping customers happy, and making sure every car that leaves the forecourt is roadworthy. But come Saturday morning, it’s a different world. The jacks go down, the helmet goes on, your mates turn up with bacon rolls, and suddenly you’re less ‘motor trader’ and more ‘team principal… of McLaren-in-my-dreams.’

And here’s where it gets interesting. Every week, I have the same conversation with business owners. They say:
“I’ve just got a couple of pals giving me a hand in the paddock. Volunteers, really, I don’t pay them anything.”

You might see them as just your mates mucking in for the weekend. But in the business world, the law doesn’t. If you’ve asked them to help your commercial activity, or they’re under your say-so lifting, fixing, fetching, carrying etc, then legally, they’re employees. End of. And that means you need Employers’ Liability cover. Doesn’t matter if they’re unpaid, doesn’t matter if they’re just “doing it for the fun.”

Do not fall in the trap thinking everything will be fine if they get injured, they’re your mates after all!

Standard commercial insurance is designed for your business: your employees, your customer cars, your tools, your premises and stock. It does that job perfectly well. But it usually excludes motorsport, racing, rallying, even the occasional track day. And as for your unpaid weekend warriors? Without the right cover, you’re personally on the hook if anything goes wrong.

That’s why motorsport-specific policies exist. Done properly, they can extend your trade cover into the paddock, cover your race car in storage or in transit, protect your kit away from the premises, and even look after you if fire, flood, or theft stops your business running during the week.
In short, if your business races on Sundays, your insurance shouldn’t clock off on Fridays.

Here at Lynx, we know this world because we’re in it too. We can build you a package that does what you need it to: protect your livelihood in the week, your passion at the weekend, and your “just here for the fun” mates who, by law, count as staff.

It’s not about slowing you down. It’s about keeping you in the race without nasty surprises lurking in the small print.

Ready to talk about your setup? Give us a call and we’ll happily talk it through.