Company vehicle advice please!

[animalmagic]

Hello all,
We have a fleet policy where any driver over 25 can drive our vans. We've just employed someone who's 24 and has 3 points, the insurance company will only add her as a named driver and the excess if she has an accident which is her fault is £1000.

I beleive we can ask her to pay all, or part, should she crash....is this correct and does anyone have a document that we can use for her to sign? A general company vehicle document would also be handy stating who's responsible for speeding fines and general stuff like that!!

Huge thanks,
Maria
-x-Company

 

[LawHound]

You need a policy for all staff not just this one which has concentrated your mind on the problem. The reason is any one of the clean licence holders could suddenly have an event which alters their risk on your fleet policy and the duty needs to be on all of them to notify you and to pay any excess. If they did not tell you and carried on your policy could refuse to pay out if they had not been notified of the change for that driver.

We provide policies of this nature, both generic and bespoke. PM me for the contents and details.

 

[ccp consultancy]

If the insurance company will only add her as a named driver - what level of cover will that provide you, eg if she does have an accident and then writes off a company van - will you be covered.

What is the excess if the accident is not her fault.

I have provided company policies for a large motor company, and so would be able to assist you with this matter. The policy needs to go further than insurance bits and should also cover, driving conduct (who pays fines / traffic conventions etc, license checks, medical checks if required. mobile phone usege, unauthorised passengers, unauthorised use of vehicles etc etc.

Please PM me or email [email protected] if you wish to discuss this in more detail

Kind Regards
Clare

 

[yorkshirejames]

It is likely to be illegal to make this employee pay a higher excess than your other employees - risk profiles are between the company and your insurer and cannot be used to discriminate against a particular employee (in my opinion).

 

[TheGuru2010]

The excess should really only be payable if its a fault claim ( A full recovery can & should be made from the third party if this is none fault). As another person has stated you would need to apply the terms to the whole of your employee's as im pretty sure this would be classed as age discrimination of some sort (might be wrong).

I would review this as a whole with all the employee's. If you need a hand give me a shout.

 

[animalmagic]

Thanks for the replies everyone....much appreciated.

I've drafted a Driver Handbook document which I will get all staff to read and agree to (and sign!). In it has general things about driving safely etc and about them being responsible for any speeding fines etc. I have also put that they will be responsible for 75% of the excess if they have an accident which is deemed their fault, and we, the comapny, would pay the other 25%. ....yorkshirejames...think this would be ok in a precentage format, being that they'd all pay different amounts should the case arise but in percentage form surely it's fair?

Thanks again everyone!
Maria
-x-

 

[ccp consultancy]

The car insurance industry has applied age as a factor for determining higher premiums for years, and so far this has not been tested in the "age discrimination" courts.

The issue here is that the employee is younger than the 25 years that the insurance company would normally insure - and therefore they have applied a higher excess as a result

Coupled with the fact that the employee already has 3 points on their license, which increases the risk - and on any car insurance the same rules would apply

A policy that makes it clear that any negligent driving where you are at fault will render you liable to paying any excess, which applies to everyone will be fine

 

[TheGuru2010]

Thanks for the replies everyone....much appreciated.

I've drafted a Driver Handbook document which I will get all staff to read and agree to (and sign!). In it has general things about driving safely etc and about them being responsible for any speeding fines etc. I have also put that they will be responsible for 75% of the excess if they have an accident which is deemed their fault, and we, the comapny, would pay the other 25%. ....yorkshirejames...think this would be ok in a precentage format, being that they'd all pay different amounts should the case arise but in percentage form surely it's fair?

Thanks again everyone!
Maria
-x-

I think what you have chosen with the % is more than fine. Have you put any thought into a reward & penalisation scheme,

such as maybe

New Drivers (under 2 years) 30%
over 2 years 25%

then maybe a 5% reduction per year after the 2 years?
and maybe a increase if you have a accident say more than once in 2 years (or something like that).

When i have worked with fleets before some of the drivers have been there years & felt it hard that they would be penalised for a "one off" when they have been with the company for 5 or more years without a claim (again this is all dependant on your business).

 

[wood1e2]

I've drafted a Driver Handbook document which I will get all staff to read and agree to (and sign!). In it has general things about driving safely etc and about them being responsible for any speeding fines etc. I have also put that they will be responsible for 75% of the excess if they have an accident which is deemed their fault, and we, the comapny, would pay the other 25%. ....
-x-

That's interesting, I am not sure whether there is any rules broken and it may be an industry norm for drivers to bare the brunt of the access. We only have two drivers and we cover them. I think they would tell us to 'sing for it' if we tried to implement something along your lines.

Putting myself in your drivers shoes, I would then ask if I could look at insuring myself!!

Being that you control the level of access. Who is to stop you/the company from putting the access up to £7500 to decrease your insurance premiums. That once again may not be illegal but I would feel it is slightly immoral/unfair.

As for getting anyone to sign anything, if it don't work legally the signature is worth nothing!!

Going back to the original post, why employ someone with a points and too young?

I preume that had something to do with employment law!!??!!