Driving own vehicle for work related reasons

[creampuff]

Sometimes I have to take work related trips for which I use my own vehicle. I am reimbursed 45 pence per mile for this.

I have received no information from my employer about what insurance I should have for using my vehicle for work reasons and I have no information about what would happen if I was injured (through my fault or another persons fault) in a road traffic collision while driving for work.

Can anybody enlighten me or give me some links?

Vehicle is insured for Class 1 business use btw.

[uuf361]

If you have Class 1 you should be fine as that's what it's for.........some insurers ask you too specify the number of miles used for business but others don't seem to mind.....

[anothernameitist]

In all honesty your employer needs to take care.

Have they checked you insurance?
Your Licence?
Road worthyness of your vehicle
Is it taxed and MOT'd

This could come under Corporate Manslaughter, although that needs proving in court and I' hope I'm not going all Daily Wail there.

[creampuff]

uuf361 said:

If you have Class 1 you should be fine as that's what it's for.........some insurers ask you too specify the number of miles used for business but others don't seem to mind.....

That's what I thought.

Say I have a crash and lets say for the sake of argument the crash is my fault, I'm injured and I can't work for a few months. Then because I can't turn up to work, I get fired. Is that how it works?

[21TonyK]

As already mentioned my employer wants copy of DL, MOT and insurance which must have business use (for which they pay).

Only use the car going too and from odd meeting and training courses but sometimes take other people with me.

[anothernameitist]

creampuff said:

That's what I thought.

Say I have a crash and lets say for the sake of argument the crash is my fault, I'm injured and I can't work for a few months. Then because I can't turn up to work, I get fired. Is that how it works?

Depends how bad the employer is... They could say that due to the accident and you not returning you are not capable of doing your duties so fire you, after going through due process.

Is this what your employer is like if no, then less or nothing to worry about, lets hope you do have to get into this situation!!

[TooMany2cvs]

creampuff said:

Say I have a crash and lets say for the sake of argument the crash is my fault, I'm injured and I can't work for a few months. Then because I can't turn up to work, I get fired. Is that how it works?

I take it you've worked there more than a couple of years, so have protection against unfair dismissal?

Whether the crash was your fault or not isn't directly affected by whether it's your vehicle or your employer's - unless there's a suggestion that the crash was caused by your vehicle being unroadworthy, or the choice of it contributing directly to the way in which it was being driven (overloaded, perhaps).

[creampuff]

TooMany2cvs said:

I take it you've worked there more than a couple of years, so have protection against unfair dismissal?

No, not that long. The employer are fkers, so if they have the option of getting rid of me due to me not being useful to them due to any road traffic injury where I am unable to turn up to work, then that is what would happen, 100% guaranteed.

[TooMany2cvs]

creampuff said:

No, not that long.

Ah. In that case, all bets are off, since you don't have any protection at all before two years.

The only way they CAN'T just decide you're leaving is if they base that on one of the discrimination reasons - sex, race, religion, etc. Apart from that? <waves>

[Bristol spark]

anothernameitist said:

In all honesty your employer needs to take care.

Have they checked you insurance?
Your Licence?
Road worthyness of your vehicle
Is it taxed and MOT'd

This could come under Corporate Manslaughter, although that needs proving in court and I' hope I'm not going all Daily Wail there.

You would be surprised, A few years ago i worked for Tesco and i brought this topic up in a meeting regarding business insurance when travelling to meetings at other stores.

The reply from the Manager. "Don't worry, you will be fine"

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Bristol spark said:

anothernameitist said:

In all honesty your employer needs to take care.

Have they checked you insurance?
Your Licence?
Road worthyness of your vehicle
Is it taxed and MOT'd

This could come under Corporate Manslaughter, although that needs proving in court and I' hope I'm not going all Daily Wail there.

You would be surprised, A few years ago i worked for Tesco and i brought this topic up in a meeting regarding business insurance when travelling to meetings at other stores.

The reply from the Manager. "Don't worry, you will be fine"

Many companies seem to have no idea that when an employee drives on business, the company owe the same duty of care to their employee and third parties regardless of their employee being in a company car or their own car.

[JonV8V]

anothernameitist said:

In all honesty your employer needs to take care.

Have they checked you insurance?
Your Licence?
Road worthyness of your vehicle
Is it taxed and MOT'd

This could come under Corporate Manslaughter, although that needs proving in court and I' hope I'm not going all Daily Wail there.

I've worked for some reputable names including those that appear in the "top 10 companies to work for" lists, and providing HR, tax and legal advice to companies and they've never asked for any of that. I had to provide my driving license once when I opted into the company car scheme which I took as required for the named keeper.

There's no greater requirement on a car regarding road worthiness, mot, tax, 3rd party insurance cover and your licence whether you're driving for work or pleasure (assuming not carrying passengers as trade).

[handpaper]

My employer's insurance certificate basically says :

"Any driver, any vehicle, anywhere, anytime, on Company business; Company business being whatever your normal duties are plus whatever a Company director tells you or authorises you to do. Only Acts of God or wars exempted."

Hauliers have it covered

[TwigtheWonderkid]

handpaper said:

My employer's insurance certificate basically says :

"Any driver, any vehicle, anywhere, anytime, on Company business; Company business being whatever your normal duties are plus whatever a Company director tells you or authorises you to do. Only Acts of God or wars exempted."

Hauliers have it covered

I don't believe your employer's certificate mentions acts of god.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

JonV8V said:

There's no greater requirement on a car regarding road worthiness, mot, tax, 3rd party insurance cover and your licence whether you're driving for work or pleasure (assuming not carrying passengers as trade).

If you were in a company car, your employer would have some responsiblity for roadworthiness, mot, tax, correct insurance and ensuring you had a valid licence to drive. The point is, if you are driving your own car for business, your employer's responsibilities are no different.

[TooMany2cvs]

handpaper said:

My employer's insurance certificate basically says :

...plus whatever a Company director tells you or authorises you to do. Only ... wars exempted."

I hope you don't work for the MoD.

[snobetter]

Business's should: -
Conduct a risk assessment of your fleet, as well as those drivers that drive for you but use their own cars (the so-called ‘grey fleet’).
Check that each driver has a valid driver’s licence, is insured for business use, and that cars are roadworthy – that includes employees’ own cars.
Ensure that drivers can reach their destinations within a reasonable time, and that they take sufficient breaks – normally a break after 2 hours on the road.
Put in place a Driving for Work policy.

Policy could include driver assessments, training etc. Driving is probably the most dangerous work duty most people have.

As regards your employer, having a crash which takes you off work for a few months in your car or their car probably wouldn't make any difference to if they kept you on?

[creampuff]

snobetter said:

As regards your employer, having a crash which takes you off work for a few months in your car or their car probably wouldn't make any difference to if they kept you on?

Based on my knowledge of this employer, an employee who was unable to work for any extended period due to an injury sustained while driving on company business would be fired.

[Foliage]

anothernameitist said:

In all honesty your employer needs to take care.

Have they checked you insurance?
Your Licence?
Road worthyness of your vehicle
Is it taxed and MOT'd

This could come under Corporate Manslaughter, although that needs proving in court and I' hope I'm not going all Daily Wail there.

My employer doesn't seem capable of doing that with pool car let alone private cars. Numerous times I've handed pool cars keys back due to cars not being road worthy.

OP just make sure you have business insurance tagged on to your insurance and all will be well

[battered]

TooMany2cvs said:

Ah. In that case, all bets are off, since you don't have any protection at all before two years.

The only way they CAN'T just decide you're leaving is if they base that on one of the discrimination reasons - sex, race, religion, etc. Apart from that? <waves>

Exactly this. Until the 2 years are up they can fire you for upsetting the fairies in the garden. I know at first hand because an employer did this when I was injured in a RTA and they didn't want to pay sick any more and they were scared witless I might play a disability card. They just made some sh*t up about "a customer has complained", told me "we don't have to say what customer and what about" and when I took it to a solicitor he said "forget it, they can do what they like".
As TM2CV says, the only time you can claim unfair is discrimination. If the employer is foolish enough to say "You're fired, you disabled n*gger gay lesbian bd". In front of witnesses, of course.