Talking with a friend of mine over the weekend he mentioned hed crashed his firms vehicle whilst on their business ,the firm have now informed him he will have to pay their insurance excess of some Five hundred Pounds i wouldnt have thought this was right to do?
By: Tartan Pics - 11th November 2009 at 10:50
Tell your mate to tell his company to shove it!
Speaking as a professional driver of many years….
If you are driving a company vehicle with permission of the company on company business (including from and to home) the company’s insurers are liable for ALL accidents where the employee is to blame, with the exception of illegal driving (drunk,drugs,speeding,reckless etc…)and the employer should NEVER expect an insured employee to pay the excess. If your mate is in a union he should speak to them, if not, and he refuses to pay and gets ANY sort of warning/sacked etc… he will have a VERY very strong case of unfair dismissal! His boss is chancing his arm (I have been there too after pranging a van a few years ago) EVEN if his contract states that he has to pay excess insurance claims, it’s hogwash. The law of the land disagrees. A visit to the CAB will ease his mind.
There are certain exceptions to driving company vehicles e.g: if you have a prang going to the shops for bacon on a sunday morning while off duty….
Commercial vehicle insurance has many differences from car insurance, most policies the vehicle is only insured when engaged on business use..etc..
Good luck with that, but, really sounds like his employer trying to take him for a ride!
By: Arabella-Cox - 9th November 2009 at 22:43
Depends upon whether or not he was found to be negligent.
The “was found” part usually is determined by whether he received a citation from police, or whether his boss THINKS he was negligent (by ignoring company policies or common sense…something like “You should know bettter than to go the speed limit in fog.”).Either way, I don’t think there’s much he can do about it unless he wants to get a lawyer.
i hope he can get out of this situation ,its a problem in the present jobs market as in this case it apppears employers can ride roughshod over their operatives
By: J Boyle - 9th November 2009 at 17:35
Depends upon whether or not he was found to be negligent.
The “was found” part usually is determined by whether he received a citation from police, or whether his boss THINKS he was negligent (by ignoring company policies or common sense…something like “You should know bettter than to go the speed limit in fog.”).
Either way, I don’t think there’s much he can do about it unless he wants to get a lawyer.
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November 9, 2009 at 4:50 pm