Originally Posted by
mattys_up
I'd be very careful with this. In a day and age when its so easy for big coporations to pass the buck, unless you have a £1million plus public liability insurance i'd get a qualified mechanic to service the vehicle. I'm sure you do a good job and are more than capable, but its that garage stamp they look for on the service book. If you had an accident you can guarantee a big company would protect there public image over a employee who killed someone. The other parties insurance would then come after you, your home and anything else they can get there grubby little hands on.
Check you T&C's of your car allowance. A standard term in these things is that a protion of the money is to be used to maintain the vehicle by a qualified person. Even with company cars you have a duty of care to have the vehicle serviced at regualr internals set by the manufactuer. Fail to do this and you are liable.
In my experience of working for a major corporation if you have to travel no matter how far on company business i would always ask to be supplied with a car supplied by the company. Then the liability is with the company to provide you with a road worthy vehicle. Also you are only insured on a standard policy to travel to and from work for communting to you normal place of work. It may not cover you for using your vehicle for work purposes, Check your small print.
It's all about covering your own arse....
Absolutely correct EXCEPT that in the event of a claim, the litigant will go after the deepest poskets and that will probably be the employers.
Originally Posted by
The Diva
Steve.....
Easiest way if they want to be arsey is do a nightschool course on motor vehicle maintenance then they can`t say shit to you about it being maintained by a qualified person.......
All dealer and motor factor spare parts are approved nowadays and carry liability insurance so if you have a certificate to say you are competent then you can tell them where to stick it......
I'm sure the time-served guys will be along to tel you why a night-school certificate will not make you "qualified". An eager lawyer chasing a big settlement or a reputation-creating case would take maybe 3 minutess to set out in court why the home-mechanic isn't qualified to do even routine maintenance.
Originally Posted by
Colin_P
If you have a prang it will go through your insurance, not your companies. I've got class 2 business insurance and always make sure I have legal cover as well.
It has never been an issue but if they insisted that I take the car to a garage, I'd insist they pay the extra for that.
The claim will go through your insurance, but if you have a serious incident you can be 100% positive that they will also go after your employer too if you were driving on their business, both for compensation and any legal charges that may be brought.
Class 2 business insurance refers to WHO can drive, not the cover you get. Class 2 allows anyone named on the policy to use the car in connection with the policyholder's business (but not for another employer's business - eg the wife's job)
Class 3 allows the carriage of goods in transit. Say, replacement parts if you are a service tech for a computer/photocopier/whatever tech.
As for the extra costs of servicing, I'd expect their car policy already stipulates that you get the allowance and/or mileage rate and must have the car maintained.
The first case of Corporate Manslaughter to go before the courts has just resulted in a conviction and a fine of £385k. Employers all over the country have been hearing about the risks that their fleet policies expose them to, for some time now, and are about to start looking at things like this very seriously, even though this first case involved a pit collapse rather than anything motoring-related.