Company Car

[peter356a]

My stepdaughter has a clause in her contract (which she has signed) making her liable for any damage to the 'company car' she has been provided with, no matter how, or when, caused. She is only 19 and an inexperienced driver and has had 2 or 3 car park scrapes. The bottom line now is, she will not receive any salary this month as it is all going to be deducted to pay for the damage. I would class this as an unfair clause in her contract....a bit like the bus or delivery driver having a scrape in their vehicle and the company deducting the cost of the damage from their pay. Has anyone come across this situation please?

[jd_here]

If your stepdaughter signed the contract and she knew what was in it, then I'm afraid she'll have to cough up.

I would also suggest that if she is that inexperienced a driver then she takes some more lessons to give her a little more experience and confidence.

//2 or 3 car park scrapes//, which supermarket does she use and I'll try and avoid it!

[Davethedog]

When you say company car do you mean it is used for company business or its for private use.

I think that this is a car owned by the company as such she should take out private insurance. As such she is being conned because if a third party hits her how does she claim? I think its possibly illegal.

If she can I would quit this company something is very wrong.

[whiskeysheri]

2 or 3 scrapes in just one month?!

[factor-fiction]

I assume she was responsible for the accidents as it clearly wouldn't be fair to make her pay if someone had , for example, driven into the back of her whilst she drove on company business.
Did these accidents occur in the course of her work or as part of her private use (including driving to/from her normal place of work)?
If she does have to pay something she may be able to offset some or all of the cost against tax

[Messi_Ten]

What a cowboy outfit to work for! She's never going to have any wages at this rate, maybe that's the idea.

Don't see any point in working for them. She should tell them to stick the job and the car where the sun don't shine!

[EvianBaby]

If they are so keen to get all the money back in one go I'm wondering if she's about to get the boot anyway Messi.

[ummmm]

Has the car been repaired? Has she seen the invoice for repair?

[factor-fiction]

The employer may be being criticised unfairly here.
We need more information. If the car is provided for business then the employer may feel it is the driver's choice whether to use it privately and incur any costs arising from private use

[Nosha123]

We have to pay 50% of all damage repairs to our company cars.. and when the car goes back to the lease co we have a Chips Away repair man come and touch up all the necessary areas.
There is an allowance for natural wear and tear and a small scratch (not dent) would come under this - as the lease co dont expect a car to be returned in perfect condition after 3 yrs on the road. However - if she scraped the car in the car park 3 times - why should the company be liable for her poor driving??? If they have 5 company cars and all were driven like this - they would face a hefty bill when the cars are all returned. She signed the contract - she has to accept she is liable I'm afraid.. or else she shouldnt have signed

[Nosha123]

also - damage is only repaired on our cars just before they go back... or change hands.. so the next driver has a clean slate to start from...
Why are they repairing now - is the damage a bit more than a scratch?

[bigglez]

leave job pdq b4 she totals car or wrs. U shuda red contract b4 sind

[LucyDay]

I worked around the Liverpool at one point and had a company car.
There was a clause that we had to pay the first £100 of any claim.
My car was broken into once and I just paid.
A year later one unlucky employee had his car broken into 5 times in a year and after a fuss was made we were all refunded our insurance excess for the Liverpool thefts.
All cars belonging to the company had comprehensive insurance at that point with a £100 excess.
I understand they only insure the cars third party now and the employees are liable for the first £100 of any damage under normal circumstances.
This decision was taken because of the number of cars the company owned made comprehensive insurance for them all not cost effective.

[ChuckFickens]

As it's in her contract they can deduct wages from her, but only to the point of putting her on minimum wage.

http://www.direct.gov...ployees/Pay/DG_175878

And I don't think it's an unfair clause to expect staff to pay for damage done to property hey have been entrusted with.

[EDDIE51]

This is the only time I have heard of someone under 25 being given a company car. The insurance for a driver under 25 is so high it is uneconomic for the company. I think that is why she has to pay for all damage. Your daughter has proved the point by having 2 or 3 accidents already (calling them 'car park scrapes' does not change the fact that they are accidents)
If she had her own car she would be paying £3000 to £5000 a year insurance and still have to pay for the 2 or 3 'car park scrapes' out of her own pocket.

[joko]

Why should they keep footing the bill because she is a terrible driver? Did she just drive off after these scrapes? An leave scratches on another car?

[sophie_1003]

When I had my first car I had a few scrapes; not with other cars, reversed gently into a post and wall, scraped along a recycling bin and scraped along our hedge, luckily there was no damage to the things I scraped and bumped but it was precisely the reason I had an old banger of a car so I didn't even bother repairing the minor dents and scratches on it, maybe she would be better off doing that than having a company car?

[LucyDay]

Hi ChuckFickens

You said ''And I don't think it's an unfair clause to expect staff to pay for damage done to property hey have been entrusted with''.

I was asked to take a lap top belonging to my employer home on several occasions to do some work at home.

Unfortunately my house was broken into in spite of it being alarmed, and it had 7 point locking on all external doors and UPVC double glazed windows.
The alarm activated but there was nobody around at the time.
My line manager did say I would have to pay to replace the laptop.
I took it up with senior management on the grounds I had not been negligent and the laptop was nearly 2 years old so they could not claim for a new laptop.
It was decided I would not have to pay.

Lucy

[ChuckFickens]

OK, maybe I should have said "damage done due to negligence"

[EDDIE51]

sophie, a 19 year old driver with 3 claims in well under a year would be virtually uninsurable. Even an old banger would cost £10,000s to insure if any company would even consider it. It is not the cost of repairs to the cars it is the potential personal compensation claims for an accident which can be £100,000s or even £millions.