Asked to use personal car for work. Advice appreciated!

forgotmyname

The for hire or reward bit still makes me think you may get stung, You are getting paid to carry passengers, It
may come with the job or extra expenses paid by the employer.

Not much difference between your case and a taxi, Except the employer is paying you and not the person being carried.


Be very careful and when you contact your insurance get it in writing, Dont be fobbed off with a phone conversation that
they have no record of.

The driver is always to blame for any vehicle defect, A company can also get fined for allowing it but the main blame is
pinned on the driver. Catch 22 sometimes. You report a defect but they say its OK. Do you refuse and get sent home or
risk it? As its a private vehicle i wouldnt think they can get any blame.

But the law is an *** , So who knows. Dont want to be in court waiting to see who is/was right as they turn you
upside down to empty your pockets.

lisyloo

The driver is always to blame for any vehicle defect

I agree.

What I'm pointing out is that if you don't normally carry passengers and your front seat is full of junk, then you are going to have to spend time cleaning it out and this is presumably your own time.
I know people who drive filty vehicles, covered in bird muck.
You're going to have to keep it clean outside and in and free of debris inside in your own personal time.

You can't have elderly people slipping on child toys or an empty crisp bag.

If you're someone who keeps your vehicle clean inside and out every weekend then this isn't an issue.
If like a lot of people it's full of child seats and toys anc crisp packets, then you are going to have to unload it and possibly clean it every time for use.

If an elderly person slips on an empty crisp bag then you are liable.

I agree it's the same with pool car, but they are unliely to be filled with child car seats, toys, empty crisp packets, crisps, crushed biscuits, sticky sweets etc. as they don't carry childern and are only used for business.

Personally I think the whole thing sounds very unattractive and I'd be loking for a way out in the best way possible.

I used to use my car for business but only transporting myself not for taking passengers. Now I don't have a car and get a hire car.

mikey72

lisyloo wrote: »

.......Personally I think the whole thing sounds very unattractive and I'd be loking for a way out in the best way possible......

I reguarly did over 10,000 miles per year on company business in my own car, a while ago, and it was 35p per mile then. My car was worth about £1000, so being paid £3500 each year certainly wasn't unattractive by any means.
It was a real loss to us when they brought in pool cars.

lisyloo

I reguarly did over 10,000 miles per year on company business in my own car, a while ago, and it was 35p per mile then. My car was worth about £1000, so being paid £3500 each year certainly wasn't unattractive by any means.

Was this hire and reward or just class 1?
I think the concensus is that the insurance may well be significantly different in cost.

I do agree with you (and have already said) that it can work out well if you have a modest car. In fact I had a colleague that did 260 miles per day in a small economical car for a few weeks and made a decent profit. The employer didn't mind as they weren't paying for hotels. One colleague even kept a seperate car for business travel.

On the other hand if you have an expensive car then you might find that even 40p doesn't cover it.
We have a Subaru Legacy. It's not that new now, but if you're doing 27 to the gallon then it's not far off 20p just for petrol. (I think my OH only gets about 10p per mile, but he does get a car allowance, so we arn't complaining).
So a lot does depend on the car you have.

Of course people can make choices, but bear in mind that these people have only jsut been told they might have to do this, so they won't have factored in business mileage into their car purchasing decision and may be attached to their car if it's reliable.

I think that whether it's attractive/unttractive depends on

1) Your insurance cost for hire/reward
2) Whether your car is otherwise stuffed with child seats and needs a lot of loading/unloading
3) Whether your car is economical in terms of fuel
4) Whether your car is economical in terms of maintenance
5) Where you car will depreciate hugely
6) Whether you keep your car clean or filthy

There can be a huge difference in maintenance costs e.g. tyres between different brands of cars.
So if you have an Alfa, BWM, Subaru then it's likely to be more expensive than a Vauxhall etc.

raskazz

forgotmyname wrote: »

The for hire or reward bit still makes me think you may get stung, You are getting paid to carry passengers, It
may come with the job or extra expenses paid by the employer.

Not much difference between your case and a taxi, Except the employer is paying you and not the person being carried.

The use indicated by the OP is not hire and reward use so please stop suggesting that it is. The OP needs to either add Class 1 business use to their own policy or check with the employer to see if they have the facility of occasional business use on their fleet policy.

lisyloos's example of the injury to an incorrectly valeted car should be picked up by the employer's public liability policy.

olly300

Howzat wrote: »

She has been told she must use her own vehicle for these trips for which she will be allowed to claim back a mileage allowance.
My concerns are as follows:
1) That her insurance premiums will rise considerably if she has to use her own vehicle. Can she insist they pay the extra?

Depends on the insurer. Apart from one of the insurers I've been with it's not cost me extra.

She can claim 40p per mile for the first 10,000 miles then 25p after that back for her business miles.

If the employer pays more than that it's taxable.

She needs to keep a proper record but it should not include personal details of the people she is carrying i.e. she can record postcode to postcode but no individual patient's name and full address. Otherwise both her and her employer fall foul of the Data Protection Act as it's unlikely she will keep the data securely and allow the patients to access it on request.

There is a bit of flexibility in it i.e. if she is travelling to some where and gets lost she can on the extra miles she got lost for. She shouldn't take the p*ss.

Howzat wrote: »

2) If she is involved in an accident and one of the residents is injured would she be as well protected legally as if it were a company car and company insurance?

Raskazz has answered that.

Howzat wrote: »

Its my personal opinion that the company should provide the insurance if they want their staff to use their own personal transport for work purposes,

Lots of people use their own cars for work purposes mainly because company cars are really expensive for both the company, and the employee as it's a taxable benefit. Also if you can't carry passengers in your car then it shouldn't be on the road regardless if you have habit of carrying junk in it.

lisyloo

The use indicated by the OP is not hire and reward use so please stop suggesting that it is.

Sorry just reporting the apparent concensus/discussion on the thread.
This indicates to me that the OP should now get professional advice.
Free advice on forums is great for uncovering issues, but clearly has it's limits.

lisyloos's example of the injury to an incorrectly valeted car should be picked up by the employer's public liability policy.

Again other information conflicts about driver being totally repsonsible.
(I'm not saying you're wrong Raskazz, just that there's conflicting views).
Time to bring in the professionals I think.