Questioni was involved in a works vehicle accident a year and a half ago. i was driving a pick up van and accidental reversed into a parked car causing a dent on the bonnet and a broken number plate,the person in the car wasn't the car at the time they where in a shop, i went in and explained what happened and was prepared to pay for the damaged caused to his vehicle myself out of my own pocket, as because i have to pay an excess to my work if there is any accident in there vehicles, as i didn't think the cost of repair would come anywhere close to the price of the excess i agreed to pay for it and the person seemed happy enough and agreed, as i try ed to contact the person to get the car fixed i couldn't get him on his phone, and had no other way of contacting the person i couldn't do much about it, a few week's later my company got an expensive bill in, in relation with the accident as they new nothing about it they where not best pleased they called me in for a meeting and asked for an explanation, as i did so, they told me to sort it all out my self and said that they where not taking anything to do with it, i contacted a lawyer about it to try get it sorted they said to get pics of the car before it got fixed and after pics, but the Company i contacted about this failed to do so, as the months past i heard nothing from the company who wanted the money, But in the last fortnight the company that want there money have now got in contact with my work and trying take them to court for the money, My work have bluntly stated to me that they ar not going to court for no one and me to pay the balance and get it sorted, I tried this today but offered to pay it back i installments as a could not afford to pay what they are asking for in one go, so my company said they would pay it all! and i have to pay hem back, Is this ok? is this right? can they do this? can there company insurance not still take to deal with it
AnswerHi James,
Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill—this is IT!! You have done the right thing all along, and for some reason, all of your good intentions will go for naught, and your employer will have to become involved. Not what you wanted, but that is the best way now, UNLESS you want to borrow the money and pay it yourself—OR, unless you or your job are going to go away anyway—in which case you should use the company auto insurance to pay this debt. Yes, you ARE insured under their policy.
Because this situation stinks so far as I would consider employer-employee rights and obligations, I am not going to just answer your questions and let you go on your way. This may be a small deal in the scope of all the big auto accidents Dr. Settlements helps give advice about, BUT it is A BIG DEAL in your life right now. So I will give you all the time required to explain the options to you.
First, though, I guess that there are two parts of your writing that really do bother me, James. The first thing is that you neglected to make a written record of your attempts to get this thing handled, and that could (will?) inure to your detriment with your employer since they might be thinking that you tried to escape responsibility. See #5 below. The second thing is your employer making you pay out of your pocket when there is insurance coverage for you under their policy.
This is an employer abuse, no doubt. But most of us might go along with the employer on this, depending upon (1) how much we value our job, and (2) the amount of money we are going to have to pay.
You mentioned only small damage in a low impact accident. Hence, I am guessing that the total repair cost should not exceed $3,000 to $4,000. If the cost were to be much higher, i.e. $7,000, then I would say to heck with it—make the employer's auto insurer pay this off. WHY should you have to pay this when the company has insurance just for such accidents?
So, in direct answer to your question: "Can they do this?"
ANSWER: They can do this ONLY with your consent. If you object, you have the right to coverage under their policy. You can make them use their policy. They CANNOT FIRE YOU for this accident (assuming you do not have a history of accidents with them). Any attempt to fire you could result in a wrongful termination lawsuit against them.
On the other hand, they CAN make a record of this in your employee file. See #5 below.
But as to your questions, here are SIX ideas.
#1. Your own auto insurance.
Can you try your own personal auto insurance? There likely is a clause that will let them consider the driving of a company car as an exemption, but why not at least give them a call and find out? NO—your personal auto insurer cannot and will not make a derogatory entry in your personal insurance file just for asking this coverage question. Do NOT make a "report" of the accident for your insurer; just make sure you are talking to an agent or someone who knows what she is talking about on such coverage issues. And ask WHY they cannot cover you.
#2. Your employer's auto insurance.
Yes, you do have coverage with the company's auto insurer. Most employers will let their employees use their insurance. In this case, your employer seems to be bullying you into paying the bill yourself instead of submitting it to their insurance. I think this is WRONG, but it sounds like they might make things difficult for you unless you pay the repair costs. It sounds like they have told you that if you value your job, you will not use the company insurance since your company does not want to have this become an "at-fault" accident on their history.
I would make them tell you WHY they will not use their insurance. By the way, you ARE an insured under their policy. Maybe they are afraid of an at-fault accident being the cause of an increase in their rates. I guess you could offer to pay that increase for like five years since my guess is that the increase will be minimal when compared to the cost of repairs you are going to pay. But they will not go for that. Still, I would make them explore the possibility of filing this claim and seeing what happens in the future. This is NOT a big at-fault accident in that there were no bodily injuries, and so one would not expect a huge jump in the insurance rates.
My response is that they do not have the power to make you pay, BUT then, they may find a way to fire you that would be legal—some excuse that will stand up to legal scrutiny. They CANNOT fire you—or take any retaliatory action against you for making a claim versus the company insurance. But we all know that they could find some legal excuse—maybe not right away, but in a few months—and then they would get even for going against their wishes.
On the other hand, if you were going to switch employers or you know that your job is going to be eliminated in the near future, or any other information that leads you to believe that your place at the company is not all that secure, then by all means INSIST UPON USING THE COMPANY INSURANCE. If they are going to fire you or eliminate your job in six months, WHY should you go out of your way to make things better for them when you have the RIGHT TO INSURANCE COVERAGE?
#3. Get this done NOW.
I do want you to get this done ASAP because all the victim has to do is to make a report to your state Department of Motor Vehicles and ask for them to make a financial responsibility demand letter to you. That is the kind of letter that gets sent out where the one who is at fault has no insurance. They will suspend the license of the at-fault driver unless and until he posts financial responsibility for the accident. And, they can also require that driver to show insurance coverage in the future. Hence, I would get this done NOW.
#4. Make arrangements in writing—and get a written release.
For some reason, you do not have anything in writing to show your diligence in trying to pay this obligation. So do not let that continue: get the e-mail address of the person you are dealing with and make a written record of your transaction so that they cannot come back later to ask for more. Make sure that they do give you a written release of claim upon your payment of the repair and rental car costs.
#5. Written record to employer?
Likewise, consider making a written thank you letter for your employer. I have no idea of the size of your employer, whether they have a human resources department, or even if they bother to keep an employee file. But just in case the history of this incident could haunt you in the future, you might think about submitting a memo for your employee record in order to keep the history accurate.
You might think about committing to paper five things:
(1) it was an understandable LOW IMPACT accident, and hence not a lot of negligence can be attributed to you;
(2) detail the number of times you tried to call them to take care of this;
(3) detail again your efforts to resolve this once they went to your employer;
(4) explain that you are willing to forego the coverage under the employer's coverage in order to avoid having this be recorded as an at-fault accident against the company's record;
(5) express gratitude for the loan your company is making to clear this for you at this time. BUT—as suggested in (4) just above—also go out of your way to let them know that this is NOT a burden most employees would undertake to benefit their employer. I want to make sure you put in writing the fact that you do have the right to have this covered by their insurance.
#6. You did not mention any interest on the loan your employer is making to you. If there is no or low interest, then that is fine. If instead they want to charge you a lot of interest, then consider first going to your bank ,and if that does not work, try www.prosper.com
Dr. Settlement is one of the thousands of lenders there. We put in anywhere from a hundred bucks up to like five hundred on any number of loans where we like the borrower and his reasons for the loan. Just an idea in case you wanted to avoid using your employer.
Good luck to you, James,
I trust that my extra time here has produced some information that has been of value to you, and thus I would respectfully request that you take the time to locate the FEEDBACK FORM on this site and leave some feedback for me.
Best Wishes,
David,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
http://www.SettlementCentral.Com
