Basically, on my last company, just before i left i accidently dented the right wing. My old boss is now saying

'Unfortunately I also have to fix the citroen to get it thro the MOT as the wing is fouling the door and the headlamp. A new wing is over £600 so I have to dock you the insurance excess Im afraid, which is £250. I will probably end up paying the rest myself otherwise I wont be able to afford the insurance next year. (Its already over £800.)'

Is this fair? 600 pounds seems like alot…

As a general principle, I'd say it was fair

If it was being used for business purposes then I would tell them to **** off. They have no right to dock your wages for that unless you have signed a contract to that effect.

Our Company runs the same sort of system with our vans. If you caused the damage, you pay – if it was caused by someone else then its sorted.
Fair enough to me. All our drivers are made aware of this policy and as yet we haven't had anyone complain about it.

So, if it was your fault Lyons, then yes I'd say it is fair that you should pay up.

Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 states that "an employer shall not make a deduction from wages of a worker employed by him unless the deduction is required or authorised by virtue of a statutory provision or the worker has previously signified in writing his agreement or consent to the making of the deduction".

nope. accidents happen.
Deliberate damage is misconduct but if its an accident you shouldnt have to pay – if they want you to use the equipment they need to accept that it may get damaged.

Would they expect you to pay if you spilt coffee over a PC? Tell them to **** off.

sounds like bull. he's not claiming through insurance but docking the excess? I bet the repair comes to about £250. He's taking the piss, his inability to pay an insurance premium is not your problem.

thanks, i'll be telling him to **** right off with that one then.

That's ridiculous. Don't pay it.

Rule for NHS is that if you break it whilst on duty then employer pays the excess, if you are on your way to or from work or any other time (and its your fault!) then you pay. But then £800 is a drop in the ocean for our trust's rather large transport department.

this sort of thing is usually detailed in a company car policy, i wouldnt be paying if it were some off the cuff comment. but paying excess or part of is not unheard of, sometimes the company may let you of the first one or if the circumstances are ambiguous.
some people just have no respect for company equipment and are always crashing and breaking stuff.. not saying thats you.

If its detailed in your contract, or detailed in some other policy (that is referred to by your contract), then yes he can ask you for it. Otherwise, no.

Although I've never worked for anyone who deducted for this.

Well, it was my fault (kind of) but definitly an accident, and there is no mention anywhere on my contracts etc about having to pay in the case of an accident. It hapopended in work time, and i was only ever meant to drive in work time anyway. I couldn't prove this though.

The mention of Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, is useful, i just need to make sure i have understood it properly. How do other people read into that?

He's being a bit of a c0ck abou this in general, it's been 3 weeks since i left, and i havent seen a penny yet, or my p45.

My employer are the same, if you have an accident and its your fault, you pay the £500 excess.
Also in our staff handbook, it say never admit liability for any accident….
So how is that going to work?

I assume its a company vehicle rather than a company car? With a company car I suspect there may be excesses to pay, but with a company vehicle for business use only I can't imagine you would be liable.

My employer runs the largest fleet of vehicles in the UK, and we are not liable for excesses.

Seeing as you've already left, I can't see how they could try and get the money off you, especially as they were aware of the damage at the time and didn't mention the excess.

its shitroen and should be scrapped anyway.

Our company runs the rule that if the car is damaged on Company Business the they cover the cost of everything

If the car is damaged during private use then there is a £50 excess to pay. This is made clear in our agreement with the company.
I doubt as a company that they have an insurance policy that has an excess as high as £250! Seems like they are taking the piss

well, the problem is that since leaving, they still owe me money for 2.5 weeks of work, callouts, expenses and tools. So they have just said that they will dock it off what they owe me. I can see this being a real pain to sort out. If they didnt owe me a penny it woudl be alot easier but they owe me over a grand.

yea fair . our place state we must pay fist £100.00 of any damage.

1st crash free
2nd £100
3rd £150
4th £300
all within a 5yr period
Have no problem with it just stops people thinking as it is not theirs they can use it like a bumper car. before sticking 2 fingers up i would check your terms and conditions, could find this could rise if it goes legal. remember legal advice you pay for stw advice is free cos most of the time its wrong (waits to get flamed)

You must have some dirt on them they'd rather you didn't reveal to the relevant authorities. Have fun.

Ok,

1 – its mentioned no where in my contract

2 – I DEFINITELY have some dirt on them they wouldn't want the tax man to know about…

I'll see what happens when i talk to him tomorow.

There is no excess if theres no insurance claim.

The excess is paid to the garage on collection, if its an insurance arranged repair.

If he goes elsewhere, and makes no cliam, theres no excess. Simples way out is simply to ask for the excess receipt. If it doesnt get paid to the garage, there is no excess. If he asks you for cash to repair, then be aware its a fleet vehicle, and he may also incur the vat charge on repairs to be claimed back at a later date. If it never gets repaired – no vat invoice. So at least you can see from the excess receiupt that usually carries the vat charge as well, if its a legitimate invoice you get presented with.

Well I've crashed that many company vehicles that I've lost count. Vans, Landrovers, cars, on sites, in car parks, on the road, mostly but not all my fault but none careless or stupid.

I've never, ever paid a single penny.

Although I did get a written warning about it many years ago. I just accepted it and said "Well you know I wasn't being an idiot and it was just an accident" Which was true.
😳

He is just taking a chance that you will accept it, call his bluff and he will probably pay you in full.

Our's will pay our excess if we're in our own cars (and claiming mileage), if its on work time with work equipment then its their responsibility IMO, I've never crashed a work car but have put several 10's of thousands of pounds of equipment out of use though stupidity/not realy thinking things throug, using acetone to clean out equipment that isn't compatible with it, running equipment at vacumn that wasnt designed for it etc.

Excuse my ignorance, but reading this makes it seem like you don't even lose NCD if it's a company car?

Excuse my ignorance, but reading this makes it seem like you don't even lose NCD if it's a company car?

Correct. You're not claiming off your insurace, so why would you loose your NCD? 🙂

Sounds a bit like diplomatic imunity for motorists i.e apart from being done for a criminal offence you wouldn't have any comeback. That coupled with not having to pay for fuel and other cost would explain a few things.

On another note. When are companies going to fit hands free rather than supply a car and mobile and shove em out the door?

The NCD bit is correct until you need your own insurance – they will then want written proof that you had zero claims whilst running a company car

…if you have an accident and its your fault, you pay the £500 excess.
it say never admit liability for any accident….
So how is that going to work?

You shouldn't admit liability in any accident, it's the insurance companies job to decide who is responsible. But that doesn't mean you won't be held liable at some stage.

Call his bluff, if he withholds money just small claims court it. He'll either bottle it, or look like an idiot when he can't show the contract clause that says he's entitled to (effectively) steal your money.