My wife was recently driving my company car (she is insured) and had a minor accident resulting in a small dent in the other cars bumper and a damaged front grill to my car.

The bump was her fault and insurance details were exchanged. I am going through the process now with the company I work for and have been informed that there will be a £2500 excess to pay!

Now a bit of back story here, the company I previously worked for was bought out by this new company and I was transferred over via TUPE. I’m still working under my original contract and have not signed any new contract or any other car related forms.

The last company’s excess repayment was £500.00. I have never had a claim with either company.

So are they able to take the £2500.00 from me? is this even deemed reasonable underemployment law?

Any advice or pearls of wisdom are welcome

Cheers

You don’t have to have signed anything if it’s covered/referred to under one of your new employers procedures. It’s your responsibility to check these things out.

I would press the TUPE/£500 excess route. The chnage of excess to £2500 should definitely have been flagged up as thats material. Sadly these days its easier for the insurers to say “knock for knock” and just hit you both with full excess or in your case smash you with the whole thing. Hindsight is wonderful but imho a car with £2500 insurance excess is not worth having.

It’s your responsibility to check these things out.

I would beg to differ here, that should have been flagged up

I’d argue that as you took the company car when the excess was £500 and hadn’t been informed of the change, the contract you have with the company is for a £500 excess.

With a £2500 excess I’d hand the keys back….

a minor accident resulting in a small dent in the other cars bumper and a damaged front grill to my car.

and this is coming to more than £2500?

Are you even obligated to pay the excess? On my company car it’s fully covered by the company and I thought that was the norm for company cars hence why lots of companys give car allowances instead.
Could your wife not follow this through via another insurance policy? Does she have her own car which covers her 3rd party on yours?

nothing to say but “ouch” and speak to HR.

Surely a small bump would not be worth claiming for if the XS is 2.5k ? Just pay for the damage and not claim .

Could your wife not follow this through via another insurance policy? Does she have her own car which covers her 3rd party on yours?

You cant be double insured. If she is covered in some way (either named or the insurance states his partner is also covered) then that trumps any 3rd party cover from another insurance policy.

Surely a small bump would not be worth claiming for if the XS is 2.5k ? Just pay for the damage and not claim .

Damage to both cars, courtesy cars, admin/legal fees for those handling the claim at both ends – £2500 is going to disappear very quickly, even with a minor bump.

Pretty sure I’d be fighting this hard. The car belongs to the company and they are the insurer. Their responsibility.

If the office burnt down would the expect employees to cover the excess on that?

It’s a company car and YOU have to pay excess?

The agreement I’d sat for the excess is part of the leasing not employment so shouldn’t change when your company changes hands.

£2500 excess for bumper damage? Is the company car an exotic supercar? 😯

Also, surely any excess is detailed in your wife’s insurance policy and it is that policy that decides how much she should pay, as she was the one that had the accident?

If you had been driving, then your company’s policy would decide any excess, but surely they need need to inform you of that 500% excess policy increase after the takeover?

its a tricky one and I will be certainly fighting it. I appreciate they might be an reasonable excess but £2500 is not reasonable surely?

Sorry to hear about this but I would be looking at other t+c changes if the new employer can make changes without telling anyone. Sounds like a very caring one looking after your interests…not. sorry I can’t help at all re tupe

All your T and C remain as per your contract with the original employer when you TUPE

They can change, with your consent- sometimes without but they need to explicitly state any change to T & C and get your “consent” even if “consent” is you remain working there. them but you need to sign

If they have no signature saying you have transferred to their T & C then the law is very very clear about what applies

TUPE will apply here and you are working on your original T & C
As for a 2.5k excess I would be refusing that company car

If they wont budge I would be getting legal advice

Two things:

1) The excess isn’t a flat fee you have to pay, it’s the value after which the insurance will pay out. That is to say, If the damage comes to £300 say, it’ll cost you £300, not £2.5k.

2) Every company car I’ve ever driven across multiple companies, the insurance excess has been picked up by the company, not the individual. My response to “there’s an excess to pay” would be “off you go, then.”

Yeh, the line i’d take is; thier car, thier policy, thier excess to pay.

No one in thier right mind would have a £2.5k excess on a car policy.

@Cougar yes but insirance companies are in the business of charging you money, as above they can easily ramp a claim cost up. New bumper on a modern car is expensive, Mrs B had a new one on the back of her Micra and it was €1250 which was much cheaper than the UK quote

@JY its highly unlikley the insurance excess is in the employment contract, its much more likely to say something like “company car may be provided with insurance terms which may vary from time to time” only a certified numpty would include a car with fixed insurance terms like excess. That makes no business sense.

I’ve written off one company car and driven the wife’s into a bollard, neither cost me a penny, company paid whatever excess there was.

“Damage to both cars, courtesy cars, admin/legal fees for those handling the claim at both ends – £2500 is going to disappear very quickly, even with a minor bump.”

The XS gets taken off the invoice for the damage to your car , the other cars XS gets claimed for from your insurers , at no point do legal fees , hire cars etc get involved

only a certified numpty would include a car with fixed insurance terms like excess. That makes no business sense.

My mistake then no company would tell their employees what the excess is and any business which did so would be hiring certified numpties
Good to see you extending the reach of #Jambyfact

Carbone – Member
“Damage to both cars, courtesy cars, admin/legal fees for those handling the claim at both ends – £2500 is going to disappear very quickly, even with a minor bump.”

The XS gets taken off the invoice for the damage to your car , the other cars XS gets claimed for from your insurers , at no point do legal fees , hire cars etc get involved

You are not making any sense.

I was responding to the suggestion of paying for the damage directly. In which case there would be bills for:

1. Repair damage to car A
2. Repair damage to car B
3. Provide courtesy car during repairs for car A
4. Provide courtesy car during repairs for car B
5. Cover staff admin/legal department fees in dealing with repairs – unless the OP would be handling all that himself which I doubt. Someone has to do the paperwork and that comes at a cost and would be handled by a firms admin or legal departments, or possibly both.

If it was a private car then yes it could be lot simpler and just be:

1. Repair damage to other parties car
2. Pay for courtesy car for other party
3. Repair own cars damage

As it’s a company car it gets a lot more complicated.

£2500 excess is still bonkers but the final real cost will be more than you think and will include the labour of the insurance companies too.

irrespective of all that, any company could insure a company car at 20k excess, and say ‘don’t crash it then’ if you were to squeal about it.
i might expect a bollocking if i pranged a company motor, i might even expect to get fired if i were negligent enough, but i wouldn’t expect to pay anything towards fixing it under any circumstances.

Most companies I’ve worked at where I had a company car have been large, and pretty much ‘self-insured’.

A couple did have an ‘excess’ to pay for damage, just to ensure that employees took a bit of care – but tbh I’ve never paid for any damage on any company car, and I’ve reckon at least 10 of them have gone back damaged.

I’d be inclined to play ‘hardball’ with them.

Quite often employers with hundreds or thousands of company cars will either self insure with the minimum TFFT cover or they will have a massive excess on individual claims to keep the overall premium low.

Although it seems mad in this case, keep in mind how much it will cost to insure a thousand cars each year and how much they save by just paying odd £2500 for a claim.

It’s not like the car was being used on company business at the time. I don’t see why the company should have to pay out (or suffer an increase in premiums) for the OPs wifes carelessness. If an excess is part of the company car scheme then you just need to factor that into your decision of whether or not to partake in it.

Quite often employers with hundreds or thousands of company cars will either self insure with the minimum TFFT cover or they will have a massive excess on individual claims to keep the overall premium low.

Yeah. Our insurance excess on individual claims is quite high – I think offhand it’s something like a grand, maybe more. But the only time cost / excess gets passed back to the driver is if they make a habit of hitting things (and then it’s something like £200 for your third accident in 12 months). I might well be out on exact figures but that’s broadly how it works.

You’re offered a company car because you’re expected to drive as part of your work for the benefit of the company. I can’t even begin to possibly entertain the idea of imagining why anyone would knowingly accept a company car with a £2.5k personal liability excess on the insurance, that’s absolute insanity.

Or you’re actually offered it as a perk of the job and your Mrs can drive it too. Both situations exist (and can overlap).

Thanks for all your input.

I’ve have been delving into this further and it turns out that the new companies own handbook and car policy states that the excess is £250.00 not £2500.00.

However their claims process states £2500.00 and this figure has been confirmed, however I have not been formally notified of this, I certainly haven’t signed anything and in light of their own policy on this matter I think I have case to argue the toss.

Look I know it was my wife’s fault however this more about the size of the excess and what is deemed reasonable to pay

I don’t see why the company should have to pay out (or suffer an increase in premiums) for the OPs wifes carelessness. If an excess is part of the company car scheme then you just need to factor that into your decision of whether or not to partake in it.

Pretty standard to fully cover partner’s damage and non work use for a company car, otherwise it’s just a pool car you use for work and not a company car you treat as your own.

It’s a company car and YOU have to pay excess?

This is the bit I don’t get.

I’ve have been delving into this further and it turns out that the new companies own handbook and car policy states that the excess is £250.00 not £2500.00.

It’s irrelevant what the excess is, what does it ACTUALLY say you have to pay (in the event of a fault collision)? Not what someone thinks it says…

what is deemed reasonable to pay

That’s easy. It’s reasonable to pay No Pounds.

TBH every where I’ve worked the pool cars and for those who need the car for work are excess free (sales, service engineers). Or at least the company covers it. Those who get the car as a perk (managers, senior people, employee lease) have had a nominal excess. Couple of hundred quid type thing.

Current place is the same. A and D cars have no excess (A are free issue pool cars, D are high mileage company users) B and E have an excess (B is a managers lease, E is a pleb lease). They jacked the E excess from 500 to 600 then 800 quid. Until one of the directors found out (his PA had a minor bump and mentioned it.) It’s now 150 quid, same as B. There’s no C car. Dunno why.

Dunno why the excess was so high. We self insure at huge cost (you try insuring dozens of different one off prototypes that are worth a million quid each with Admiral!) and make all the company cars on site and own about 10 local dealers/workshops…….

They also waive the excess if you were travelling to or from work, or travelling on business. Oddly enough, you have to pay the excess if you have a crash in the car park at work……

As others have said, we’re conflating insurance excess with a company charge.

The insurance is in the company’s name. They are liable for the insurance excess, not the driver. What your insurance excess is or isn’t is irrelevant.

Now, the company may choose to pass some, all or none of this liability onto the driver. They may for instance decide that the driver is expected to pay the balance of the insurance excess; but this company policy and nothing to do with what it says on the insurance certificate.

When I had a Co. Car the excess was £1500.

All that meant was any damage to the car less than £1500 would be repaired without troubling the insurance.

There was never any suggestion that I would have to pay it.

Does sound a bit dodgy. The company should be responsible for all maintenance of the vehicle including insurance repair work and costs, never ever heard of a company passing the excess on to the driver.

never ever heard of a company passing the excess on to the driver

Every company vehicle I’ve ever driven has had an employee liability for insurance excesses. Stops people smacking into things with impunity.

Stops people smacking into things with impunity.

I’d have thought a modicum of intelligence would do the same thing.

Never heard of it; wouldn’t stand for it.