Personal Auto Insurance Requirement Question

AnaC · November 2003

Is it legal for a company to require that employees carry a higher than State-mandated personal automobile insurance coverage for their personal vehicles, which they use for company business? We are in Florida, and the minimum requirement here is $10,000/$10,000 PIP/PDL, with a provision that if a person has been involved in a crash, or been convicted of certain offences, they may be required to carry bodily injury coverage (BIL). The nonprofit agency in question is wanting to amend their current safety policy to state the following:

"Employees are required to carry vehicle insurance with minimum Bodily Injury Liability coverage of $100,000 for each person and $300,000 for each accident"

They are being pressured by their commercial insurance carrier, but I see this as a huge problem for various reasons, one being that the employees simply cannot afford this type of coverage, so I don't know how this can be "forced" on the agency firstly, and then on the employees. Does anyone out there know the law on this issue?

Thanks for any help or advice.

Ana

Hunter1 · November 2003

Unless there's a Florida law which would forbid it, I don't see why the employer cannot mandate higher coverage if the employees are driving their cars for business. Perhaps the employer could help make up for the mandate with a higher mileage allowance. My personal opinion is that no one should be on the road with $10,000/$10,000 coverage. I think the $100,000/$300,000 coverage is minimal.

maryfmurray · November 2003

We are going through the same issue in our agency. Our Insurance Liability Carrier wished for all employees to carry the 100,00/300,000 while driving on agency business. We felt being a non-profit most employees could not afford this type of insurance and in New Hampshire insurance is not state mandated. Therefore, we came up with a policy defining regular drivers who need to carry the 100,000/300,000 coverage and other drivers who must carry the least amount of coverage that can be purchased. This portion of the policy has been approved by our board. We have not had any luck with the second portion of the policy on who should be driving based on accidents or convictions etc. If you would like to see this policy email me @ [email]mmurray@rcaction.org[/email] and I will be happy to foward this to you

cebudragonlady · November 2003

Hunter1~
Golly, how much does the 100/300 cost you personally in your state? I know for sure, that there is no way I could afford that kind of coverage in this high cost state of California. So if the company/organization requires the higher coverage, and the employees can't afford it - then what, are they going to be fired?

Chari

Hunter1 · November 2003

Chari: Don't have the numbers with me at work, but right around $1000/yr; two cars, two drivers, clean driving records : ), collision, comp, liability, towing, uninsured/underinsured, etc. Also carry personal umbrella coverage of $1M which may be a less expensive way for employees to expand their coverage. I know that we are in a less expensive insurance state.

Remember, I did suggest that the employer might want to look at their mileage reimbursement rate to help cover the cost, but if the employee isn't carrying a reasonable amount of coverage, it's all going to fall back on the employer.

marc · November 2003

Some of our program contracts with the State and the Feds designate significantly higher automobile coverages for the company, but remain silent about the ees. We do have non-owned and hired auto coverage that would step in if the ees coverage were not sufficient to protect us - but we require the ee to exhaust personal coverage first. I starting to come around to the concept of requiring higher ceilings on the coverages. This is a good thread which I will follow with great interest. Thanks for posting AnaC.

Personal Auto Insurance Requirement Question

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