Dodgy company trying to recover costs

[User6777777]

My son worked with a company and during the course of business, he accidentaly scraped a stationery car belonging to the public with the company car he was driving. My son thought he was fully insured (written on vehicle etc) and the owner, who asked him to move the vehicle, has clearly lied to his insurance company and they want my son to pay for the costs. As my son doesn’t have a car, he can’t talk to his insurance company. Can they make him pay costs? He’s an adult but at uni so has little income from a part time job only. No one seems to be male to provide advice.

Do you, as his parent, have access to a legal helpline on your home insurance, or via a Union membership? If you do, call them he's a dependent still and they should be able to give advice on his situation.

Yes, he can be made to pay. He was the driver who scraped another car. He is therefore liable. However, if he was covered by the company's insurance, the insurer should pay and your son should only have to cover the excess.

Good point about the excess. Our legal cover with home insurance can’t help as it is a civil matter not linked to us. Useless.

he admits the error but as the company whose vehicle he was driving were fully insured. Why should my son pay?

My son had no contract or anything.

What a load of twaddle!

Not Twaddle. The employee is responsible for the paying the excess if they caused the accident.

How much are we talking?

Was anything said /written about insurance while your son was driving the car?

Worst case scenario is your son doesn’t pay and they sue him for it. As an impecunious student they won’t in fact recover their loss but your son could have a CCJ which will impact his credit rating which can in turn effect his ability to eg rent a property in the future.

So I’d be writing a stiff letter (in his name obvs) saying

1. he was driving in the course of his employment
2. XYZ was said about insurance cover OR it was a reasonable assumption on the part of (son) that he would be covered while driving in the course of his employment
3. Therefore there is no personal liability in respect of this incident.

Then wait and see what they do. If they do end up suing (which will largely depend on the amount of money involved) you can then take a view on whether it’s worth offering something to avoid a CCJ

Is that your Law degree talking?

You say, my son thought he was fully insured. Was he? What do his former employers say?

Even when “fully insured” you still have an excess. The company may also have insurance which states that the employee has the full cost if they are found at fault, rather than the company insurance paying. He needs to check the employee handbook/policies.

Exactly as PP said. There will be an employee policy that will state what happens in the event of an accident. Normally if employee not at fault, employer would pay excess. Some may ask employee to pay excess if employee at fault.
Owner can't unilaterally decide not to use insurance and make DS pay the full amount. @VanCleefArpels has given a very good suggestion.for. a letter to write back

The question is whether their insurance covered him while he was driving the car. If it did, your son is at most liable for the excess.

He may not have had a written contract, but he clearly had a contract as he was working and being paid.

Some very useful points, thank you. Much appreciated.