The following clauses could be inserted into an employment agreement or added to an existing policy prior to the allocation of a company vehicle.
- The Employee may be allocated the use of a vehicle for work purposes. The company may authorize the employee to travel between home and work in the company vehicle to facilitate the employee undertaking work related tasks as part of their journey between home and work, and to provide safer overnight storage than can be provided at the workplace. The Employer's vehicle may not be used for any private purposes without the Employer's prior written permission.
- If the Employer makes available a vehicle for the Employee's use it is for the sole benefit of the Employer, it is a privilege, and not a right and the right to use a company vehicle (even for the journey between home and the workplace) does not form part of the employee's remuneration package/agreed contractual terms.
- The following rules shall apply on any occasion when the employee drives a company vehicle:
- the employee must have a valid licence to drive the vehicle. The employee must report any demerit points, suspensions or disqualifications to the employer immediately.
- the Employee must report any damage, wear and tear, accident, incident, warrant, registration or road user charges lapses, or other safety concerns to the Employer immediately and must not use the vehicle unless authorized to do so.
- the Employee must comply with all legal requirements and traffic regulations at all times and will be solely liable for parking fines, towing charges and traffic fines incurred when the employee is driving or in charge of the vehicle. In the event that the company pays for any infringement/recovery costs, the employee agrees to indemnify the employer for the full cost of the infringement, and authorizes the employer to make a deduction from the employee's wages to reimburse the full cost (which may include towing fees etc).
- in the event that the vehicle sustains damage which is caused by a careless/negligent/reckless act or omission of the employee, the employer reserves the right to require the employee to pay for the costs of repair to the extent that such cost is not met by the company's insurance policy. The company insurance policy does not provide cover where the driver of any company vehicle has consumed alcohol. In the event of such an incident, the employer will investigate the cause of the incident (including providing the employee with a proper opportunity to input/respond). The employee agrees to indemnify the employer for the cost of repair and authorizes the employer to make a deduction from the employee's wages.
- the employee must keep any vehicle allocated to him/her in a clean and tidy condition, and deliver the vehicle for inspection at any time, or return the vehicle immediately when instructed to do so.
- if the employee receives express permission to use the vehicle for any private purpose, the employee must provide a record of the non-work mileage, and will be responsible for the cost of any non work related use of the vehicle.
- Where it is a condition of employment that the employee has at all times an unrestricted driver's licence to perform their duties, in the event that the employee's driver's licence is suspended, or that the employee is disqualified from driving for any period, the Employer shall be entitled to treat such action as a breach of this agreement and potentially serious misconduct. The Employee agrees to report any demerit points, suspensions or disqualifications to the Employer immediately.
- The following rules apply to the use of a company fuel card:
- only authorized employees are permitted to use a company fuel card.
- fuel cards can only be used to pay for fuel for company vehicles being used for work purposes.
- fuel cards must remain in the company vehicle or in the possession of the authorized employee at all times.
- unauthorised use of a company fuel card will be investigated as potentially serious misconduct