Marie,
I am also in the construction industry. We do several things to cover employees who drive their own vehicle for company use.
Any employee who is reimbursed for the use of their vehicle for company purposes must provide a certificate of insurance from their carrier to prove the vehicle is covered. I don't know if we require specific limits, but we might. These same drivers are also on the company's approved driver's list and periodic checks are made on their record by our insurance company and by our Safety Director. They sign a release to this effect when hired or when added to the list. If they ever become uninsurable by our carrier, they're removed from the list. Depending on the severity, we will either inform the insurance carrier they really need to be able to drive for us or start paying them a "rental fee" to use their own vehicle for company purpose. This fee is intended to cover wear and tear, mileage and increased insurance costs.
Now someone like me who isn't on the driver's list and doesn't get reimbursed isn't necessarily required to provide proof of insurance but the subject has been broached with me. My response was that I would just stop doing company errands because I wasn't going to pay an increased rate for very few errands I run. Whether or not I get reimbursed for my mileage depends on whether or not I ask for it.
I agree, it get invasive when companies start asking for all this personal information; but, they have to dowhat they can to keep costs down (including insurance) just like everyone else.
With all of the sue happy folks around these days, it would probably be in the best interest of your company to come up with a policy for those small errands run "while I'm out". If you have an accident in your vehicle while doing an errand for the company (and even if you're handling a personal errand at the same time) your personal carrier can refuse to cover you and even possibly drop you for not revealing the business use to them. On the other hand, your employer can be liable for the cost to repair the vehicle and workman's comp costs becuase you were injured "on the job". It would be the same as if I got hit by a car walking across the street to make a personal deposit at the bank but picked up some papers for the company "while I was there". I'd be on a company errand on company time and thus workman's comp would have to at least review the incident.
Michelle
