Your employees deserve to feel empowered by their leader and show that they mean business when they drive to a client meeting. Although offering company vehicles sounds daunting, the process is relatively simple, but you need a company policy in place. Without a policy, expectations won’t be clear, and you won’t know how to handle a situation if something were to come up. If you’re looking for some help with starting a policy, we put together a list of tips for developing a company vehicle policy.
Run background checks
Before handing over the keys, you should always run a background check. Even though you may like and know your employees well, they must be responsible and should have a clean driving record. There are two main reasons you want a clean driving record for anyone driving the company cars. First, you want your employees to stay safe, and if they have a history of speeding and accidents, you don’t want to risk that with the company’s car. Second, if the employee got in an accident, the company’s insurance rate is going to rise, resulting in more expenses.Include general expectations
Putting a policy in place is your opportunity to set boundaries and expectations. Many companies place a speed limit on drivers when they’re in the company car. For example, some companies might state that drivers aren’t to exceed 45 mph in the company car. Some other common expectations include no smoking in company vehicles, no mobile phone use, what to do in event of an emergency, and keeping track of expenses like gas.Explain how employees are eligible for the benefit
If you have a large team of competent individuals under your leadership, you’ll need to explain why everyone didn’t get a company car and how others can become eligible. In some cases, employees might be eligible based on their position––typically service workers or sales reps. On the other hand, you may want to offer a company car merely as a benefit for employees who have been with your company for a certain amount of time. That’s a pretty cool benefit, isn’t it?In addition to these tips for developing a company vehicle policy, you should offer some basic road guidelines, like how to properly change a flat tire and other driving tips that will keep your employees safe on the road.
