Who Is Liable For Employee Car Accident Claims?

If you’re driving a company vehicle and have an accident, you may not be sure if you can claim compensation or not. We put this guide together to provide you with all the answers you need.

In this guide, we look at who could make a compensation claim after an employee car accident. You could be able to claim company car compensation if you’ve been involved in an accident whilst driving a company car, even if you didn’t own the car.

In order to claim, you would need to prove that someone else’s negligence caused the accident. This guide will go into more detail about relevant evidence and duty of care.

To start your claim or get free legal advice, speak to our experienced team of advisors today. You could be connected with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel if our advisors think your claim could succeed.

Read on for more information about employee car accident claims, or get in touch with us at any time. 

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Select A Section

  1. Is An Employer Liable For An Employee’s Car Accident?
  2. When Is The Employee Liable For A Car Accident?
  3. What Types Of Injuries Can You Claim For?
  4. What Evidence Do I Need To Prove My Claim?
  5. Employee Car Accident Compensation Calculator
  6. Talk To A No Win No Fee Solicitor
  7. Employee Accident Claim Resources

Is An Employer Liable For An Employee’s Car Accident?

Employers have a duty of care towards employees. They are obligated to take all reasonably practicable steps to keep employees safe whilst at work. If they have breached this duty of care, leading to a car accident and resulting injuries, this is when they could be held liable.

The Health and Safety Executive is Britain’s national regulator for health and safety in the workplace. The advice and guidance they provide are helpful to employers looking to keep their employees safe. 

According to the HSE workplace transport safety guide, employers should be considering the safety of:

  • Site (design) – The layout of the workplace (e.g. traffic routes).
  • Site (activity) – The activities done on-site (e.g. loading and unloading).
  • Vehicles – The choosing of the most appropriate vehicle for the employee and tasks. For example, if delivering heavy products, the right type of delivery vehicle may be necessary.
  • Drivers – The competence of the driver.

For example, employers should be ensuring that any employees they require to drive have an in-date, valid driver’s licence for the relevant vehicles or a supplemented licence for other types of vehicles, such as HGVs.

If your employer has not taken the reasonably practicable steps to ensure your vehicle is safe to use, it could result in your injuries. If so, you could claim.  

When Is The Employee Liable For A Car Accident?

If you are wholly liable for the accident, then you may be unable to claim. However, in some cases, you may be involved in a work vehicle accident that is the fault of another road user. In this case, you wouldn’t be able to claim against your employer, but you may be able to claim against the party at fault.

However, if another employee was at fault, you could claim compensation against the company you work for.

This is because all road users owe one another a duty of care, whether using a personal or work vehicle, to prevent harm to themselves and others. All road users are expected to follow the Highway Code and the Road Traffic Act 1988 to uphold this duty.

In order to make a personal injury claim following an accident in a work vehicle caused by another road user, you have to establish that:

  • You were owed a duty of care.
  • This duty was breached.
  • You were injured as a result.

To learn more about making a claim for an accident in a work vehicle, contact our team of advisors. Or, read on to find out if an accident in a work vehicle will affect your personal insurance.

Will An Accident In A Work Vehicle Affect My Personal Insurance? 

In most cases, an accident in a work vehicle will affect your personal insurance. This is because crashing a company vehicle still counts as an accident, and under most car insurance policies, you are required to disclose any accidents you have been involved in within the last five years.

To find out more about how to claim after crashing a company vehicle, contact our team of helpful advisors today.

What Types Of Injuries Can You Claim For?

You may be wondering what kind of injuries you could suffer if you are involved in a work van accident. This could potentially depend on the type of vehicle.

Examples of vehicle accident injuries:

If you suffered any of these injuries in a work vehicle accident, your employer may have company car insurance for employees that you could claim through. However, you will need to check with your employer.

Call our advisors if you suffered an injury in a work vehicle accident.

What If The Other Driver Was Uninsured?

In auto accident claims where you are claiming against a driver that is uninsured or untraced, the process is a little different to making a standard vehicle accident claim. You would typically claim through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB).

The MIB offers compensation for any victims of a road traffic accident involving uninsured or untraceable drivers. They can offer compensation for both physical and psychological injuries as well as any financial losses or property damage caused by the accident.

Speak to our advisors for free, no-obligation legal advice.

What Evidence Do I Need To Prove My Claim?

If you’ve been involved in a car accident at work that’s caused you injury, it is advisable to seek medical help as soon as possible. To do this, you could call 999, 111 or find your closest A&E service. 

Before contacting a solicitor, you could also gather relevant evidence for your case. This could include:

  • Photographs (of injuries or the accident)
  • CCTV footage
  • Accident report records (such as from the workplace logbook)
  • Medical reports
  • Witness details (to take a statement from at a later date)

Your solicitor will organise a medical appointment to assess the severity of your injuries. The findings will be collected into a report, which could be used as key evidence for your case. You should know that our panel of solicitors can arrange for the medical assessment to be in your local area, so you can reduce the distance you travel.

Employee Car Accident Compensation Calculator

This section will look at different employee car accident claims compensation amounts for various injuries you could sustain after a car accident. These figures are from the Judicial College Guidelines, which legal professionals use to help calculate compensation awards. 

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Injury Severity Amount Notes
Brain Damage Very Severe £282,010 to £403,990 In this bracket, there is some recovery of sleep and waking patterns and postural movement. However, there is little to no language function, and a need for full time care.
Knee Severe (ii) £52,120 to £69,730 This includes cases where there may be a leg fracture that extends to the knee joint. This is likely to cause constant pain, limited movement and possible osteoarthritis.
Severe Leg Injuries Moderate (iv) £27,760 to £39,200 This includes cases where there may be multiple fractures. The amount will be influenced by impact on employment, chances of future surgery or instability of the knee, among other factors.
Neck Moderate (i) £24,990 to
£38,490		 This can include cases where severe symptoms may lead to chronic conditions or serious soft tissue injuries. There may also be impaired function or exacerbation of a pre-existing condition.
Facial injuries -scarring Significant £9,110 to £30,090 Plastic surgery reduces the cosmetic impact but there still is some disability. The psychological reaction may have been considerable at the time of the injury but it has since reduced to minor levels or was only minor to begin with.
Back Moderate (ii) £12,510 to £27,760 This includes cases where the damage may lead to backache, a soft tissue injury, prolapsed discs or the worsening of any pre-existing conditions.
Shoulder Serious £12,770 to £19,200 This includes cases where damage may have led to dislocation. There could be pain in the shoulder, neck, elbow and hand regions with a weakness of grip and restricted shoulder movement.
1+ Whiplash Injuries With Psychological Injuries N/A £4,345 Symptoms that last from 18-24 months.
1+ Whiplash Injuries N/A 4,215 Symptoms that last from 18-24 months.

It is important to note that any whiplash injuries valued below £5000 now fall under the recent changes made to the Whiplash Reform Program. According to these changes, whiplash injuries valued under £5000 can now be dealt with using an online portal. However, you may be undervaluing your injury, so it is always best to get in touch with us for more advice. 

Personal injury claims can also cover financial losses of various kinds caused by your injury. This could include:

  • Medical expenses not covered by the NHS
  • Travel expenses if you have had to travel to the hospital, for example
  • Adjustments to the home if any lasting disabilities require it
  • Loss of past and future earnings if you have had to take time away from work and it’s impacted your wages

To claim special damages, you would need to provide evidence of the costs incurred. For example, you could show receipts for taxi rides or invoice slips for the installation of a shower room in the home. 

Talk To A No Win No Fee Solicitor

If you have valid grounds to claim for injuries caused by an accident in a work vehicle, you could consider getting support from a solicitor. If you speak to our advisors about your claim, they may connect you with a solicitor from our panel.

A solicitor from our panel could help you with your claim under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). With such an agreement in place, you don’t need to pay any upfront or ongoing costs to your solicitor for their service. Also, you won’t need to pay your solicitor if your work injury claim proves unsuccessful.

Succesful claimants will pay a success fee to their solicitor. This is taken as a percentage of your compensation which is legally capped, ensuring that the majority share stays with you.

To learn more about how a No Win No Fee solicitor could help with your work accident claim, you can contact our advisors for free. To get in touch with our team, you can do any of the following:

Employee Accident Claim Resources

Thank you for reading our guide on employee car accident claims. We hope it answered any questions you may have had. For more relevant links, see below.

We also have some other guides you may find useful:

Thank you for reading our guide on who could be liable for employee car accident claims.