I recently started a new job in sales. We are required to have a car not older then 5 years, (we use our own) they give us a $500. car allowance and gas mileage. My car was older so I had to buy a new one, and making payments.
Question: They are now requiring that we need to add "the company" to our insurance policy as "additional insured" AND that we must have insurance coverage amounts of 100,000. 300,000. and 50,000.?? This is going to make my insurance go WAY UP! I dont own a home, so I've always kept my coverage at a min. Is this legal??
In the offer letter it says nothing regarding insurance?
Thanks

The employer must reimburse you for all the cost of operating your car. The issue here would be whether the $500/mo does this. Clearly, if you only drive a few miles each week then it does.

What you would need to do is add up all the cost of operating the vehicle for the month (including extra insurance) and if it is regularly more than $500, then you are entitled to the difference.

Requiring the car to be less than 5 years old is an interesting twist. I would imagine that you could claim the additional expense of operating a new vehicle.

Probably the best way to deal with this case is to add up all the cost of operating you old personal vehicle for personal use (i.e. how much did it cost you last year in gas, insurance, repairs, etc.) Then add up the total cost for this year of the new vehicle (gas, insurance, everything) for both business and personal use. If the difference is more than $6000 ($500/mo for 12 months) then you are entitled to the difference.

Thanks very much for the information!

My employer also has the same insurance policy. However, my insurance will not list additional parties. I have a feeling my employer will ask me to change insurance companies. Can they do that?

That's a good question, I'm curious to the answer also.....

No employer can ask you to purchase anything from a named source. That is, if the employer says "You need to buy your insurance from Allstate, because they have the coverage that we want." This would be illegal.

The employer can give you a bona fide requirement such as "You must have an insurance policy that allows additional parties." As long as you are free to buy this from any insurance agency and they pay you for any additional cost that is associated with it, then it is legal.

Michael, just for my own personal information, is that CA law or does that apply across the board? It's far too late to do anything about it now, but I was in a similar situation several years ago and am just curious if it was handled correctly here in MA.

The above is California law. I am not sure how many other states have similar provisions.

Thanks, anyway.

My boss recently informed me per our employee manual that it is a "requirement" to have car insurance to be an employee with our firm. After reading the manual it merely states that those employees that require driving during company time must have auto insurance. I am a legal secretary not an attorney, therefore driving during company hours is not in my job description. My boss has given me 2 weeks to provide hiim with proof of auto insurance. He did not tell me the consequences although it sounds as if I do not provide him with proof of insurance, I might lose my job. If he needs me to do an errand for him, shouldn't he be required to have insurance? Can he threaten me with my job if I don't have auto insurance? I've been here 3 years and never had to do any driving during business hours. I recently found out I am pregnant and I am just fearing that he might be a little less than happy with that and perhaps trying to find things to fire me over.

Do you drive? Do you own a car? I know you have to have insurance in California to register your car.