Company car excess

Hi Mat and welcome to the forums.
Good practice would call for en employer to advise staff of their responsibilities/liabilities at the time they take possession of a company car. Most companies provide a booklet explaining the rules and ask staff to sign acceptance of them.
Unless you hve signed a document authorising it, your company cannot make a deduction from salary for the excess - that would be an unlawful deduction from salary - however in absolute terms they could potentially pursue you in the the civil courts for the damage for which they hold you responsible..
In my experience, it is not uncommon for companies to expect staff to pay the excess in the event of a claim, although practices vary.
Pragmatically, you have been involved in an accident with a piece of company property in your possession, and unless there is a clear "no-fault" situation it would not unreasonable for the company to expect you to contribute to some of the costs incurred.
Finally, think about how you want to handle any challenge, what you want to achieve, and the relationship you might have after any challenge

Ray Naylor said:

Pragmatically, you have been involved in an accident with a piece of company property in your possession, and unless there is a clear "no-fault" situation it would not unreasonable for the company to expect you to contribute to some of the costs incurred.

Thats where we, on this one, disagree Ray. I think it is unreasonable and we often don't expect employees to do it for any other damage to company property (say a broken phone screen). sadly s#car accidents happen and that's why insurance is compulsory. Passing the cost on is, for me, both unfair and probably counter productive.

We'll agree to differ on this Keith. My experience has been that where companies require a contribution to covering the "excess" when a driver admits to a fault, then claims tended to be less frequent. YMMV

We'll agree to differ on this Keith. My experience has been that where companies require a contribution to covering the "excess" when a driver admits to a fault, then claims tended to be less frequent. YMMV

Context is another factor to take into account - in large companies the risk of accidents is spread across multiple company car drivers. In small companies the cost impact on the company of a company car driver having an accident is potentially much greater. In a recent case I advised on in a small business ( 15 employees) the impact of an insurance claim following an accident resulted in an increase to the insurance premium of £3k per annum. In this context an employee picking up the excess of say £500 ( via payroll deduction) does not seem unreasonable.

We would only advise that this be done where the policy is very clear and our policies would always say something about repeated accidents not first 'offences'.

I think now they would/will say something like.

You may decide to take out opt-out insurance from a reputable insurance agent to insure against such an excess being charged.