wrecked truck driving for job

To keep details light while this is shaking out, I feel asleep during a 300 mile drive home (made it 40) after working 80 hour week out of town. My job description is an office job, but I have been put into the field for the week.

My issues are, the truck was liability only. Even when it was full coverage, insurance would call to make sure I was not using it for work. I am in construction management.

I would have preferred to stat and sleep before driving, but was unable to secure room from office and didn't want to pay.

Would it be out of line to request for work to pay for truck? I put $600 into it 3 days prior as it broke down out of town. I have had it less than a year and had just over 5k into it.

Aim high.It doesn't sound unethical to me as long as that will be a work vehicle.

In reply to former520:

Yes the situation does suck - I do understand what it must be like. However, just because you chose to operate your vehicle while you were in a compromised condition is in no way your works fault. That is the plain and simple bottom line.

Were you on company time when you wrecked, or were you on your own time going home from work?

bigfoot21075 wrote: In reply to former520: Yes the situation does suck - I do understand what it must be like. However, just because you chose to operate your vehicle while you were in a compromised condition is in no way your works fault. That is the plain and simple bottom line.

x2. truck is what it is. you're out a truck or the $ to fix it. you chose not to carry full coverage, and chose to drive when you obviously knew you were tired.

$80 for a hotel room doesn't look so expensive now, does it?

You were also operating a vehicle for commercial purposes under private insurance which is a no-no. I carry business coverage on my vehicle for this reason.

The fact that your employer would not cover a room for a night was a poor decision on their part but would not likely oblige them to replace your vehicle. The decision to drive was yours.

I am glad you are okay.

Know it isn't any help at this point, but this is why a rental car at around $40/day, paid for by the company, is an excellent deal for everyone involved.

It's usually cheaper than reimbursing mileage, liability/collision is worked out per whatever deal there is between the employer and the rental agency, and you avoid rolling up miles on your vehicle.

Downside is that some rental cars suck.

Speaking from some experience here after rolling up a rental car on company travel...

are you reimbursed on mileage by the company for travel?

I imagine that most companies would say that you are SOL on the truck , however, any decent employer should be willing to pay for a hotel room and a rental car or company vehicle if they are requiring you to work that many hours far from home. If they weren't before, they'd better be now, if they're not, start job hunting, because they don't give a damn about you.

FWIW, many years ago I used to work a rotating shift job at a power plant, and 80+ hour weeks were not uncommon ...... until the insurance company came and audited the operations logs. hint.

NGTD wrote: You were also operating a vehicle for commercial purposes under private insurance which is a no-no. I carry business coverage on my vehicle for this reason.

It depends - was he simply driving himself to the job site, or actually hauling construction supplies with the truck?

If your company would not pay for a room, I doubt they are going to pay for your truck. That's just my opinion. I occasionally use my truck for work and get paid mileage. So insurance is up to me, but I do believe they require us to carry a boat load of liability. But my company would have no problemo payign for a room.

Time to talk with an attorney. At most major companies, there is HUGE corporate liability when a personal car is used for business. To that point, almost all those companies had strict policies to avoid this exact problem. Of course they are going to vigorously protect their own interests and I would suggest you do the same.

sometimes if i am traveling a lot i pull into a rest area and take a cat nap in my car.

I dont see your company doing squat for you based upon my experience with my past employers.

I was on the lookout for a cat nap location when this occured. I knew sleep was eminate. Unfortunately, I was in a mountain area with gaurd rails on one side and median in the middle with no real shoulders even to speak of.

When I have had to travel, they have given me mileage. On this occation, they gave me a company gas card. I was hauling actual construction materials along with tools and using my rig as the onsite construction trailer, files, hot spot, printers and all.

As far as getting a room, policy and proceedure are long and tedious to get such a thing approved. Along with the attitude by those who handle it of 'I am technically supposed to be off the clock in 10 minutes and this might take to long so tough'.

I am also looking for clever 'what car thread titles' for my search for my next car. I need it to get better than 12 on the freeway.

In reply to former520:

"WTB anything but a gen 9 f150"

former520 wrote: When I have had to travel, they have given me mileage. On this occation, they gave me a company gas card. I was hauling actual construction materials along with tools and using my rig as the onsite construction trailer, files, hot spot, printers and all.

Well, how interested in a lawsuit and such are you? You'll be fired almost certainly, but you might win a suit, based on what you've written there. Can you actually prove those claims?

You might want to consider another employer.

foxtrapper - I can prove all of them, I have reimbursment checks, pictures of the truck set up as an office at the jobsite. Pictures of gas card now (still in my hand with provided truck).

As an asside, I just started with this company ~6 months ago. I was brought in by a head hunter to do an office job. I still recieve my paychecks from the headhunter company. No extended travel was included in my original job description. Only occasional drives to meetings.

In that case, you might want to talk to a lawyer. Especially if you can find another job or aren't all that keen on this one.

In reply to former520: It sounds like you got a bait and switch. Now you have two Parties to sue. Lawyer up brother.

I almost never agree with all the talk of lawyering up, however all of your responses so far have indicated that this is a far more complex issue than most of us know and it is going to depend on the jurisdiction where you live and work. Here is my advice:

1. Stop getting legal advice from us, this website or anywhere else on the net. Its worth what you paid for it.

2. Go talk to a lawyer or at least a paralegal (if they have them where you are).

You're screwed.

You willingly used your POV for job purposes.

It is unfortunate that you were under insured (bet that won't happen again).

You fell asleep at the wheel (lucky you didn't kill someone).

Temp agency is going to say they did not tell you to use POV.

Job is going to say you were not their employee.

My company will NOT let me use a POV for ANY company business. This protects them and me. Any company who is not USING employees like TP will have the same policy.