Potential bad idea but don't knock it

My company car sits idle when I'm not at equipment repair calls.  Thursday and Friday I drive around my assigned region and try to sell (mainly hand out flyers and introduce myself and service).  Weekends and M-W I'm free when the phone doesn't ring.  

What's the best way to use the company car and integrate gig driving into my routine?  Pitch it to the boss?  Keep it under wraps?  "Are you a literal child, CRXPilot?"

Separate insurance?  "You're stealing!"  Can I buy the next set of tires?  Just rolling the idea around my open-concept brain.

What are your thoughts?  Can you put some helpful scaffolding around your thoughts as well?  Thanks!

I see many pitfalls in this one.  Doubt the company would approve.  Do they allow nonemployees to ride in company vehicles?

In reply to Stampie :

Thank you.  They do.  I've had this car for 5 years and 188k and had 20 different people ride with me.  2 salesmen and the service manager pull their boats with their company trucks on weekends.  Of course earning side income with the car is different.

I think you are talking about running an Uber service with your company vehicle?

If I had a person that worked for me doing that I would fire them. 

Stealing and putting company insurance at risk would be the reasons.   

If there were to be any sort of incident, I can see someone looking at the potential deep pockets of the employer and going after them because they didn't stop you from using their car to do whatever.  As the employer, even if I could get myself removed from that case it would take time and money for me to do so and that's not time and money that would be spent in furtherance of the company goals.

Insurance is gonna get real messy here.

Yeah, this just has "Liability" written all over it in capital letters.

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

Yeah, this just has "Liability" written all over it in capital letters.

 

 

It could maybe work with the boss's permission at a really, really small company (still not a great idea, IMHO).  Any company with one or more lawyers on the payroll is not going to be okay with it.

Seems to me that if you've got time, it'd be much, much simpler and less likely to result in a run-in with your employer to use your personal car. If it's not suitable for ferrying passengers, perhaps an Instacart or Grubhub type thing?

I suppose it's possible you don't have a separate car, but, this being GRM, I'm going to call this an excuse to get one.

Umm... No. 

If it was a service type vehicle, you could start filming nudes, and call it OnlyVans. 

Oh my. I don't see this ending well if you did this. Think about the from the employer's side of things. They would be paying for depreciation and wear and tear on their vehicle (correct?) for you to make some side money? My guess is they wouldn't even be happy with you making money on the side when you're using time that you're on call (correct?).  

I'm often considered stupid but I am not the level of stupid where I would think using my employers car for Uber is a good idea.  

If you ask permission, expect a firm "No".

If you try this without telling the boss, expect a pink slip as soon as he finds out.

There is absolutely no way this will be ok. 

I suggest a way to use the time and location for something that is completely independent of your company. Examples... Start a website, do online sales, drone photography, virtual assistant, independent design work, write music, paint, write short stories, etc. Do something you can do while you are sitting in the car on call.

(even ignoring the serious insurance issues):

"Wait... you want us to pay you, to get paid by another company, while using our assets?...."

(assuming there is a salary involved)

I was going to bring every GRM reader a big check, but it sounds like I should stay home.

Thank you for the obvious answers.  Just double checking my spotty thinking.

What about the other guys using company assets to take boats to the lake?  What if the tranny blows?  188,000 miles are a lot of miles.  What if it rolls into the lake on the ramp?  

Maybe you should bring that up then ask?

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

It's not about protecting the asset. It's about avoiding the liability. A broken company truck  is a totally different liability then a dead passenger.  I can't imagine any company allowing it. 
 

Bringing up the other guys won't change it.  The only thing that will accomplish is the company tightening the screws on the guys doing that, which will leave you working with pissed off coworkers. 

I agree with your points - 100% but there's no liability allowing asshat salesmen to take their boats to the lake and then drive home half in the bag with hookers inside?

Oh wait, I'm in sales. 

( hopefully you'll see I'm just being a wiseass myself)

Will they pay you mileage if you supply your own car for sales/service calls? Buy the company car from them, or buy a different one that will generate Uber and work income and deduct all the expenses.

SV reX said:

If you ask permission, expect a firm "No".

If you try this without telling the boss, expect a pink slip as soon as he finds out.

There is absolutely no way this will be ok. 

 

I suggest a way to use the time and location for something that is completely independent of your company. Examples... Start a website, do online sales, drone photography, virtual assistant, independent design work, write music, paint, write short stories, etc. Do something you can do while you are sitting in the car on call.

Speaking of using down time - I once had a long Miata tech support call with a fellow who eventually revealed he was a cop running a speed trap. No speeders were stopped for a very long time that day :)

Jesse Ransom said:

Seems to me that if you've got time, it'd be much, much simpler and less likely to result in a run-in with your employer to use your personal car. If it's not suitable for ferrying passengers, perhaps an Instacart or Grubhub type thing?

I suppose it's possible you don't have a separate car, but, this being GRM, I'm going to call this an excuse to get one.

I am only quoting this to show the Deliverator's vehicle one more time.