Nov 09 2015 The Most Important Reasons to Run a Driving Record Search
Can you trust your delivery people?
Many employers know they can check driving records, but they rarely do as often as they should. But if you’re putting employees on the road, you need to know how they drive, and that driving record is often the only way to get that information. Here’s why you should know how your employees act on the road.
Legal Liability
The most common reason to run a check is simple; if you don’t, and an employee gets in an accident behind the wheel in a vehicle your company owns, you’re liable. It’s been firmly established that companies are required to ensure their drivers are safe and competent, and failure to do so will put you behind the legal eight-ball. Knowing your drivers can handle themselves behind the wheel protects you from going to court, at least over that aspect of a potential accident. Not only that but if you’re company doesn’t own the company vehicles but instead leases them you could run the risk of breaking your lease agreement with the leasing company which could come with stiff penalties on itls on, have alook at this page to see how you would be affected should this situation ever arise.
Another liability issue might come from your own employees. If you have no idea who’s behind the wheel, or worse, know somebody is a liability and let them drive anyway, any employees put in the car with them may take you to court for their medical bills and damages.
And if that weren’t enough, you might find yourself struggling in court with yet another legal issue. If you put an unlicensed or incompetent driver behind the wheel, there’s an excellent chance your insurer will consider that a violation of their policies and reject your claim. Depending on the situation and the driver, they might even cancel your policy. Don’t be surprised, in fact, if your insurer requires you to check driving records before they’ll even consider issuing you a policy.
Finally, all of these issues are interconnected. If you lose one of these cases, it makes your chances of staying out of court for the others much worse, and possibly even increase the judgements against you. So it’ll cost you money not to check records for an employee getting behind the wheel of a company car. But there’s a second consideration worth keeping in mind.
Character
Don’t trust just the face.
Just as important as legal liability is discovering the nature of your employees, however. It’s no secret that we change when we get behind the wheel. Driving is often the most stressful and dangerous task most of us ever engage in, and under that pressure, our character often emerges.
If an applicant is prone to anger, impatient, or otherwise unable to deal with the stresses of the road, it’s going to come out in their driving record. It’s true that you’ll have to be careful when looking at a driving record; all of us have, much to our chagrin, a speeding ticket or two in our pasts. The issues you’ll need to look out for are more serious problems; suspended licenses, revoked licenses, multiple traffic court rulings against the applicant, and other red flags. The occasional mistake you can forgive; ongoing, repeated, and dangerous ones, less so.
The driving record is a crucial part of your hiring process. Don’t leave it out, even if you’re not putting an employee on the road.
If you’ve got employees on the road, don’t risk not knowing. Request a free background check trial and let them get behind the wheel with confidence.
