Driving for work 

An employer may be responsible if the accident was their employee's fault and the employee was driving for work. This is called 'vicarious liability'.

If you are an employer and your employee caused an accident whilst driving for work or whilst using the work car, you should get legal advice. 

Were you driving for work purposes? 

If you are driving for work and you cause a car accident, you may not be the only one who has to pay for the damage you caused. In some cases you may not have to pay at all. 

In some cases, your employer may not be responsible if you caused a car accident while driving for work purposes. 

For more information, see Driving for work when you are an employee or independent contractor. 

If your employer says they are not responsible, or if they try to make a claim against you for damage to their car, you should get legal advice.

Was the other driver driving for work purposes? 

If you had a car accident and the other driver was at fault and was driving for work, you may be able to claim against their employer for the cost of the repairs to your car.  

An employer may be responsible if:

• ​​the driver was an employee
• the driver was driving for work purposes. 

If you are certain that the driver of the other car was an employee driving for work, you may be able to make a claim against both the driver and the employer. You would need to show that the driver was an employee of the owner. 

If you start a Court case against an employer for damage caused by their employee and the Court finds that the employer is not vicariously liable, you may be ordered to pay the employer's legal costs. Before you start a claim, you should get legal advice.