How far do you go with ensuring the roadworthiness of employees private cars for use on business; and is a valid MOT sufficient? Just wondering how far any duty on the employer would extend (and without going over the top). Many thanks.

With respect to the vehicle we require copies of insurance and MOT and either the service record or a signed declaration from the driver that they maintain it properly. We get a signed declaration that they will maintain all this properly and bring any relevant changes to the attention of the company. In the annual staff appraisal they are reminded of the need to advise the company of any relevant changes, but we don't require sight of the documentation or more signatures on an annual basis. We did at one stage have someone in HR who decided to try and write a great big specification for roadworthiness (ABS, disk brakes all round, so many airbags, NCAP at least something, etc, etc) but it fell at the hurdle of the MD's E-type Jag and one of the other directors ancient TR.

I wasn't clear - we don't keep copies. We require sight of a set of paperwork once (which I regard mainly as an exercise in identifying to the employee that this paperwork matters and to see that they do understand the difference between insurance and insurance-for-business-purposes) and we require one signed declaration from them that they will keep all this stuff maintained and valid. They are reminded annually, we don't require any more paperwork and don't keep copies of stuff. The point about the E-type was precisely that - it comes nowhere near meeting modern 'safety' standards.

Oh dear, I appear to have opened a can of worms with this. Thank you for the replies though, most interesting.

Any user of private cars will, I expect, be claiming expenses (fuel or mileage etc). Our expense claim form has a declaration which has to be signed for each and every claim that the claimant has a current and valid driving licence and that their insurance covers appropriate business usage. Nothing about the roadworthiness of the vehicle though - no signature, no expenses!

"An MOT is only valid on the day of inspection" An MOT certificate is valid for 12 months from the date and time of its issue! Whether the vehicle is safe, or roadworthy, because of a valid MOT is another issue. Note the MOT itself: "A test certificate relates only to the condition of the components examined at the time of the test. It does not confirm that the vehicle will remain roadworthy for the validity of the certificate" A headlight may be cracked, but the vehicle will pass the test as long as the beam of the light is not affected. But that light could easily fail due to ingress of water on a dark wet night. A windscreen may be cracked, but unless the crack is within the swept area of the windscreen, the vehicle will pass. Brakes may pass, but be on the limit for efficiency and/or balance. Basically, your MOT is not worth the paper it is printed on, before it is even printed! My vehicle passed yesterday. The windscreen has a crack on the very bottom....and the steering box shows oil seepage. MOT pass though. As for insurance....ordinary would be for Social, Domestic and Pleasure, plus driving to and from a single place of work. The insurance above is NOT valid for use of your vehicle for driving ON YOUR BUSINESS. If you use SDP/work as above, and carry tools of your trade to/from work, you need to add "carriage of own goods" to your insurance.