Your employee ran an errand in her own car. Here is what can still reach your business in BC.
She was on her own insurance, in her own vehicle, and she caused the accident. For an accident on or after 1 May 2021, British Columbia law bars most lawsuits for injury caused by a vehicle. Section 115 of the Insurance (Vehicle) Act says no action or proceeding may be commenced or maintained respecting bodily injury caused by a vehicle arising out of an accident. The Act then sets out a short list of exceptions, and some of them are named by trade. A bar is a defence, though, not a locked door. A business can still be named, and property damage and any trip that leaves the province sit outside the bar altogether. Whether anything of yours answers those depends on a cover that is not on every policy.
Build the fleet file The short answerICBC’s Enhanced Care benefits are designed to pay for care and lost income without first deciding who was at fault. What is payable is set by ICBC.
Property damage, a trip that leaves BC, the cost of answering a claim at all, and the exceptions the Act names by trade.
Non-owned automobile liability. It covers the business, not the driver
Is my business liable when staff drive their own cars for work?
For injury caused by a vehicle in BC, most lawsuits are barred. Section 115 of the Insurance (Vehicle) Act says no action or proceeding may be commenced or maintained respecting bodily injury caused by a vehicle arising out of an accident, and section 114 applies that to accidents on or after 1 May 2021. The Act then lists the exceptions. They are narrow, and even where one applies it is limited to pain and suffering and similar damages, not lost income or care costs. Some are named by trade: vehicle manufacturers, vehicle sellers, parts suppliers, repair garages, and licensed premises in their serving of liquor. There is also an exception where a driver is convicted of certain Criminal Code offences. So for most employers the injury lawsuit is barred, but the bar is a defence, not a locked door. A business can still be named in a claim, and answering one costs money either way. Property damage is not covered by that bar. Neither is a trip that crosses into Alberta, Washington or anywhere else, because the law of that place applies there, not the law of British Columbia. If your business is a repair garage, a dealership or a licensed restaurant, the Act may name your trade, and your position is different. This page is general information about how the law works in BC. It is not legal advice, and your own policy wording decides what is covered.
This is not an unusual arrangement. It is the bank run, the supply pickup, the drive to a client, the dropped-off deposit. It is easy to do without ever thinking of it as driving for the business. The insurance question does not turn on whose name is on the registration. It turns on whose business the trip was for.
Her own limit still matters, because non-owned automobile liability normally sits above it rather than in place of it. And if the errand puts her car outside the use it is rated for, her own coverage can be affected. ICBC is blunt about a vehicle rated for the wrong use: “If you’re in the wrong rate class, it could affect your coverage and leave you personally responsible for the cost of any claims.” A staff member’s own car on a business errand is exactly the case that rule was written for. Read ICBC on territory and rate class (opens in a new tab).
Neither one is the other.
Their policy
Covers the driver and the vehicle. Its limit is whatever they chose, and you have no say in it and usually no idea what it is.
Non-owned automobile liability
Sits on the business policy and responds to claims made against the business about a vehicle it does not own. It usually sits above the driver’s own limit rather than in place of it, and it does not pay for damage to the employee’s own car. It is not on every commercial policy, so it is worth checking yours.
Three arrangements that create it without anyone deciding to.
The occasional errand
Nobody is employed to drive. Someone collects supplies, drops a deposit, or takes a document across town. It happens a few times a month and it never gets discussed as driving.
Mileage being reimbursed
Paying someone per kilometre is a clear record that the trip was for the business. It is good practice for payroll and it is also the paper trail a plaintiff’s lawyer reads first.
Delivery by staff or contractors
A shop that started delivering, a clinic dropping off samples, a trade sending an apprentice for parts. Delivery changes how a vehicle is used, and that is a rating question for their policy as well as an exposure question for yours.
What owners ask us about this.
We only ask people to drive occasionally. Is it really an exposure?
Frequency affects how likely it is, not whether it exists. One trip is enough for one accident, and a trip that leaves BC is judged by the law of the place it ends up in.
Should I be checking my staff’s own insurance?
Many businesses ask to see it, and some make a minimum limit a condition of driving for work. That is an employment and policy decision rather than an insurance one, and it is worth thinking about alongside the cover rather than instead of it.
Does this apply to contractors and casual helpers too?
Often yes. The question a claim asks is who the trip was for, not what the person’s employment status was. Businesses that use casual help are frequently more exposed here, not less.
What if the employee was running a personal errand on the way?
Then it gets argued about, which is itself expensive. The detour is a classic point of dispute, and the cost of arguing it starts long before anyone decides who was right.
We have commercial vehicles already. Are we covered for this?
Not automatically. A policy covering vehicles you own does not necessarily answer for one you do not. This is a specific extension and it is worth confirming rather than assuming, because the wording is where it lives.
Two that travel with the same vehicles: the tools inside the van and what an umbrella actually sits over.
Not the question you had? Build the fleet file and set out your own situation in plain words. A licensed broker reads it and replies in writing.
Worth reading next: who must be listed on your ICBC policy.
Tell us who drives, and whose car it is.
We will tell you whether your current policy answers when a staff vehicle is involved, and what it would take to close it if it does not. Next business day.