What is the Real Cost of your Dealership’s Drivers?
GCADA’s Car Couriers’ Program Can Help!

OSHA cites driving as the most hazardous exposure in the workplace.  Therefore, an important question for a Dealership to ask is: Who do we have driving our cars for dealer trades, service appointments or to and from the auction?  If you are like most dealerships you have a conglomerate of porters, retired people, and friends of friends employed by you or treated as independent contractors by you.  Both options have their own set of issues that ultimately may lead to risks for your dealership.

The Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association believes that Car Couriers has come up with a great program to reduce and even eliminate dealership liabilities and risks when using “Drivers” for your dealership.  Car Couriers is in the business of providing qualified compliant drivers for all of your driving needs.

Why is this more critical to your dealership now than in the past?  The answer is two-fold.  First, as previously mentioned, when your drivers are out on the road there are risks and liabilities involved.  While drivers share the same manual classification as your service technicians, their wages, relative to technician’s, is minimal.  However, this minimal percentage of drivers’ wages – if there is an injury - can cause a large impact on your workers’ compensation premiums for your entire dealership.  Having your drivers staffed by Car Couriers eliminates the chance for a driver claim to impact your workers’ compensation premiums because they will no longer be on your payroll.

A second critical liability for Dealerships to be aware of is if your drivers are classified as independent contractors, this is more than likely incorrect.  As a result, your dealership is at risk for Wage & Hour violations by the Department of Labor.  This issue has taken on increased scrutiny with the introduction of the “Employer Misclassification Protection Act”  which has been introduced to both houses of Congress and provides for significant penalties and sanctions for misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor.  By using Car Couriers, you can ensure that the drivers you utilize are properly classified as employees.

Essentially, Car Couriers allows you to manage or shift risk and liabilities away from your dealership!  Car Couriers will provide your dealership with drivers that are dependable, drug free, with good driving records and professional.  Where do they get these drivers?  Car Couriers gets them from your current pool of drivers.  They hire the staff that you are currently using which allows you to keep the same familiar faces that your customers have grown to know and like.  The professional and courteous staff continues to be directed by your management team to handle the daily service calls as well as provide additional drivers for those busy times, allowing you to be more efficient.  The transition to Car Couriers is seamless.  Car Couriers strives to safely deliver the needed inventory to keep your dealership sales rolling and your service bays full.

Metro Lexus and Lexus of Akron have been using Car Couriers for several months now and Dan Pyle says, “We are happy with Car Couriers. The decision to place our 28 combined valets in Car Couriers was made very easily after we discovered the  valets, who represent less than 2% of our payroll, made up 60% of our workers comp claims and premiums.  Car Couriers essentially pays for itself if we avoid one claim per year!”

What does this cost?  GCADA has arranged for exclusive pricing for its members starting as low as $12.50/hr.  Car Couriers then pays the drivers wages, workers’ compensation premiums, unemployment insurance, medicare, all payroll taxes as well as insurance on the driver.  For a nominal additional cost, Car Couriers can provide insurance coverage on your vehicles as well.  This option provides for coverage of any damage to your vehicle as well as any third-party claims that may arise.

If you would like more information, please contact Ben Herdon.