Employees’ driving licenses are a private matter? Wrong! As soon as a company vehicle is used, the validity of the driver’s license plays a decisive role – not only for the drivers themselves, but also for the company.
Company cars have long been an integral part of everyday working life, especially in the field. But even employees who mainly work in the office occasionally use company cars, whether for short trips to the post office, buying office supplies or in urgent cases
And anyone who drives also has a driver’s license – or so you would think.
A case study from practice
Maria, managing director of an agency, instructs her sales representative Max to visit a potential customer in the neighboring town. Max gets into the company car and sets off. On the way, he overlooks a red light and causes a rear-end collision. Fortunately, there is no fender bender, but the police are called.
A short time later, Maria’s phone rings. Max briefly describes the accident to her and then admits that he had to give up his driver’s license two weeks ago because he had too many points in Flensburg. Maria is horrified that he drove anyway.
What she doesn’t realize at this moment is that Max is not the only one facing criminal charges. As the owner of the vehicle, she allowed Max to drive without a valid driver’s license.
This example shows that an accident involving a company vehicle can have criminal consequences not only for the driver, but also for the company. According to Section 21 of the Road Traffic Act (StVG), not only the driver but also the owner, and therefore the company’s management, may face a fine or even a prison sentence of up to one year.
Regulations and obligations
In order to minimize such risks, legal regulations stipulate that employers must check their employees’ driver’s licenses if they use company vehicles. To do this, the employer must be given access to the original document. The employee is obliged to inform the employer of a driving ban if a company vehicle is in use.
In practice, however, checking driving licenses can quickly become confusing, especially in medium-sized and larger companies. Those who check and request documents manually quickly lose track – and waste a lot of valuable time. This is where a smart digital solution is needed.
Avoid risks with the ZMI driving license module
ZMI offers a simple solution here: the driving license module as an add-on to ensure legal certainty for your own fleet.
With the ZMI driver’s license module, ZMI offers a simple and efficient way to digitally automate driver’s license checks. Our system works with special RFID labels that are affixed to employees’ driver’s licenses. These labels are tamper-proof: removing and reapplying them destroys the label.
To do this, a few settings are made in the software in advance, such as setting an interval. The labels are then affixed to all driving licenses to be checked. Depending on the interval, employees are then reminded of the check after 6 months, for example.
To do this, employees hold their driver’s license either to a ZMI terminal with the corresponding function or to an NFC-compatible smartphone with the ZMI app. The “Driver’s license check” function is selected and the validity is checked. If the check is successful, the data is synchronized directly in the ZMI – Time software.
Conclusion
Digital checks save companies time, reduce administrative work and ensure the legal security of their vehicle fleet. Regular driving license checks are essential for companies that provide company vehicles. With the ZMI solution, employers can ensure that their employees are always on the road legally – and save time and nerves in the process.
