At LifeWorx, we are often asked, “What are the proper steps to take if your nanny, housekeeper or child care provider drives your car?” We are also asked, “What should you do to be safe and have proper coverage?” There are many essentials to keeping your family safe when allowing your housekeeper or child care provider to drive your children. Here are our top 5 tips:
- Drivers License Check: If any domestic worker drives your car you must do a drivers license check. This will show you if the child care provider or nanny has any violations, points, a suspended license, or anything else that would be of concern. If there is something concerning, discuss it with the candidate. You may want to repeat such a background check every couple of years.
- Add the driver to your insurance policy: If background is good, then make sure this person is added as a driver to your insurance policy. Sometimes it may cost a bit more based on their driving record, but if the driving record is fairly good, there is generally not much extra cost. If you have a high deductible, such as $2000, and your nanny is not a seasoned driver, you may want to change the deductible to $500 to take care of any fender benders that sometimes occur when the nanny or child care provider is pulling out of a school parking area or a grocery store.
- Car reliability, Inspection and Registration: The third thing to do is to make sure that your car is in very good working order with good tires and brakes. Also, make sure your annual vehicle inspection and registrations are up to date.
- Establish Driving Rules with your Nanny: The fourth thing to do is to discuss what the driving rules are for the nanny or housekeeper when using the car. For example, can he/she use it over the weekend, or only in the evening. Rules include: where to park, how to keep the car well maintained, how often to get a car wash, etc.
- Establish Rules of the Car with Children and Driver: The fifth and final thing to ensure safety is to establish rules of the car. What can/can’t kids do in the car – snacks, music, videos and conversations that could potentially be distracting. Rules such as seat belt and children’s car seat rules must also be enforced. It always works better when the parents and the driver both set the same rules for the children. One of our housekeepers in Armonk, NY was fired because she did not make sure the children had their seat belts on when she was driving them home from their bus stop.
Having a car for nannies and au pairs to drive is often a luxury, but a necessity, and it needs to be well respected and cared for in order for everyone to be safe. LifeWorx has done 20,000 services without any injury or car accidents.
If the nanny or housekeeper drives their own car, and drives your children in this car once in a while, additional items to take care of and think about include how they will get paid for the use of their car. Most importantly, make sure you have gotten your nanny or child care provider a business insurance – the cost is a few hundred dollars, but it is well worth it to ensure that you are covered when your nanny is driving your children.
Often housekeepers and nannies are smart, they know car economics and they do not want to put miles on their car for just gas money. One mom in Dobbs Ferry, NY wanted the nanny to drive her car; about 50 miles a week, and was willing to give her the standard IRS rate of about 50 cents a mile. Unfortunately, the nanny did not understand what that means in terms of added cost and income, and refused to put miles on her car; even though this arrangement seemed like such a win-win for both parties. You, as a domestic employer, may need to be patient and take the time to explain the car math to the nanny in order to build trust with each other and have safety, security and reliability when it comes to transportation.
Money is as much of a commodity as one can imagine. A dollar is dollar, whether it is in your wallet, in your purse, on your desk, lying on the sidewalk or in a vault. Money is the same whether it is made of pennies or made of quarters or a mud laden one dollar bill. Money is the only part of a service or product that is a pure quantifiable transaction. As a veteran of the corporate world for over 20 years, I have a lot of experience with issues that can arise with handling money. One time, I made the mistake of not giving one of my employees the exact raise that I orally agreed to give him. I was a bit casual about the agreement because to me, money means only a small part the overall process of working that I receive so much satisfaction from. Unfortunately, not everyone else looks at work and money this way, and I received a huge mouthful from my boss about this. It turns out that the employee complained to my boss that he had not been paid on time. I will never forget that moment! It was embarrassing, and made me realize how important it is to keep the exact commitment you agree upon regarding any money issues in the work place.