Discontinue Practice of Transporting Public Vehicles

Discontinue Practice of Transporting Public Vehicles to Medical Facilities

Your Department currently has a public assistance program in place allowing responders to drive patient’s vehicles to a medical facility such as a hospital so the patient’s vehicle will be available once they leave the facility. While the intentions of this program are positive and promotes a positive relationship with the public, this practice exposes your organization to significant liability.

Areas of potential concern include, but are not limited to:

• Auto accident while operating a patient’s vehicle
• Allegations of theft of personal belongings in the vehicle if items are missing
• High value vehicles may be driven, stated to be in excess of $100,000 in some cases
• Key controls, who is custody of the keys given to once the driver drops off the vehicle
• Allegations of unauthorized use, patient may state they don’t remember allowing authorization

VFIS recommends you discontinue the practice of allowing volunteers to operate patient/civilian vehicles on behalf of your department. There are alternative options available to the department if you wish to continue to provide means of transportation for members of the community from medical facilities. Some of these may include public transportation options including Uber, Lyft, or a local taxi service.