You trust your limo drivers to always make the right decisions behind the wheel, but sometimes things happen that result in a collision, causing you to file a claim with your company’s livery insurance. Unfortunately, many accidents are caused by driver error, and if one of your drivers is at fault in an accident, your company will have some liability issues to clean up.

It’s sometimes difficult to determine who is mostly at fault for an accident. If more than one driver is involved it can sometimes fall on both drivers. What the police and insurance agencies do to determine who did what is decide who is more than 50% to blame for causing the collision. Here is a sample of some situations in which your limo drivers could be found liable for an accident:

Hitting a parked car: Your driver will be found at fault for colliding with a parked car, whether the car is lawfully or unlawfully parked.
Rear ending: Your limo drivers should follow the “two second rule” which means to always stay two seconds behind a vehicle. If your drivers choose to tail the car in front of them and that car suddenly stops short, guess who’s at fault? That’s right, your limo driver.
Failure to signal: Any time a driver fails to signal while either turning or switching lanes and subsequently collides with another vehicle, the driver who did not signal is the one responsible.
Failure to proceed with due caution from a traffic control signal: All drivers are familiar with red, yellow and green stop lights and obviously you’re never under any circumstance to run a red light. However, other traffic control signals include lane control signs and road work signs. A lane control sign will signal to drivers to stay in their lanes for a certain distance, and if your driver switches lanes in this zone and causes an accident, that’s on the limo driver.
Backing up: If one of your drivers is involved in a collision while backing up, they will most likely be found responsible. Cars backing up must give the right of way to oncoming traffic and can only proceed to back up if the road is clear or a driver allows them to go ahead.
Single vehicle collisions: Drivers are almost always found at fault for single vehicle collisions, so if a limo driver backs into a pole that’s on them.
Of course, there are many other instances in which a driver can be at fault for an accident. But we figured we’d share the most common ones with you. If you operate a limo business and want to avoid some common liability or collision claims on your livery insurance in Massachusetts, we recommend sharing this list with your drivers.