Conference 7.286::digital

    Fleet Admin should be sent this .0 note.  It raises an excellent point. 
    At one time I worked for Honeywell Info Sys.  They had a program
    whereby we deducted $.01/business mile that went into an insurance fund
    administered by Honeywell.  It was a great way of paying your car
    insurance.

    Pardon my ignorance, but let me get this straight....
    .0 wants the corporation to set up and administer and insurance fund to
    make up for the last five years when he was GIVEN a car with the
    insurance taken care of. Izzat about right??

    No, that's not right. Nobody has been GIVEN anything. Do you
    consider your compensation a gift? It has, for the last five years,
    cost those people on the A plan $130 a month. Excess personal use
    is then taxed by the IRS at then end of the year. People loosing their
    cars are, in effect, taking a cut in pay. Are you willing to do
    that.
    
    FACT: It will be a financial burden to be kicked off the car plan.
    	  Plan "C" is not a plan at all.
    
    FACT: The IRS and, in many cases, DEC management consider a company
          car as compensation, and place a dollar value on it.
    
    FACT: Being removed from the plan amounts to a cut in pay.
    
    Is anyone else in the corporation being asked to take a cut in pay
    to keep their jobs? If you were asked to, would you do it with a 
    smile? I doubt it. Especially if you were one of only a few asked
    to make the sacrifice.
    

    re: -3
    
    I happen to agree with 2126.3.  A Company car is not a gift.  As
    2126.3 stated correctly, the employee does pay dearly to use a Company
    car.  The "benefit" amount (approx $3,600 a year) plus a mileage use
    tax by the IRS is added to the employees pay at the end of the year
    and it is TAXABLE.  Therefore, with the new changes to come in both
    Plan A and Plan B, employees will be taking a pay cut.  Just another
    way for Digital to make employees pay more or receive less pay.  It
    was done with our medical plan, then our long term disability plan, now
    the car plans.   See note 2120 for more Company car issues.       

In response to .2 ...

I was not asking Digital to set up any special fund, we should just stick to 
computer related business (just look what happened when we "administered" the
DCU).  I was just suggesting that whoever deals with our corporate fleet
insurance underwriter mention the change in our company car plan and see if 
the insurance company would like the opportunity to attract the hundreds of
people who will be in the market for personal car insurance in the next few
months and probably every six month period thereafter.  I believe a similar
bridge plan was provided for health and life insurance to TFSO and SERP 
candidates.  Can't we do something for those of us who are remaining?

I suspect from the tone of .2's memo that he's not familiar with the use of
company vehicles.  A majority of us who've got company cars are in job 
functions where we can't predict our daily travel distances and hence budget
accordingly.  I was in EIS for a number of years on billable assignments
generating direct revenue for the company.  These assignments involved 60 to 120
mile round trip daily commute distances.  I lived only 7 miles from the office.
I travelled on my own time would you expect me to pay for the additional commute
also.  I know my counterparts in sales (I'm now in sales support) and field 
service are also subject to unpredictable travel circumstances.  As .3 pointed
out, the car is not a "gift" and loss of the car represents a before-tax pay
cut of thousands of dollars.

But all of this is besides the point.  I merely made the suggestion in .0 that
if it's not any trouble to whoever negotiates our fleet plan, just see if they 
can let Liberty Mutual know that there's a group of people out here who are 
good drivers but due to circumstances beyond their control are without any 
insurance history.  Maybe if they understand the situation, they'll forgo at 
least the high risk pool requirement.

I really don't know what caused all the outrage.

    
    Your idea is great.  I, for one, would appreciate it if you would
    forward it to Fleet Administartion.

re .3

>    Is anyone else in the corporation being asked to take a cut in pay
>    to keep their jobs? If you were asked to, would you do it with a 
>    smile? I doubt it. 

	Actually we all are:

		Higher costs for health care
		Higher costs for LTD
		Removal of outings/recognition event.

	No, I'm not smiling. And if I'd had a car yanked out from under
	me that had been part of my compensation, I'd be even less inclined 
	to be smiling.

					Tom_K

    
    To get back to .0, I just want to confirm the fact that the insurance
    companies will put you into the High Risk Category if you are not
    insured.  I too checked out Plan B and the insurance cost was
    astronomical.  This is just one more thing that can hit you in the
    wallet when least expecting it, and is something to consider when
    buying a new car.
    
    Karl Glock

In California, the insurance companies have to prove cause to 
put a driver in the high risk pool.  They can not do this without
a past history of claims, and according to law, two moving violations 
or two at fault accidents in the past two years is what is required.

Larry

    re: .9
    
    But CA is only one 50 states. :)
    
    In New Mexico, I've ran into the same situation as .0 and others have
    stated -- going back onto 'personal' insurance will cost me $60 a month
    more then when I had my car insured!
    
    I haven't approached any sharks (oops! insurance companies :) about
    this yet, but don't we get insurance cards from the leasing companies
    with our names on them?  Would this constitute 'having' insurance
    coverage as with any other leased vehicle?  Any thoughts on using this
    approach for more reasonable (yeah, right) insurance rates?
    
    --- Gavin

    I have a company car and also have my second car insured through
    metpay, and the rates on my second car is low.  What will happen when I
    have to turn in my company car?
    
    MMoore
    

    >I have a company car and also have my second car insured through
    >metpay, and the rates on my second car is low.  What will happen when I
    >have to turn in my company car?
    
    According to Digital P&P number (mumble, mumble), this will cause an
    immediate increase in your white blood cells. In addition, your cream
    for the morning coffee will likely be sour.
    
    However:
    
    Have you thought of asking Metpay?

    I'm entering this with the proviso that it occured here in Australia,
    and may not be valid elsewhere.
    
    After having had a company car for about six years, I ended up with
    buying my own car, and when looking for insurance, was told I would be
    paying full premium, as I had no insurance history.  I went to my fleet
    admin, (who by the way carried their own insurance), and got them to
    write a letter, saying that I had driven a company car for X years,
    without accident or incident.  I took this letter to the insurance
    company, who accepted it quite happily, and put me into the 60%
    discount "no claims" category.
    
    cheers
    
    ...klaas...
    

    I was made aware of the high risk category by a fellow Digital Services
    friend and she gave me the name and DTN of the person to contact for a
    letter that will vouch for your coverage under Digital's insurance
    policy for the duration of your use of a company-owned vehicle.
    
    Her name is Jozell A. Lyles, Safety/Loss Specialist, DTN 232-2285 or
    outside number (508) 264-2285.