Its all about common sense and making it so it’s to your benefit, so when she nips out to town, she went for you.
I’ll be the devils advocate.
No, the example situation would be reason for termination. She can’t “go out” in the car, even if she were “on call”. It also is quite likely that the car would get a location tracker, given that none of the drivers lives at your address, and isn’t a family member.
I’ve read these “use common sense” and “spin it to your benefit” a lot, i would just like to point out that MB isn’t stupid. Ignoring situations that simply can’t be explained away (if the car, for example, was driven into on the parking lot of a golf course, lets say), even the situation about the shopping is nowhere near as clear cut as Kezo makes it sound – because there’s a key difference between your and his situation.
His daughter lives with him.
Here’s the actual rules straight from the MB webpage. I’ll put emphasis on a particular point.
“Your vehicle needs to be used by the disabled customer or for their benefit.
This does not mean they need to be in the vehicle for every journey.
It means other drivers in the same home can use the vehicle for:
Shopping
Visiting family
Other routine activities
As long as the disabled customer benefits.”
If you tread careful, you should be fine. You just need to make some things very clear to your friend. A: it’s not her car. She can’t use it like her own, even if one gives some leeway. This is important, because in particular when the car is fitted with a location tracker, a mistake or misunderstanding in that regard can lead to problems, including a potential ban for her as driver, or even losing the car. And that has to be clear to both of you: if she gets the car damaged on a journey that clearly wasn’t to your benefit, MB is gonna throw a fit. And with a fitted location tracker, that’s easy to spot. The second point plays into that: you’re on the hook for £250 excess in case the car gets damaged. You need to clarify who’s going to pay for that beforehand, same for fuel etc pp.
I am not trying to talk you out of it, far from it – i actually understand your situation better than probably most here, considering that my wife is also agoraphobic (and i play the same role as your friend, being the anchor), and i’ve seen first hand how a car impacted her life. So by all means, see to it. I would just suggest to do it “correctly”.
I understand that, generally speaking, i am in the minority here – i just have a deep dislike of dishonesty, particularly towards the “corporation” that enabled my wife to live a better life. If that makes sense. In the end, i’m a random internet stranger, so you don’t need to care about any opinion here – just wanted to voice it.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
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