Paying for No Fault Accident?

Hey everyone at the moment I can't go to school for my CDL so I picked up a job driving A 26ft non CDL straight trucks for a company called Tiger Logistics. First day running the route by myself I'm heading down the road and hit a tree branch. I was in the road on a major street and was not out of route. I blew a pretty big hole in the corner of the truck. We lease our trucks from Penske and they said it be over a couple of grand.

I signed a sheet of paper saying I was responsible for all the damage to the truck and now I am going to be making basically min wage and everything above that will be deducted to pay for truck.

Is this normal and what are my options here if not? I got hired on as seasonal but was told I probably stay on permanent. If I make too much of a fuss they probably just let me go. I just need this job for a few months till I can go to school, and honestly if they told me it paid 10.00 hour I would have probably took it it's a pretty cake job really.

It's a shame if it wasn't for this I really liked the job.

 

If you signed, I'm thinking you are responsible.

My advice is given freely, value accordingly....

 

ya, thinking you signed that so...

side note here, one of the first things i learned was there's rarely a "no-fault" accident in this industry.

 

If its on your route I would expect , the insurance and your company to back you up on it and go after whom ever owned the spot where the tree resided .
Or the town that failed to keep it trimmed to xyz height.
Re-Examine the documents you signed. Is it just for said percentage of the deductible or the entire thing.
Never work for anyone that will make you pay for all the damages to a vehicle under any circumstances . That's what they have insurance for.
It's immoral for any company to charge their employees for not at fault accidents/incidents even if you signed it as a condition of employment .
It's ultimately a question of who's liable for this incident .
Did you speak to the insurance company?

 

At the same time if your company sent you that way i think insurance should pay... One company i worked for had an escrow of $1000 in case i was involved in an accident that was a max i would have to pay out of pocket and insurance covers rest...

But again all companies are different and this should be a learning experience for you.
One advice i can give you is always look at the worst case scenario when you getting a job that could effect you. Like you said you signed a piece of paper taking responsibility and unfortunetly there is not much you can do about it

 

Yeah I'm torn on it on one hand if I back into someone or ect I have no problem paying for it. On the other hand I didn't really do anything neglectful. Insurance is a 5K deductable basically we are on the hook for anything under that.

There are a few things that make this not a long term company, but I'm not looking long term working with them.

 

That's absurd man, as soon as you can find another gig.
I worked at one place as soon as drivers would mess something up they would just quit .
They signed and authorized payroll deductions. If you don't work there anymore they have no payroll to deduct.
Then you have the issue of who decides how much its worth.
So then they came out with an additional form to sign afterword one paragraph long showing it as a loan with weekly deductions. lmfao
It would only take one driver and a lawyer to teach them the way real fast .

 

you are a hired DRIVER.. you should NEVER EVER be responisible for ANY financial costs to operate your employers busisness..EVER..!! that includes any damages that may occur during routine work..No this is not normal..If that clown would of asked me to sign some waiver or some other BS document ,I would of walked right out of there.But I'm guessing your scab of a boss is just looking for drivers who fear not having job they will agree to anything...the sum of two idiots equals.....

 

I agree,even if your parked and in the sleeper,it can be your fault...if they can find one little "mistake"in your previous 6 months of logs..And that "mistake" will mean it's your fault because if you rolled the way your logs say you did,you wouldn't have been in THAT spot sleeping..

 

Its a growing trend in the industry one that needs to stop.