Car insurance, etc for bike nonprofit
Hi all, someone is considering donating a pickup truck for our community bike shop to use. Very exciting for us since we could use it to pick up donated bikes around town much easier, and also use it to haul away scraps for recycling. Curious about any feedback y'all have about how you've handled similar situations. We are a 501c3 if that makes a difference.
-who to make the title out to -how to control keys/who is allowed to drive it -maintenance costs and responsibility -insurance -borrowing/lending: who can use it? -and any other thoughts you might have :)
Thanks, Clara Community Bike Shop @ Barber Park, GSO NC
Clara,
You might be a pioneer in this area, in which case please post your setup here after you decide how to manage it.
We used to have an old, battered Worksman Front Loader industrial delivery tricycle we named "Hercules" that we used for scrap hauling. Piloting it was a treat, but a pickup limited solely to shop use would certainly have been effective.
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2023-04-19 20:42, clara via TheThinkTank wrote:
Hi Clara, we've owned a variety of vehicles at the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective. Vehicle insurance and registration requirements vary state to state, so it might be worth a call to your DMV to get a grasp on your state-specific laws.
- -who to make the title out to
- 501c3 orgs are corporate entities, and can hold titles to vehicles.
- -how to control keys/who is allowed to drive it
- I carry a copy of the key with me, and we keep a copy in a locked
- Per a conversation with our insurance broker, any staff member or
make sure they have a valid driver's license before we authorize the trip. Most trips are taken by management staff, with occasional (1-2x/yr) volunteer use. - If we're pulling a trailer, I make sure whoever's driving has trailer experience before they leave our lot.
- -maintenance costs and responsibility
- This varies widely based on state requirements, condition of the
emissions test, and until recently, the State of Utah required an annual safety inspection. These are/were registration prerequisites here. Most maintenance needs are discovered or addressed on this schedule, and vary year to year. - Commercial vehicles in Utah need an annual safety inspection to present to law enforcement in case of a stop, but it's not required for registration. - Failing to safely maintain a vehicle can have an impact on organizational liability in case of a crash or injury. In principle, I see it as our organization's responsibility to keep the vehicle in safe, good working order. I budget $1500 per year per vehicle.
- -insurance
- Our vehicles have liability insurance brokered with our general
Alliance. I don't know the cost impact of the vehicle liability insurance as that's handled at our board level.
- -borrowing/lending: who can use it?
- Any staff member or volunteer on shop business who has a valid
- -and any other thoughts you might have :)
- Again, your DMV and insurance company may have different insights. I'd recommend clarifying everything with them.
-Kai
On Wed, Apr 19, 2023 at 2:42 PM clara via TheThinkTank < thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:
There is no free lunch truck.
I tried really hard to go along with the axiom that a truck makes sense, but after giving it some thought, I just don't see it making sense to me for your circumstances as I understand them. The smaller your org is, the more likely these apply to you. If your org is huge and has money and time to throw around, these are less likely to apply. Reasons include (but aren't limited to)
- Car insurance is going to give you the best rate if you only let
someone use it who they think is a low risk. Things like age, sex, marital status, location of residence and driving record. So if you want the best deal, you basically are letting some insurance company's actuary decide who is going to be driving your truck. Which isn't fair to the rest of the collective.
- Mission creep (maintaining a truck instead of bikes)
- Budgets I've seen for volunteer-run community bike shops
- Figure out what your annual truck budget is. How many Bikes at Work
trailers https://www.bikesatwork.com/bike-trailers/customers would that buy you? Take a look at that link to see example hauls. I cannot tell you how many times I have showed up at a "you must have a truck" ad and picked up some heavy bulky thing without a truck. Bikes at work trailers haul everything so much easier than cars. No need to puzzle out how to fit things on. No need to worry about insurance. No need to worry about who can use it and who can't. No need to worry about owning something dangerous or polluting. Maintenance is extremely minimal.
- There should be scrappers in your area who would be delighted to
reliably haul away your scraps. In exchange for maintaining their own motor vehicle, they get whatever money they scrap yard gives them. Simple.
I've seen at least one shop with a Bikes at Work trailer, and at least one shop with a serious cargo shop bike. And that's just shops I've been to in California! Nowadays, it wouldn't surprise me if some shop out there has a shop cargo e-bike.
If you're still set on having a truck, I think the way I'd do it is to figure out who is active in your community and who really wants a truck, ask your potential donor to give them the truck instead. Make the new owner promise to give first dibs to someone else in your community if they ever want to get rid of it. No other strings attached. As an active member of your community, the truck owner can figure out how they want to contribute its hauling capacity and deal with the paperwork headache as they deem appropriate.
If you've taken a look at your resources and decided this truck no longer makes sense for your community, ask if the truck owner would be ok with you selling the truck and using the money to buy something more in line with your mission and resources, like a bikes at work trailer.
This truck is free *as in kittens*.
---- On Wed, 19 Apr 2023 18:03:19 -0700 *cyclista--- via TheThinkTank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>* wrote ---
Clara,
You might be a pioneer in this area, in which case please post your setup here after you decide how to manage it.
We used to have an old, battered Worksman Front Loader industrial delivery tricycle we named "Hercules" that we used for scrap hauling. Piloting it was a treat, but a pickup limited solely to shop use would certainly have been effective.
~cyclista Nicholas
On 2023-04-19 20:42, clara via TheThinkTank wrote:
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participants (4)
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Angel York -
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cyclista＠inventati.org -
Ikaika Cox