Man held responsible after designated driver service totals his car

A Toronto-area man says he was held responsible by his insurance company after a designated driving service crashed his car in January.

Dylan Milosh decided to go out for drinks with his girlfriend in Whitby. Instead of calling a taxi, Milosh hired a designated driver to drive him and his car home.

But the designated driver drove Milosh’s car into the back of a parked RV.

“Long story short, about a kilometre after departing where we were going from, my car was written off,” he said.

Even though he wasn’t the one behind the wheel at the time, Milosh said the crash was considered an at-fault accident by his insurance company.

“My insurance goes up (and) it’s a claim on my driving record,” he said, adding that the designated driver company “wiped their hands clean” of the incident.

The service Milosh used was Durham-based People’s Choice Designated Drivers.

“We have a driver that made an honest mistake. No charges were laid and we paid the owner’s $500 insurance deductible,” a spokesperson from the company told CTV’s Pat Foran.

Services that drive people’s cars for them usually include in their contracts that they are not responsible for any damage to the vehicles.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada says the same rule applies whether you get a company or another individual to drive your car.

“If there’s a crash that the vehicle’s involved in while that person’s driving, it’s going on your record,” said Pete Karageorgos.

People’s Choice Designated Drivers said it offered to pay off the damage to Milosh’s car without going through the insurance company, but the vehicle had more than $5,000 is damage and had to be written off.

Milosh had to buy another car. He says he won’t be using a designated driver service again.

“As a professional driving service, you would really hope they have their own insurance,” he said. “Apparently not.”

Different companies may have different rules, so it’s always important to ask about how insurance works before letting someone else driving your vehicle.

With a Consumer Alert from CTV Toronto’s Pat Foran