[Question] Proxy for company fleet vehicles

[MariliseM]

Hi all,

Does anybody have experience on being appointed proxy for a company's fleet vehicles? There isn't much information out there and assistance from JMPD & AARTO is non-existent.

Some questions are -
1. (If) the demerit system kicks in, how would this affect the proxy?
2. Summons to court for not responding to fines (postal system) or speeding way over the limit,
3. Being stopped in a road block if multiple fines are outstanding

Thanks

[Dave A]

Some questions are -
1. (If) the demerit system kicks in, how would this affect the proxy?
2. Summons to court for not responding to fines (postal system) or speeding way over the limit,
3. Being stopped in a road block if multiple fines are outstanding

By my understanding, I regret to advise it's bad news unless the proxy ensures the relevant authority is informed of the contact details of the driver of the vehicle that committed the offence.

2. Summons to court for not responding to fines (postal system)

That's an interesting one. Last I heard there is a precedent that postal notification does not constitute proper legal service, but I stand to be corrected. Ultimately the proxy remains the person charged with the duty of responding, though.

[BusFact]

Although no expert, this is how I understand the system to work:

- The proxy has the ultimate responsibility in the matter.
- The proxy will receive all fines and summons, but should reply to these with driver details, in which case the fine or summons will be re-issued to the driver.
- In order to do the above you should keep good records of who is driving which vehicle at which time.
- If the demerit system is ever implemented, then the proxy will get the demerits unless they redirect the fine to one of their drivers who was actually driving at the time.
- I also have my doubts about postal system being adequate for a summons, but a registered letter may be sufficient, so yes there is a risk. Perhaps a regular check on some of the bank or fine paying websites against your ID will protect you to an extent.

This post as proxy requires you to do some admin in terms of record keeping.

[Justloadit]

- I also have my doubts about postal system being adequate for a summons, but a registered letter may be sufficient, so yes there is a risk. Perhaps a regular check on some of the bank or fine paying websites against your ID will protect you to an extent.

Generally when there is a proxy involved, the owner of the vehicle information is held, and not the ID of the person responsible. So using your personal ID number does not yield any outstanding fines on the fine paying websites. I am not sure using the business registration number will yield the results.

Problem I am having. I get an SMS saying there is a fine, but I have to wait for the slow mail registered letter to arrive, which is always late, so lose out on the early payment discount.

[MariliseM]

Hi all - thanks for the comments,

Justlaodit, you are correct regarding the vehicle being registered in the business registration number. When querying outstanding fines on the AARTO website you have to supply this registration number as well as the proxy ID. This allows you to view most of the Gauteng fines. Fine queries in the other provinces are done using the proxy ID. I have picked up there are 3 court cases pending on my ID although I've submitted the nomination of driver forms as well as made representation multiple times. The court cases are from fines dated in 2012. I have yet to receive a notification or a summons.

I have actually decided to stop at the next roadblock (if I'm not pulled over) and chat to the commanding officer - hopefully I might be given a bit of insight.

[Laetitia81]

Hi there,

I hope someone can help me. We currently have 30 company vehicles (some in JHB, CPT and KZN). We have one company proxy so all the fines are going to her. I took over managing the company vehicles etc the beginning of this year, where I have started redirecting the fines to the responsible driver. Problem is that a lot of fines never reach us. I also go onto view fines and pay fines etc and get fines on there to redirect. Problem is that there might be legal proceeding instituted against the proxy now because of the huge amount of fines, and there is also warrants of arrest out because of fines dating back to 2013 (95% of them I am sure was never even received).

I was thinking to make each person the proxy of the vehicle they are driving so that the fines go directly to them. I know it can be a huge administrative issue when drivers change, but luckily we have a very low staff turn over.

Does anybody know how many proxies are allowed per company for the vehicles as this is now really turning into a nightmare!