In brief
Vehicle owner liability (Halterhaftung) is the legal responsibility of the vehicle keeper to ensure that vehicles are roadworthy and driven only by authorized, suitable people. In a company, this responsibility initially rests with management.
What Does Vehicle Owner Liability Mean?
In this context, “vehicle owner” refers to the German Halter, the party operating and controlling the vehicle, which need not be its legal owner. The term has two meanings. Under civil law, it refers to strict liability under § 7 StVG: the keeper is liable for damage arising from the operation of the vehicle, even without personal fault. In day-to-day fleet management, it usually refers to the collection of duties imposed on the keeper. This entry covers both, with an emphasis on those duties.
The keeper is the person or entity that uses a vehicle for its own account and controls its use. This is not necessarily the owner. For a leased company car, the leasing company remains the owner, while the company using it is the keeper. The role carries duties under road traffic and occupational safety law. Breaches may be punished as administrative or criminal offenses.
What Duties Does the Keeper Have?
- Check driving authorization: Nobody may drive a vehicle without a valid driving license (§ 21 StVG). There is no statutory interval, but Driver's License Checks every six months have become common practice.
- Ensure roadworthiness: Vehicles must be in a condition that complies with regulations (§ 31 StVZO). This includes an inspection under the accident prevention rules (UVV), governed by DGUV Regulation 70, at least once a year by a competent person.
- Instruct drivers: Once a year, with records, and additionally before a vehicle’s first use.
- Keep records: Every check must be verifiable. In a serious incident, the documentation matters, not someone’s recollection that an inspection took place.
Why Does This Matter for a Fleet?
Responsibility can be delegated to the fleet manager, but only in writing and with the necessary authority to give instructions and the necessary budget. If any of these conditions is missing, responsibility stays with management. A breach of the duty of supervision can be punished as an administrative offense under § 130 OWiG. After an accident, the insurer and public prosecutor look back to see whether license checks, UVV inspections, and instruction were documented at the time of the incident. If these records are scattered across spreadsheets, inboxes, and paper folders, the situation at that time is often impossible to reconstruct.
Further reading
Fleet Management Without Excel Spreadsheets
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