Volunteer Drivers and Their Own Cars: Who Is Covered?

Volunteer drivers keep a large part of the community sector moving. They take older people to medical appointments, deliver food parcels, get teams to away games and collect donated goods, usually in their own cars. When one of those trips ends in a crash, three separate questions arise: who pays for the injuries, who pays for the vehicles, and whether the organisation met the duties it had. Each question has a different answer, and boards that have not worked through them in advance tend to find out on the worst possible day.

Injuries: ACC Is the Starting Point

For injuries, the accident compensation scheme does most of the work. ACC's page on what it covers states that its no-fault scheme "covers everyone in New Zealand if you're injured in an accident" and that "It doesn't matter who you are or what you were doing when you were injured." A volunteer driver, their passengers and other road users hurt in a crash will generally have cover for treatment, whoever was at fault.

Income replacement is a different matter. ACC's weekly compensation page says that to qualify "You need to be an employee, self-employed or a shareholder-employee", and that ACC pays up to 80% of income. Many of the most reliable volunteer drivers are retired. If one of them is injured on a delivery run, ACC helps with treatment but there are no earnings to replace. Volunteer personal accident cover exists to fill that gap with agreed benefits, and our volunteer accident insurance page explains how it works.

The Car Itself: Usually the Volunteer's Own Policy

ACC deals with injuries. Damage to the volunteer's car, and liability for damage to someone else's car or property, is a motor insurance question, and in most arrangements the policy that responds first is the volunteer's own private policy.

Private motor policies are written around the use the owner has declared. Whether a particular policy treats regular volunteer driving as ordinary private use, as something the insurer needs to be told about, or as a use it does not cover depends entirely on its wording. The safest approach is to ask every regular volunteer driver to check with their own insurer before they start, to get the answer in writing, and to give the organisation a copy. Keep that record with the driver's licence details.

Two practical issues follow even when the volunteer's policy does respond. The volunteer pays the excess, and a claim can affect their no-claims discount. Some organisations adopt a written policy on whether they will reimburse a volunteer's excess after an accident on the organisation's business, so that the decision is not made under pressure afterwards. Some commercial insurance programmes can also be extended to respond to the organisation's own liability arising from vehicles it does not own. Whether that is available, and whether it does anything for damage to the volunteer's car, varies between policies, so ask for the answer in writing rather than assume.

When a Licence or Endorsement Is Needed

Passenger transport licensing is the part most organisations overlook. NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi guidance on volunteer drivers and exempt passenger services says drivers who are not paid for their service as a driver generally do not need a passenger (P) endorsement for vehicles carrying 12 or fewer people.

The same page describes an exemption under the Operator Licensing Rule 2017 for charitable organisations, among others. It applies where the vehicle is provided by the organisation or the driver, the driver is a volunteer or a staff member whose main job is not driving, the driver is reimbursed only for the running costs of the vehicle, and passengers pay only towards running costs rather than for the driver's service.

Larger vehicles are treated differently. According to NZTA, vehicles seating more than 12 people including the driver, such as minibuses and large vans, generally require a large passenger service licence, and volunteers driving them must hold a P endorsement. NZTA warns that driving these vehicles without one can lead to prosecution and may allow insurers to refuse claims. Any organisation running a van or minibus for clients, teams or youth groups should check its position with NZTA directly.

Paying Drivers Back

How drivers are reimbursed matters for tax, for licensing and for insurance. Inland Revenue's guidance on volunteer payments and expenses says "There's no tax to pay on the money you pay back to volunteers for expenses", including travel, provided the payment covers actual expenses or is a reasonable estimate of the likely cost. Payments for work, which IRD calls honoraria, are taxable.

The NZTA exemption also depends on reimbursement being limited to running costs. A flat payment per trip that looks more like a fee for driving can blur both lines, and it may also change how a motor insurer views the use of the car. Keep reimbursement tied to distance and actual costs, and record how the rate was set.

The Organisation's Health and Safety Duties

Under section 20 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, a workplace includes any place where a worker goes while at work, and "place" expressly includes a vehicle. For an organisation that is a person conducting a business or undertaking, a car being driven on its behalf by an employee or a volunteer worker is part of the workplace.

Not every group is caught. Section 17 of the Act excludes volunteer associations, meaning groups of volunteers working together for community purposes where none of them employs anyone to do work for the association. Section 19 defines volunteer workers as volunteers who work for the organisation with its knowledge or consent, on an ongoing and regular basis, as an integral part of its operations. A regular driver for a meals service is likely to fit that description. Our article on health and safety law changes for volunteer groups covers these definitions and the changes taking effect in April 2027.

Driving is one of the activities most likely to cause death or serious harm in community work, so it deserves attention in its own right. Sensible steps include sighting and recording licences, setting expectations on fatigue, phone use and passenger numbers, matching drivers to vehicles they are comfortable with, and having a clear process for reporting incidents and near misses.

A Short Checklist

List every activity that involves volunteers or staff driving for the organisation, and which vehicles are used. For each regular driver, record their licence and written confirmation from their own insurer that the use is covered. Decide in advance whether the organisation will reimburse excesses. Check NZTA's rules for any vehicle carrying more than 12 people. Tie reimbursement to actual running costs. Then review the organisation's own programme: whether its liability cover extends to vehicles it does not own, whether volunteer personal accident cover is in place for drivers who would receive no ACC weekly compensation, and whether trustee liability would respond to a claim about how driving was managed.

Get Your Cover Checked

Volunteer driving sits across motor, liability, accident and governance cover, which is why gaps are common. charityinsurance.co.nz passes enquiries to Registered Financial Service Providers who place cover for not-for-profit organisations. Get a Quote and a specialist will be in touch within one business day.

Sources: ACC, What we cover and Weekly compensation; NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, Volunteer drivers and exempt passenger services; Inland Revenue, Volunteer payments and expenses; Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, sections 17, 19 and 20. Checked 15 October 2026.