Does your government provide take-home vehicles?

Nov 8, 2019

Governments have take-home vehicle programs because there is a benefit to the government and the public in doing so, such as to meet police or other emergency response needs. But when was the last time you assessed risks related to your take-home vehicle program, or updated your policy? Are you certain the benefits outweigh the costs?

To help you navigate these waters, our Office's Center for Government Innovation has developed a new resource to help you identify and implement best practices over take-home vehicles.

At the heart of a take-home vehicle program is ensuring vehicles are justified. Our resource contains guidance related to this, as well as a comprehensive list of considerations in the appendix. This guide discusses many best practices, such as those related to the following questions:

  • Does your policy include pre-determined criteria for who should have a take-home vehicle?
  • Do you use actual data to evaluate if a vehicle is justified? Is the employee actually responding to calls, or do callbacks seldom occur?
  • Do you have an expectation that the take-home vehicle assignment gets re-evaluated and re-authorized at certain intervals?

To further explore these and other topics related to take-home vehicles, be sure to check out the best practices we've identified. They will help you identify options you might not have thought about, such as requiring employees to reimburse the government if they exceed a commute limit.

We hope you find this new resource helpful, and we'd love to hear from you. Email us with your questions, comments, or recommendations for new resources at Center@sao.wa.gov.