Do u drive with DC kids?

Do u drive with your daycare kids? To playgroups, play dates, malls, museums etc? I never have but find the winters here too long that I'm considering it. To get out to our playgroups and such still in the winter. How do u do it? Do u provide the car seats so u know they are safe and up to date? Do parents have to sign something and what would it say? Thanks for any help. I'm new to this as we have walked everywhere before and never had to use a van. Just thinking of option during the winter. I wouldn't drive on bad weather days, heavy rain, heavy snow etc.

I drive with the kids a few times a month all year round - I take them to the zoo, play groups, parks, etc. I get written permission from the parents, use my own car seats and have the liability insurance increased on my car insurance (just like you do for your house insurance). I have an 8 seater SUV, so I just keep 3 car seats installed so I don't have to deal with taking them in and out all the time. I also have 2 booster seats for the older kids that are easy to take in and out as needed.

I consciously assume the risk and none of my daycare families have ever shown any concerns.

Do u mind if I ask how u worded the paper for them to sign?

I am pretty much the same as Amanda! We have a 7 sweater SUV and keep 2 car seats in there almost all of the time. I have one other car seat if needed and 2 built in booster seats in the vehicle. I usually only go out with 2 though. I've always had the extra insurance on my vehicles due to past jobs. I have a blurb on my permission form paper that parents have to sign regarding vehicle use. I've never had a parent not sign it. I did have one parent want to check that the car seats were installed properly and once she saw they were she was fine. She was one of the moms who loved the field trips the most! I even took him home a few times because they only had one car seat and sometimes mom couldn't pick up in time so I'd take him home to dad. He was my last child here and dad was off 30 minutes before mom so I ended up finishing early those days. (I love how this site triggers memories...I had completely forgotten I used to do that lol)

I do have it worded that parents may need to supply seats but I've never done that. I prefer to supply my own....safety and cleanliness reasons! I've seen some car seats and there's no way I'd want to touch it, let alone have it in my car haha. Plus I think it's too much of a hassle for both the parents and I.

My permission slip is simple:

'blank' has permission to travel by car with 'provider's name' to 'destination' on 'date'. We will leave at 'time' and return at 'time'.

Parent signature:
Date:


I have a play group that I attend regularly by car throughout the year, so I have the parents sign a permission slip for that play group once a year and then I just tell them at least 24 hours in advance either verbally or by email that we will be going. This avoids having to constantly get permission slips signed in order to go the same destination.

Somewhat going off topic here - but when you do take the children out, zoo, movies, etc, do you ask the parents to pay for these trips or they already included in your weekly fees?

I get the parents to sign one time and than just verbally tell them when a field trip is happening.

I pay for it all and claim it 100%. I have young kids but my husband took older kids to the movies once when he took my cousins and his niece. Most of the field trips are free but I take them out to lunch. I have to pay for a few places we go but it's usually not much. I wish we had a zoo or cool museum to go too!!

If it is a place with admission fee, I sometimes ask for a donation from parents to help cover costs. With being licensed I am not allowed to make parents pay anything more than their basic daycare fees.

I try to make the places I go be free a majority of the time. It is usually only once a year I go somewhere with an admission fee. I don't want to be constantly asking the parents for money and I don't want to be increasing my own costs alot either.

But all the expenses are all claimable, just like 5 little monkeys wrote.

Never drive anywhere with the daycare kids and I advertise "travel free"

I'd never use my vehicle for liability reasons. All of my clients came to me because I was one of the few that didn't use my vehicle for transport. Do your insurance companies know you are transporting daycare children or did you just increase the liability and not inform them? I got a rediculous quote of an extra several thousand dollars to transport in my vehicle, so that made the decision pretty easy for me.

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Originally Posted by babydom

Do u drive with your daycare kids? To playgroups, play dates, malls, museums etc? I never have but find the winters here too long that I'm considering it. To get out to our playgroups and such still in the winter. How do u do it? Do u provide the car seats so u know they are safe and up to date? Do parents have to sign something and what would it say? Thanks for any help. I'm new to this as we have walked everywhere before and never had to use a van. Just thinking of option during the winter. I wouldn't drive on bad weather days, heavy rain, heavy snow etc.

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I do not drive with day care children. I used to have van but even then, for family not day care.

It means having right age seats or getting parent to leave car seat which is space using. It means having in date seats as seats expire now. It means having extra insurance. Lots of liability with seats, car reliability, enough insurance, children mixing with large public group, ability to supervise properly, parents signing disclaimers/liability releases.

I don not run errands in my work day. And play dates, play cafes are tricky to watch 6 properly. We have wagon and walk but not in car.

I drove for years with the daycare kids as I had an 8 seater Venture. When we got rid of it I was without a vehicle for 6 months so obviously cancelled my insurance. When I bought a new 8 seater minivan, I went through a broker for cheaper insurance and that is when I found out that regardless of increasing the liability on your car policy, a private/personal car insurance policy does not cover you for carrying paying passengers. Now I know what you are going to say because I argued till I was blue in the face that I was not a taxi and those children were not paying me for transportation, but the fact is that if the passengers in my car are in my care as paying customers, I am not using my vehicle for personal or leisure purposes. I had increased liability to 8 mil (1mil per seat) for years with State Farm and they never said anything, but then all I did was request the increase, not tell them why. Also there was a post just a couple of days ago about how even insurance agents and their receptionists don't always know in unique circumstances like this. I confirmed this rule with an underwriter of insurance. One of the questions asked when getting a quote for insurance is will this vehicle be used for business purposes. Well taking daycare kids in the vehicle is business purposes. Just like if you were commuting to your permanent place of work and you one day had to go to a different location training and you had an accident...bamm you would not be covered because you are not driving to your regular place of business...that is if they were to ask or you were to declare it. Outside of business hours you can do what you like but when it comes to working, the insurance companies are not going to pay out. Insurance companies actually employ people specifically to investigate claims to deny them and find any and all reasons to void a claim. I had to take commercial car insurance to be ACTUALLY covered for taking my daycare kids places. It worked out $80 less a month!! I was shocked but I was so surprised that I'd been driving around feeling super insured when in reality had I had an accident carrying the daycare kids, the extra liability would have been for nothing as they wouldn't have paid out. Here is just another example of how daycare providers are flying blind with misinformation going around and honestly no good central place of resource and real information.

To the OP, I bought all my car seats brand new, the only time I use a parents car seat is if it is an infant carrier and they bring them in and out in the seat, but my seats are all from birth rear facing (3 in 1 Eddie Bauer) and I have 5. I have a short blurb in my information pack that they fill out giving consent to be transported in a vehicle by me at any time during daycare hours without notice. This gives me flexibility for impromptu trips out when cabin fever is an issue or if I have to nip out and pick up one of my own from school.

when u call your insurance you have to be clear. Clear that u just want an additional home childcare 'ryder' put on your vehicle and not offering the service of 'transportation for purpose of business' with the van. The bigger quote is if your using the van to transport kids solely for business. Like the before and after school programs that drive kids around. Ur van is solely for personal use but u sometimes want to use if for up to five kids that aren't your own so U just want to add the Ryder on ur car which is like 20$ extra a mth.

I do, but we usually go yo my kids school. Not often but parents are made aware if there is a emergency and I need to get the kids then I go. My parents like that I take them places because they are so busy when they come home that they can't do the stuff I do (or they don't want to)

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Originally Posted by babydom

when u call your insurance you have to be clear. Clear that u just want an additional home childcare 'ryder' put on your vehicle and not offering the service of 'transportation for purpose of business' with the van. The bigger quote is if your using the van to transport kids solely for business. Like the before and after school programs that drive kids around. Ur van is solely for personal use but u sometimes want to use if for up to five kids that aren't your own so U just want to add the Ryder on ur car which is like 20$ extra a mth.

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The term ryder is thrown around but its not accurate and is out of date. You should declare that you will be taking the kids in your vehicle occasionally so the policy will be amended to "occasional business" and you would additionally require to up your liability to $1m per child otherwise if there was an accident of the worst kind resulting in, god forbid, all 5 children to be lost and every parent sued you, $5 mil at least would be needed for that claim. Some insurance companies will absolutely flat out not insure you this way. This is state farms policy but it isn't a ryder as it is different for everyone who has different daycare needs and for some providers who go out daily and use their vehicle almost 50% of the time it is on the road carrying daycare kids. This coverage then wouldn't be enough.

I opted for a commercial policy that covers me for business and personal use with huge liability coverage. I don't want to have vague guidelines from anyone because if the lines are vague and blurred while having the insurance I have little faith when it would come time to claim and it just isn't worth it. Who would have thought it would be cheaper too.

We go on outings a few times during the year. I have a permission form in my contract that parents sign saying they give me permission for such outings. I give verbal notice of any outing 24 hours prior to going. I do not supply seats so every family leaves their seat at drop off.

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Originally Posted by babydom

when u call your insurance you have to be clear. Clear that u just want an additional home childcare 'ryder' put on your vehicle and not offering the service of 'transportation for purpose of business' with the van. The bigger quote is if your using the van to transport kids solely for business. Like the before and after school programs that drive kids around. Ur van is solely for personal use but u sometimes want to use if for up to five kids that aren't your own so U just want to add the Ryder on ur car which is like 20$ extra a mth.

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I showed this to my husband when he come home for lunch. He insurance investigator.

He said that ryder is term that people don't understand. You are not getting bargain coverage. You are paying less because you aren't fully covered.

Like other person said - if you are being paid to watch day care children and are driving them in your vehicle, you need same insurance that taxi driver would need. Or you need commercial insurance. It will cost you a lot of money but that is because it is a lot of risk to have 6 children in car which are not your own babies and are not your own family.

The ryder might cost you $20 a month but if you get into an accident and if one of the client babies hurt or even if you hit a car in front of you and no one hurt, your insurance will not pay out. You were doing business act without business coverage and you will be paying all that money for repair of car you hit or hurt baby, yourself. Your insurance will not cover you. Ryder not enough.

An insurance company is paid to cover unexpected costs from accident, flood, sickness - whatever. But all policy have terms of coverage. If insurance company does not think you were fully honest about your risks, they will not pay out. Insurance premiums consider the risk they believe you pose. They reflect the likelihood of a claim being made. A teenager driver who has two accidents is bigger risk in car than a middle age Mom who never had accident ever. This why teenager pay more 'cause bigger risk. But if that teenager not honest about accident history, the risk is not properly assessed and they pay less than they should be paying. If they have accident and insurance think they not honest about level of risk, insurance not pay.

Same for day care with children in car. A ryder is not enough cover. If you get in accident and insurance did not know fully that you were using car to transport client, they not pay out. Not so cheap insurance afterall. Just wasted money.

Some broker will say yeah, yeah, yeah, this $20 a month plenty but they not really understanding the risk of not being paid.

My husband job to investigate claim and check if valid. His job to make sure person saying they badly hurt and can't walk, is not in the gym or building addition on their home. Also his job to check teenager was honest and said about all accidents. Also make sure day care lady who crashed her car had cover for using her car for business purposes and not just travel back and forward from work location.

If all you have is ryder, then you might was well have no insurance because your claim would be denied.

Bright stars. Can u give an approx on how much the commercial insurance is? Thanks everyone

I've never realized how different insurance is from province to province. I feel very fortunate to live in Manitoba right now.