Motorcoach carriers who have been struggling with rising insurance costs for the past several years now are facing a new insurance quandary - senior drivers.
Operators who employ a number of drivers over the age of 65 are being questioned by insurance brokers and sales people about reducing the number of older drivers they have on their staffs or face the prospect of even higher premiums or not having their policies renewed.
"I know the operators are being strong armed," insisted Norm Littler, vice president for government affairs at the United Motorcoach Association. "I've had more than one call from operators who say their insurers are telling them to get rid of those drivers or they won't insure them."
If an insurance company or an operator were to follow through with such action, he contended, they probably would be violating federal laws against age discrimination and open the door for operators to sue insurance companies and drivers to sue the carriers.
Littler warned that the situation with older drivers is likely to worsen because the average age of motorcoach drivers in the industry is about 50 and on the rise. "We have a number of drivers in our industry who are in their 60s and 70s," he said.
National Interstate Insurance, which handles a large amount of motorcoach industry insurance, said if agents from his company are asking operators questions about the age of their drivers, it is because they are looking for information to help them evaluate how they deal with older drivers.
"I can understand where a motorcoach operator may think we are tying to charge more, but that is not the case," said Alan Spachman, vice president. "We don't charge more for older drivers; it is either we take them or don't take them."
He said the company expects a carrier to pay closer attention to its older drivers than it does its younger drivers and make sure that they receive more vigorous physical examinations to ensure that they still are capable of safely driving a coach.
"If they do that and the physicals are all satisfactory, then our company would insure them," he added. "But if they don't do anything to address older drivers or if the physicals come back and say these people have higher risks or problems and should not be driving and the company lets them still drive, we don't want that risk."
Spachman said the age issue is part of a much broader evaluation of management practices that also includes such items as the average age of the company's coaches, the average number of miles the coaches are driven and the type of maintenance program the company has to keep its fleet in good running condition
"If they don't have established maintenance practices, we don't look any further because we don't' think that management is doing an acceptable job in maintaining their vehicles," he maintained.
Lancer Insurance Co., another of the leading insurers in the motorocoach industry, would not discuss the age situation among carriers. Initially, a company spokeswoman said owner Tim Delaney and safety director Bob Crescenzo would respond only to written questions. However, the company failed to do so and would not take telephone calls or respond to e-mails after the questions were sent.
David Brown, owner of Holiday Tours in Randleman, N.C., said while he has not been threatened with reprisals because of the age of his drivers, his latest insurance renewal form did ask him the number of drivers he employed who were over the age of 65 and if his company had a maximum age for hiring or retaining drivers.
"They know we can't have a maximum age for drivers and if I said we did I would be showing discrimination," he said, adding that he got around the question by replying that his hiring practices meet federal and state laws.
The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration does not have regulations regarding a maximum age for someone to drive a commercial motorcoach, according to spokesman David Longo. The Federal Aviation Administration, however, mandates that commercial airlines cannot employ people as pilots after they reach the age of 60.
Brown said that while he had given little thought to the age of his drivers in the past, he was astounded when he checked the age of his 100 drivers for his insurance renewal application and found that more than 20 percent of them are 65 years or older. "That was really surprising," he added.
He said he is not aware of any of his older drivers being involved in more accidents than younger drivers and is confident that they are just as safe and professional when behind the wheel.
Still, he suggested, the question of age is one that should be addressed by federal officials. "Would you want someone 90 years old driving your coach with 40 people in it? I don't know, but I would like a determination that would tell us what guidelines we should be using," he said.
Littler agrees, saying operators need to know what they can and cannot do when hiring drivers. "They certainly need some advice so they know what to do when the insurance companies come pounding," he said.
Brown maintained that carriers are likely to continue hiring older drivers because the industry attracts many people who are starting a second career after retiring from other jobs. "A lot of them are over 50 when they begin," he said. "They want to retire from some desk job or truck driving job and do something that is a little more fun so they drive a coach."
They are needed, too, he contented, to resolve staffing problems created by the industry's cyclical nature of being overwhelmed with business a third of the year, moderately busy another third and slow a final third. "It is very difficult to staff under those circumstances," he noted. "Some might leave when it is slow and then not enough are around when you need them."
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which investigates and prosecutes discrimination cases, said it has not addressed the insurance issue involving the age of drivers and would not comment on it. "We have taken no position on this issue," said commission spokesman James Ryan.
The commission also would not discuss what a carrier might do if it's insurance company suggested that it reduce the number of employees it has over age 65 in order to retain its insurance coverage. "I can only say what I said before," Ryan said.