Driving College Owned and Rented Vehicles

Only Ithaca College faculty, staff and students who have been approved to drive College vehicles are authorized to operate College-owned or rented vehicles (see Ithaca College Policy Manual, 2.16).

Student Driving
All students seeking to drive vehicles owned, leased, or rented by the College must be 21+ years of age, submit a Driver Information Form, be approved by the College's insurance company, and successfully complete a mandatory, two-hour driver safety class offered through the Office of Risk Management.  After the initial approval, a student must resubmit his or her driver form every twelve months, at this time he/she must pass a brief written test on driver safety in the Office of Risk Management.  Prior to taking the test a student may wish to review the Student Driver Handbook which can be found here. Information on upcoming student driver safety classes can be found here.

Faculty and Staff Driving
All faculty and staff intending to drive vehicles owned, leased, or rented by the College must submit a Driver Information Form and receive approval from the College's insurance company prior to operating a vehicle(s).  Faculty and staff must resubmit their driver forms every two academic years. 

Motor Vehicle Accident Reporting Procedures
Please review the Motor Vehicle Accident Procedures and Emergency Contact Brochure before driving vehicles owned, leased, or rented by the College.

Rental Vehicles
If renting a vehicle from an outside rental agency (e.g., Enterprise, Hertz, Avis, etc.), only minivans and compact, mid-size, and full-size cars can be rented under Ithaca College policies. For more information related to renting a vehicle at a local Enterprise agency, please visit the Travel Services website.

If a department needs to rent a large vehicle for special purposes (e.g., a U-Haul van/truck), please contact Risk Management prior to making any rental arrangements. Only College employees who are approved College drivers and have sufficient experience driving large vehicles may drive such vehicles. Students are only permitted to drive smaller vehicles (e.g., sedan, minivan, etc.). It is common for a rental company to issue a rental agreement and request evidence of auto insurance from the College. A rental agreement is considered a contract, and as such would be governed by the College's contract policy.

Transporting Individuals Not Affiliated with Ithaca College
As a general principle, only Ithaca College faculty, staff and students should occupy College-owned or rented vehicles. However, there may be special circumstances when a spouse, member of another college or university community, or other individuals will join the College representative to a common business purpose destination. These situations should be the exception, not the norm, and when they do occur, the Office of Risk Management should be informed of them in advance.

For additional information on obtaining permission to drive college vehicles and traveling with individuals other than Ithaca College faculty, staff, or students, please see the Ithaca College Policy Manual, section 2.16.