An audit of the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) found agency officials, who manage state fleet vehicles, did not properly maintain accident reports or investigation complaints involving speeding and dangerous driving of state vehicles.
Under DAS’ General Letter No. 115, which outlines policies for use of fleet vehicles for state business, accidents in state-owned vehicles must be reported to the comptroller’s office and to DAS Fleet Services. The vehicle operator is required to fill out an accident report within 48 hours of an accident and to bring a vehicle to the nearest Fleet Operations garage within 72 hours. Accident reports and available police reports are also required to be attached to the accident report in the fleet management system.
For fiscal years 2021 and 2022, auditors reviewed 20 accidents where the state driver was at fault and found five accidents that were not reported within 48 hours. In seven of the accidents, the driver did not get the vehicle inspected within 72 hours. They found accident reports and vehicle inspections were submitted between seven and 56 days after the accident.
Additionally, nine accidents did not include police reports.
Auditors found DAS had the resources to obtain police reports but did not use them. It was the second time auditors flagged a similar issue.
DAS officials only partially agreed with the auditors’ findings.
“DAS Fleet firmly maintains that they exhaust all available resources to obtain police reports for reported accidents, and we continue to track every accident claim until each police report is received from law enforcement agencies. However, it’s essential to clarify that while Fleet plays an active role in this process, it is ultimately the responsibility of the client agency to timely report all accidents and incidents. This responsibility is integral to the reconciliation process for vehicle accidents, including the first reporting of collisions with third parties or vandalism.” DAS wrote in reply.
They added they would continue to remind agencies of their responsibilities under General Letter 115 and “monitor and follow up on” accident reports.
General Letter 115 also requires each agency’s Agency Transportation Administrator to investigate complaints about state vehicles and drivers and notify DAS Fleet Operations about the outcome within 30 days of receiving a complaint. It stipulates that DAS’ Fleet Operations is responsible for ensuring complaints are investigated.
But auditors found DAS did not receive notification about the outcome of 84 complaint investigations. Auditors reviewed 101 complaints filed between July 16, 2021, and December 7, 2021. The complaints included 43 related to dangerous driving, 40 to speeding, and seven about vehicles seen in inappropriate places.
“DAS is not meeting its responsibility to ensure complaints are promptly investigated and reported in accordance with General Letter 111.” Auditors found it was the first time the finding had been reported.
DAS disagreed with the auditors’ finding.
“We recognize that agencies are facing challenges in reconciling driver behavior, exacerbated by labor relations challenges and staffing constraints that necessitate staff remaining mobile for client services. In response, DAS Fleet is actively collaborating with Labor Relations to help agencies tackle these challenges.” the agency wrote.
They also added that they had implemented a policy sending follow-up emails to Agency Transportation Administrators after 30 days of not receiving a reply.
“The department promulgates General Letter 115 and established the requirement that state agencies leasing fleet vehicles promptly investigate driver complaints, notify DAS of the results. It also makes DAS responsible for ensuring complaints are investigated and appropriately acted upon. If the department does not consider the compliance requirements reasonable, it should modify them.” auditors concluded.
State vehicle use policies have come under scrutiny following a finding from Goodwin & Shipman LLP that Gov. Ned Lamont’s former chief of staff Jonathan Dach used state vehicles to travel over 12,000 miles for personal reasons in violation of General Letter 115. News of Dach’s misuse of state vehicles during both his tenure as chief of staff and then as a senior advisor to Lamont, in a period spanning June 2023 and September 2024, was first broken by Inside Investigator.
Following the investigation, Lamont’s office announced they had adopted “internal controls and policies” around use of state vehicles and returned their pool vehicles to DAS.
An October 2025 audit report reviewing the governor’s office also found other failures to uphold state vehicle policies, including a failure to keep daily mileage laws, perform monthly reviews of vehicle use data, and park state vehicles in state-approved locations.
In a recent audit of the Department of Motor Vehicles, auditors found department officials failed to obtain approvals for employees to use and take home state vehicles and did not investigate complaints about state vehicle use.
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