Laws vary from state to state, but in states that recognize a claim for negligent entrustment of a motor vehicle, the plaintiff generally must show that:

• the owner of the vehicle entrusted the vehicle to another person;

• the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted was an unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless driver;

• at the time of the entrustment, the owner of the motor vehicle knew or should have known that the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted was an unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless driver;

• the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted was negligent on the occasion in question; and

• the negligence of the person to whom the motor vehicle was entrusted proximately caused the accident.

Even the lack of a required legal license does not establish incompetence or recklessness. Whether a driver has a license does not determine whether a driver is in fact incompetent. Some incompetent drivers are licensed, and some competent drivers are unlicensed.

If a state’s statutes require an operator of a given motor vehicle to be legally licensed to operate it, then permitting the driver to operate it without a legal license may constitute negligence per se.

Although state laws require licensing to operate some motor vehicles (automobiles), they often do not require licensing to operate other motor vehicles (forklifts). In the absence of a licensing requirement, the plaintiff must show the defendant knew or should have known the operator of the motor vehicle was incompetent or reckless, not that he was uncertified or lacked formal training to operate the motor vehicle.

In Missouri, the concept of negligent entrustment of a motor vehicle is recognized and can form the basis of a civil lawsuit when an owner of a vehicle allows someone else to use their vehicle, and that person causes an accident due to being unlicensed, incompetent, or reckless. The plaintiff must prove that the vehicle owner knew or should have known about the driver's inability to operate the vehicle safely at the time of entrustment. Additionally, it must be shown that the driver was negligent at the time of the accident and that this negligence was the proximate cause of the accident. While the absence of a driver's license does not automatically equate to incompetence or recklessness, allowing an unlicensed individual to operate a vehicle that legally requires a license could be considered negligence per se under Missouri law. For motor vehicles that do not require a license, such as forklifts, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the owner was aware or should have been aware of the operator's incompetence or recklessness, rather than focusing on certification or formal training.