Insurance and the new ride-sharing companies...

I've started doing some research as more and more people talk about the new ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft continue to grow.

There are a lot of various opinions and searching the internet sometimes it is hard to differentiate between facts and opinions that may or may not be based on facts. I came across ThePolicyGenius Blog that seemed pretty thorough in their explanation about the insurance issues that surround the services. Feel free to check out the full blog post that I'm referring to: https://www.policygenius.com/blog/insurance-secret-uber-doesnt-want-know/

The article/blog talks a lot about how you may or may not have coverage at all while driving "for hire" either through your personal insurance or through the app service you are being assigned through. They sound like a taxi service but they are not calling it a taxi service but a tech company which puts them under different sets of laws for licenses, taxes, and insurance. The only point that I can stick with as fully factual is that a personal auto policy from any recognized company in the United States is not going to cover you for liability or damage to your own car while you are working as a driver for one of these companies. Every company that I work with has specific language in their policy that will not extend in these situations. I'm 99% sure that they would all cancel a customer's policy is they found out they were driving commercially like this. There were several cases listed in forums and in blogs around the internet that individuals had had their insurance policies cancelled by big name insurance companies when it was discovered that they were ride-sharing. I would caution anyone that is considering using their car and their spare time to make some extra money in this way as the risks far outweigh the rewards. If you are looking to make this a real job and spend your days earning money to drive people from place to place, you should take the necessary precautions and secure proper commercial auto coverage. An occupation where driving is the primary job requirement, you need to make sure that the coverage is handled properly. Until the insurance industry catches up with this new trend of ride-sharing via app technology I would stay away from it. The websites for the companies offering these services make it sound like you are covered but with just a little bit of research it looks like there are a lot of gaps and possible problems with their "promises". Do your homework on this one and be careful.

We'll continue to read the industry news and get the word out as things change or develop!