Uber and Insurance – Are You Completely Covered?

With Uber and other similar ride sharing programs recently commencing in Rochester, the topic of insurance coverage for drivers has been coming up more and more regularly. Below, we discuss what’s included, what isn’t, and what the options are.

Doesn’t Uber provide coverage automatically?

Yes and no. According to Uber, they provide “a commercial insurance policy with $1 million of liability coverage and uninsured/underinsured motorist liability coverage per incident,” automatically to drivers. This policy also includes comprehensive and collision coverage (as long as comprehensive and collision is elected on the personal auto policy) subject to a $1,000 deductible.

The problem is, this policy only starts covering a driver from the moment a driver accepts a trip to the trip’s conclusion. In other words, this policy will not cover a driver unless a fare is in progress. In between fares, the coverage drops significantly.

A driver loses comprehensive, collision, and uninsured/underinsured motorist liability coverage. The liability coverage also drops from $1 million to $50,000/$100,000/$25,000 split limits. This means the maximum amount paid on a liability claim will be limited to $50,000 for any one person that is harmed, $100,000 for any one accident, regardless of the amount of individuals hurt, and $25,000 for property damage.

Won’t my personal auto insurance policy cover me?

A typical Minnesota personal auto policy will not cover a driver once they go active on the app. That is, when the driver is available for fares regardless of whether they have accepted a fare or not. During the time between making yourself available for fares and accepting a fare, your only coverage will likely be the lower limit policy provided by Uber. This means if you’re involved in an accident for which you’re at fault, there is no coverage to repair your vehicle (which will not be allowed if you have a loan on the car). It also means that if you’re in a not-at-fault accident and the other driver doesn’t have insurance, you are out of luck for any damages in which you’d normally be entitled.

What can I do if I don’t want to be exposed to this coverage gap?

At Atlas, we have personal auto policies available which can be modified to include coverage for ride sharing drivers. This means your personal auto policy will extend to those time periods in between fares. There is an additional cost to add this coverage but it is reasonably priced and definitely worth it for the protection received. Contact us to get started.

Disclaimer: The above are merely suggestions and tips, and are not meant to guarantee individual results. Any changes to insurance should be discussed with a licensed professional. The info above is up to date as of March 15, 2017, and no later.