Ride Share Insurance – How driving for Uber or Lyft can affect your auto insurance protection
Ride Share Insurance | Will driving for a ride sharing company like Uber or Lyft affect your auto insurance?
The world is changing quickly. Unfortunately, the insurance industry is usually slow to keep up with the needs for ride share insurance.
We are finding more and more clients are driving for UBER or LYFT. When you are driving for these companies you are using your vehicle as a livery service.
Although, the companies of UBER and Lyft do provide you some auto insurance coverage there are some gaps in coverage and some things that you must be concerned about.
Generally, most insurance carriers will not allow you to be insured with them if you are using your vehicle for ride sharing. A few have endorsements that we can add to your personal auto insurance policy to cover you while doing working for Uber or Lyft.
If you are using your vehicle in ride sharing, your auto insurance company should know about it to make sure that you have the proper insurance coverage. UBER and LYFT may be providing you some auto liability insurance coverage once the passenger is in the vehicle. But, most personal auto insurance policies will not provide coverage after you accept the ride on the phone app—and that leaves a gap in coverage from the time you accept the ride to the time you pick up the passenger.
There may also be another gap in coverage when it comes to the physical damage coverage for your car. So, if there is an accident while operating your vehicle during ride sharing, your personal car insurance carrier will most likely decline coverage for the physical damage to your vehicle. Uber and/or Lyft providing this coverage either. This is another gap for your auto insurance.
If you are using your personal vehicle for Uber, Lyft or any other ride share program, please contact your auto insurance agent to discuss the possible risk or gaps in coverage.
We understand that driving for a ride share company can be a great way to make a second income. But as a Trusted Choice Insurance Advisor, we have an obligation to point out that doing so with a personal auto insurance policy may cause some issues and serious gaps in your insurance protection plan.
So please make sure you talk it over with your insurance agent prior to driving with a ride share company. There will be options for you to make sure that you are properly protected such as adding an endorsement to your existing auto insurance policy (if available) or obtaining a commercial auto insurance policy to properly cover your risks and exposures.
Just a reminder that delivery is also excluded on your personal auto policy. So if you are delivering pizza, flowers, or documents for example there is could be no coverage should you be involved in an accident.