What Does Rideshare Insurance Cover?

Types of Insurance Coverage Offered By Rideshare Companies

Offering your services as a rideshare driver is one of the best ways to make money. The money you need may in no sense be extra; you may require the income you receive from fares to make ends meet at the end of the month. Joining the Uber or Lyft network gives you the opportunity to put your finances in order.

OBTAINING THE RIGHT AUTO INSURANCE

If you own a car, you will already have insurance on it. Your current insurance only covers the personal use of your car. If you go to work as a rideshare driver, you will need to get insurance that covers the business use of your automobile. It is the only way to cover expenses, which may include vehicle repairs and the medical bills of your passengers, if you are ever in an accident while on the clock for Uber or Lyft

Most insurers have caught up with the new reality of the rideshare industry and now offer insurance plans that cover the use of your vehicle for both personal and business purposes. Before you select a plan, you should become thoroughly familiar with what it does and does not cover.

Options For Ridesharing Insurance

In most instances, you can simply add a ride-hailing insurance endorsement to your current car insurance policy. All you need is an endorsement from the company, which in insurance lingo is referred to as transportation network company, and the extra coverage will close the gap between the commercial policy and the personal auto insurance policy.

You can also get a full ridesharing insurance policy which would replace your current insurance with a full business auto policy. These tend to be more expensive.

What Ridesharing Insurance Covers

It is important to know exactly what the insurance you are considering covers before you sign up to it. Because you are using a personal vehicle for business use, most insurance policies make a distinction between the two. Business use may include only the times when your services have been engaged—that is, when you are in route to collect a passenger and when you actually have a passenger in your car. Even if you have set yourself to working specific hours, your car is technically only being used for business when you have a fare. You should review the policy to ensure that your coverage extends to the “app” period, which is the time you make yourself available for ride requests.

If you opt for a rideshare endorsement to your existing policy, you should verify what is covered in your current personal insurance coverage. If you do not have collision coverage, a rideshare endorsement does not give it to you. This means that you will have to pay out-of-pocket for vehicle repair—for both your car and the vehicle of the person you collided with (assuming the accident was your fault). The same goes for comprehensive coverage, which covers both vehicle repair and personal injury. You should add this extra coverage to protect yourself.

Dealing With An Accident

You may be a careful and scrupulous driver. However, the more you are on the road, the higher your chances of an accident. If this ever happens, you will need to act decisively to protect yourself. After you have verified the conditions of your passengers and exchanged information with the other driver, you will need to report the accident to the rideshare company.

You will also need to report the collision to your insurance company. But you should contact an Uber Accident Lawyer in Los Angeles first.

It is important to remember that insurance companies exist to make money for themselves and their shareholders. They will try to minimize the amount of money they have to pay out. That is why you need an Uber wreck lawyer in Los Angeles on stand-by to protect your rights as a policy holder.

If there is strong resistance on the part of the insurance company to pay what they should, then you will need to get your Lyft car accident lawyer in Los Angeles involved more directly. This is especially true when a passenger has been seriously injured. They will seek financial compensation, and they will be looking to you for payment. You, in turn, should get the money from your insurance company.

Taking Legal Action

A Uber/Lyft accident attorney in Los Angeles will know how to get the insurance company to pay. In most cases involving insurance money that is being held up, the insurance company is doing so based on some obscure rule or a dishonest challenge of the facts. Your Uber accident attorney will know how to get past such ploys. Your Uber attorney will know how to gather the evidence that proves conclusively that you were on the job when the accident took place and that the insurance company is required to settle the claims made against it.

If you are ever in an accident, you should not reach out to your insurance company until you have first contacted a Personal injury lawyer in Los Angeles. A personal injury lawyer will be the only party looking after your interest.