If you drive for Uber or Lyft, insurance requirements are very clear. You will have tocontact your insurance carrier and get an endorsement to your auto insurance policy tomake sure that when you are driving for a Rideshare company, your automobile has coverage in case of an accident. This includes repairs to your car, liability insurance (if you are at fault), and uninsured motorist coverage (if the other driver has no insurance or is underinsured).
That endorsement for Rideshare work is different for each insurance carrier. You will need to discuss the language for your particular insurance company with your agent. Most of the carriers have rules for the percentage of driving time you are allowed to use the vehicle for gig work. Once again, check with your insurance company’s rules. What is not as clear with insurance coverage is what happens if you are driving for Door Dash, Instacart, the local pizza store, or similar gig work.
We recently had a case where the defendant driver was driving for Domino’s Pizza delivering a pizza at the time of the accident. We sued him and when he turned the Complaint over to his insurance company, they declined to cover him because he was delivering pizza. He was unaware that using his automobile for delivery was an exclusion on his personal automobile insurance.
After inquiring with my personal insurance carrier if this was the case for all insurance companies, I was told that it is different for each insurance company at this time. Historically, once one insurance company excludes or changes their coverages, it will soon become an industry-wide change. My agent explained that if their insured called asking if they were covered when driving for anything other than a Rideshare company, our agent would call underwriting to verify if they would be covered under the current policy.
YOU NEED TO BE AWARE IF YOU ARE A GIG WORKER DRIVING YOUR PERSONAL AUTOMOBILE, PERIODICALLY CHECK WITH YOUR INSURANCE CARRIER TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY HAVE NOT EXCLUDED THIS WORK FROM YOUR POLICY.
With 35% of the U.S. workforce now doing freelance work it is important to make sure you have insurance coverages that will be in place when you need them. Contact us today for a free auto accident claim consultation or for any questions regarding insurance coverages.