Ask Your Peers  Uber - What Insurance Carriers Will Write (Closed)

Looking for a market for an Uber driver in Nebraska. I think National Indemnity will write these. Are there any other carriers that might entertain them?

Dave Wix
Davidson Insurance
Lincoln NE

Uber is not classified as a Taxi yet so you could do Titan/Victoria

James River is Uber Insurer currently....

I would love to know this answer.

Progressive does just give the commercial department a call and they will transfer you to the appropriate department. There will be some qualifying questions.

David,
 You could try Continental Risk Ins. Agency 866-699-2747. Good luck!

Hi Dave, Progressive was in our office last week, unfortunately I was out of the office then, and he said they have provided coverage, but they are relying on the TNC policy being primary. They have paid some of the PD claims but there is some question as to how the coverage will always work when the TNC driver first logs on but has not yet picked up a fare. The new Progressive rep will probably be at our State convention Industry Night on 10/14/15. I am told Met Life is beta testing a personal lines policy in Colorado that will jump up to required limits once the driver logs on, but I have not been able to get any details yet. There are a couple other carriers beta testing their ideas. Nebraska statutes for TNC's were put under the control of the Public Service Commission and you can see what is being proposed there, if you have not already.

Steve Mason
Forsyth Insurance Agency

ISO clearly EXCLUDES liability for livery. Progressive and most other non-ISO have similar or stronger exclusions (i.e. delivery of anything for fee, pizza or newspapers...). Tell your ISO carrier you drive for Uber and you will probably get a cancellation notice "increase in hazard" pretty quickly. You will need a Commercial Auto Policy form if you want your policy to cover liability. I understand Uber provides coverage for their contracted drivers. My advice, don't do it or buy commercial auto policy which will be expensive. Good luck!

I appreciate the suggestions. Titan / Victoria and James River are not in Nebraska yet, so far as I know. Thanks Steve for the info about the Nebraska statutes. I'll check that out a little further. Also, we'll see if Continental Risk has any markets other than ISO form and National Indemnity. Thanks for the excellent suggestions. I'll check them all out.

Thanks,
Dave

In PA Progressive will do a commercial auto for the Uber Risk

I quoted a 2015 Toyota Camry last week with the two markets I know of. National Liability was at
$10,300 and Progressive came in under $8,000. Driver had a completely clear record. Not even
close to being affordable. Titan/Victoria told me they don't write them. Good luck!

@ Lisa Kondik- I think it's a matter of having the correct coverage written. I knew Progressive's rates would be high period. In my area, they are the only carrier that's come out with coverage. Uber doesn't make it clear as to who is responsible for the coverage should BI or PD or even the Comp and Coll happens. I think the public is mislead - I am not looking forward to hearing that one of my clients has an accident and is turned down for coverage since the auto forms specifically exclude "livery". At least we brokers have something to show that we did attempt to explain that it not a covered issue under a personal auto. Also under a commercial auto - the "livery" issue would need to be disclosed to the carrier. This will be a nightmare

Maybe there are program administrators out there that could work on a program for Uber drivers. From everything I've seen, finding adequate coverage at a reasonable price is going to be a huge challenge. I think many of the Uber drivers probably do not disclose to their Personal Auto carriers that they drive under the Uber program. Then, when a claim happens, they run into coverage gap problems and/or lose their Personal Auto coverage or both. Uber covers while actually driving for them, but not during down time or when the Uber driver is looking for a customer / passenger.

Insuring the TNC driver is just the tip of the iceberg, but addressing their livery exposure could help open the doors to solving what I feel is an even greater problem for consumers. There is a huge uninsured exposure within the HHS service industry that no one has addressed. Many HHS support organizations require their employees to transport clients in the employees own vehicles. If they do not have a personal vehicle that meets the organizations standards, they do not have a job. KVC is an example and in their potential employment job descriptions they state a certain % of the employees time will be in transporting KVC clients in the employees vehicle. KVC even had job postings that stated 75% of their time would be driving clients in the employees own vehicle. Our State Attorney General's office reviewed the contract between the NE HHS (which stated specifically that the contractor is responsible for all client transportation as a part of the compensation from HHS) with KVC and said the employees were acting as a livery. In my opinion any employee of an HHS support service, whether it is as large as KVC or just a small firm with a handful of employees, is at risk every time they put a client in their personal auto; I have not found a carrier with a good way to recognize and handle the exposure short of a commercial livery policy which would not be affordable to the average employee.

How many personal auto carriers are aware of when their clients have this exposure? More importantly, how many personal auto carriers will deny a significant claim using the standard livery exclusion as their justification. The buying public does not know or remember their policy could deny a claim using the livery exclusion. By the same token, most personal auto clients do not realize if they have a household member delivering for a fast food company (Jimmy Johns, Pizza Hut etc) that same exclusionary wording could apply since most policies contain some form of wording that will exclude transporting or delivering people or property for compensation or a fee.

Has anyone run into this problem before and, if so, how was it handled to protect the personal auto policyholder.

I know a few program administrators that it might be interesting to approach to see their thoughts and reactions about trying to develop a program for the type of clients that we are discussing. I recently had a client that only drove clients to doctor appointments and back home. The only carrier willing to quote was National Indemnity at $7,500. I'm not sure if the client found coverage elsewhere at a better price, but he did not go with us. The point is as Steve mentioned, there is a huge coverage, pricing, and problem with coverage gaps that needs to be addressed. I'd love to hear anyone else's take on this situation as well. Thanks.

David,

I hope you found the carrier you were looking for. Great Suggestions everyone!

Honestly, the only 2 carriers that I've identified so far that are willing to provide coverage here in Nebraska are National Indemnity and Progressive. They are both way too high when compared to what most Uber drivers are earning. I'm continuing my research and will post what I find.