Ride sharing services such as Uber and Lyft are booming with popularity.  If you are thinking about being a driver for any ride-sharing service, contacting a insurance agent should be high on your to-do list. A simple phone call to a agent, could mean the difference between being fully covered and having no coverage at all. Uber Auto Insurance has evaluated how they do and do not want to step in with coverage.

For starters, where does your personal auto policy stop and an Uber insurance policy kick in? There are coverage gaps you want to know about. Let’s start with your first trip. You are driving around waiting and searching for a customer. The app is open but have not yet been matched with a client. This is where you the driver are left without coverage. At this point you are now working as a driver for hire. This means you no longer have coverage on your personal auto insurance policy. Since you have not yet matched with a client, Uber’s auto insurance has not yet kicked in either. If you get into an accident or quite literally anything happens, you are without coverage.

There is a remedy to this problem, by simply adding an endorsement to your personal auto insurance policy that cover this time frame. While your insurance company may not offer this endorsement, here are some of the companies that have stepped into the ride-sharing world. Erie Insurance, SafeCo Insurance and Progressive Insurance. Erie Insurance has a ride-sharing endorsement that only adds $9-$15 per month on average to an auto policy. The special thing about Erie’s ride-sharing endorsement is that it covers you before, during and after the hired ride. SafeCo’s ride-sharing endorsement adds 7%-11% of the annual premium. With a clean driving record, all in all this additional cost is very affordable to make sure you are covered at all times. The companies listed above that Dean Ballenger Agency used for your Uber Auto Insurance or Lyft Auto Insurance are rated by A.M. Best and are considered excellent.

Once Uber’s coverage starts, the limits are fairly impressive. Uber’s insurance will pay up to $1 million in liability limits per loss. Comprehensive and collision deductibles, however are $1,000. The insurance company that Uber uses is called James River Insurance Company and is rated A- by A.M. Best which is considered excellent.

If you or someone you know is an Uber or Lyft driver, be smart about your insurance. For any questions you have about this or any previous posts give us a call at 317-867-5433. And for additional reading, check out Hoosier Insurance Agency’s blog.