Are you covered under your auto insurance if you use your car as an Uber? This is a tricky question to answer! Ridesharing is becoming increasingly popular around us. This can be a great way to get around for many people. It’s also a way to make extra income. Here are some things you need to know:
- Some insurance companies will not cover you at all if you use your car as an Uber
- When you show yourself as “available” for rides as an Uber driver, your coverage is by Uber only, but are less than your coverage under them if you have a passenger ($50K Injury, $100K total, $25K Property)
- While driving with passengers, you are not covered under your personal auto policy at all. Uber will cover you up to $1M Liability and $1M Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist injury with a $1K deductible
- If you have state minimum coverages and are an Uber driver you could have much less than you need in the event of an accident
- The state of PA is one of the only states that will cover you medically if you get into an accident while driving for Uber. The minimum state limit is $5000.00 for medical which could be much less than what you typically need
- If your auto insurance has comp/collision, Uber will only cover this if you have an accident while you have passengers in the car (not in route to the fare). This has a $1K deductible
- In the state of Pennsylvania, you must tell your lienholder or lender that you are using your vehicle for ride sharing
Some reminders from your friendly agents at BCF: Please check with your agent about your particular carrier’s position on Uber and whether you will be covered by them. State limit coverage (or the coverage that you have while you are showing available on Uber) is something we do not recommend. We don’t write policies at our agency for minimum coverage because of our deep experience in seeing that it is not typically enough to cover you after an accident. We also always recommend more medical coverage than the minimum for the same reasons.