[pmorici]

It's interesting that all these ride services are so aggressive about recruiting drivers. I looked into driving for them to make a few extra bucks and the one thing they could do to get a leg up on their competition is clarify the insurance situation.

They all essentially claim that a driver's personal auto insurance is good enough and combined with the companies umbrella policy provides sufficient coverage. But then if you go and read their fine print that really isn't the case and if you were to be involved in an accident while driving for them there is a good chance no insurance would cover damage to yourself as the driver or your car.

[jellicle]

I would make a 99% bet that your personal auto insurance explicitly denies covering you if you are driving a vehicle for money.

[pmorici]

I'd make a 100% bet. These services try to muddy the waters though from what would otherwise be clear cut.

Lyft for example brands themselves as a "friends giving friends" rides type of arrangement and they call the money exchanged a "donation" so they tell drivers, "who is your insurance company to say you can't do that"!

Uber acts like personal insurance will cover it as well if you are an UberX driver but then in the fine print it says it is the drivers responsibility to confirm driving for a "P2P" ride service is ok with their insurance company. Of course if you call any of the major insurance carriers and ask them they will tell you, "hell no that isn't covered".

If you look at the taxi insurance market it is made up of a bunch of dinky little companies no one has ever heard of or in some cases taxi's are insured by quasi government insurers of last resort or by verifying you have the minimum insurance requirement on hand in cash. None of these options is cheap so it isn't surprising that ride sharing services would want to avoid them because they would have to end up paying the drivers a lot more and they would no longer be 30% cheaper than taxi's

[Avitas]

Anyone driving for Uber should not use their personal vehicle until they receive a signed copy of Uber's ACORD certificate with:

1) Checked "Automotive Liability" section

2) One or more of the following checked boxes underneath the "Automotive Liability": - "Any Autos" - "Hired Autos" - "Non-Owned Autos"

3) Your name listed as a "named insured" in the "CERTIFICATE HOLDER" area at the bottom

[yardie]

I'll raise it to 100%. When I used to deliver pizzas as a teenager the company made me take out insurance, which they never paid for.

[yapcguy]

Maybe this will be resolved in a court of law.

Just in the past few weeks...

"Uber Driver Arrested in San Francisco Crash That Killed Girl"

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Uber-Driver-Arrested-in...

"Lyft Driver Hits Elderly Woman in San Francisco Crosswalk"

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Lyft-Driver-Hits-Elderl...

[eridius]

Interesting, an Uber driver hits someone (while not even on a trip), they release a blog post that starts with condolences to the family, and apparently a lot of people (i.e. hacker news commenters) get upset at Uber.

A Lyft driver hits someone (while active on a trip), Lyft doesn't issue a blog post (a news story contained a paraphrased "statement from Lyft", but I see nothing on Lyft's own blog), and hacker news doesn't seem to care.

This strikes me as pretty strange.

[smackfu]

An accident that kills someone vs. an accident that I'm surprised got an article written about it.

[eridius]

You're right, Lyft's accident was much more minor. It's clear it was only in the news because of the connection to a car service. My point was basically just that hacker news these days always seems intent on painting Uber in the worst possible light, even when they issue a public statement that starts with condolences to the victim's family, but they don't seem to care about what happens with other car services. It seems only recently that everyone was in love with Uber, but I guess now it's the goliath that needs to be taken down?

[diminoten]

Statistically, this was bound to happen. What's the surprise?

[kenrikm]

Both links are the same story.

[aioprisan]

No it's not, they're different stories about different services' off-duty drivers being involved in accidents.

[mattmcknight]

I am also curious about personal property tax issues. In my county, the rate differs based on % of reimbursed business use. If reimbursed business use is over 50%, the tax is 2.7x higher.