Uberx and insurance

Uberx has a copy of my insurance card. My current company, USAA, has as its first exclusion:

1. Loss to your  covered  auto  which  occurs while it  is used  to carry persons for  a fee. This exclusion (1.) does not  apply to a share-the-expense car pool.

I had read online this was the case based on statements by people. This is the first confirmation in black and white I know of that it is in the policy documents.


From the DC area Operations manager (Tom):
Thanks for the note. This link represents our policy on insurance: http://blog.uber.com/uberXridesharinginsurance

More importantly, while the policy documents are not available, this Uber blog post contains more detail about the coverage.   http://blog.uber.com/ridesharinginsurance.  This includes comprehensive coverage so Uberx drivers not covered for an accident do not lose their car (though it may sit for a long time while the insurance companies dance).

The kicker here is the Uber insurance is a contingent policy that kicks in after your primary insurance has declined to pay - so you have to submit the claim to your primary insurance first. Anecdotes on-line indicate that if your insurance company knows you were carrying paying passengers for any of the services, they will deny your claim and terminate your coverage.

I have been with USAA for 40 years and have all of my insurance with them. I will be looking for a new company to cover my Uberx car.

The online stories say that no regular auto policy will cover drivers carrying paying passengers. I have one example in black and white that confirms this.

The Uberx service agreement with its drivers is a confidential document (for reasons which will become obvious in this and future blog posts). It is however, abundantly clear that Uberx expects its drivers to get insurance that covers this type of service. I would argue the Uberx supplemental policy provides this coverage so maybe there is no big deal here.

Part of the Uberx model works on asymmetric information between it and its drivers - more on this in future posts. The legal team at Uberx probably knew my USAA policy contained this exclusion,  but they accepted my USAA proof of insurance.