When should you buy ride-share insurance?
Are you working as a ride-share driver? Have you thought about getting into this line of work? Are you worried about getting into this line of work?
Chances are that you’ve been concerned with the idea of insurance if you’ve started driving for a ride-share company or are about to start. The last thing you need is to get kicked off your insurance plan because you got into an accident while driving passengers around. You also don’t want to be nervous when you go to work because you take pride in your vehicle.
When I first wrote about driving for Uber, I started to receive many questions about insurance and getting involved in a ride-share business. Let’s get to the bottom of it.
When should you buy ride-share insurance?
Before you get kicked off your personal insurance policy
Unfortunately, your insurance company probably won’t be happy about you using your personal vehicle for commercial purposes. You have personal insurance. The insurance company assumes that you’re using your vehicle for everyday life and not for running a business. This is why commercial insurance exists. Most insurance policies will have a zero tolerance policy. Some will outright forbid you driving for a ride-sharing program. It’s important to understand the differences, and get buy ride-share insurance if it makes sense for you.
When you plan on driving full-time
I’ve seen many stories of folks quitting their jobs to work for Uber full-time. If you want to make a living from driving others around using ride-sharing in Canada, you need to protect yourself. Rideshare insurance is another business expense for you so you can file this with your taxes (you should as always consult a tax professional before taking that step, however).
You also want protection when you go full-time. If your ride-sharing side gig becomes your main source of income, you want to have everything in order so that your livelihood doesn’t get taken away from you if you get into an accident. You want to get your car fixed immediately without any hassle so that you can go back on the road.
After you do you research
At the end of the day it’s your vehicle. You don’t want to be out thousands of dollars over a ride-share insurance controversy. You also don’t want to get kicked off your policy
because you wanted to make a few bucks on the weekend driving people around.
Good luck insuring yourself as a ride-share driver. I hope to see you make some good money. Once your insurance situation is figured out, you can hit the roads and take advantage of surge pricing. You could find yourself working as a full-time driver one day.