There was very sad news from San Francisco about an SUV that struck and killed a 6-year old girl and injured her mother as they were crossing the street.
Here’s a link to the article: Autoblog Article
The SUV driver is reported to be involved with Uber, the ride sharing service. Ride sharing services like Uber are becoming more popular; however, the insurance industry is lagging behind in changing policy coverages to adapt to these new services.
If you’re a driver for a ride sharing service, you can find yourself without any insurance coverage for accidents that you cause, as typically personal auto insurance policies do not cover you while using your car to transport people for a fee.
It was reported that Uber or its insurer has denied liability for this accident, saying that the driver was not transporting and was not in route to transport anyone. However, I don’t know how strong the position is, given that as a driver of the service, you are generally available with little notice, so like a taxi, you’re always on the job.
Generally speaking, a commercial insurance policy would be needed in order to obtain the proper coverage for transporting people for a fee. And these policies aren’t cheap. They can easily cost double to three times what a personal insurance policy costs.
Our thoughts are with the families involved in this tragic accident. . .
