If you’re a serious gig driver, you can’t afford to play around when it comes to rideshare and delivery insurance coverage. Sometimes drivers try to skip telling their insurers that they’re using their vehicles for business, to save money on premiums.
Many auto insurance providers will drop you the moment they discover you’re using your car for gig driving. Furthermore, if you don’t disclose you’re using your car for business, and the company finds out, any claim you submit might get rejected. You don’t want to take risks like that!
Some insurers offer a rideshare endorsement, which will allow you to keep your regular insurance and be covered for your gig work as well. Others simply don’t want to take the risk and won’t issue a suitable policy to you. And, even when they do, the rideshare endorsement they offer can be very costly.
Why is getting insurance for gig driving such a problem? Simply put, most of the insurance industry hasn’t fully caught up to the needs of the gig economy. Traditional insurance companies fail to understand what drivers need, and they overcharge for the risks of covering gig drivers. They aren’t very flexible about what they offer, so often drivers find themselves with more insurance—and higher premiums—than they actually need or care to pay for.
Here's what we cover:
What gig drivers need from insurers
As you know, your driving platform(s) will cover you while you’re on the way to a ride or delivery, as well as during the time you’re transporting passengers or goods to their destinations. The rest of the time, including the periods in between rides and deliveries, you are not fully covered by the driving platform. You have to rely on your personal auto insurance, at least until a request comes in from your driving app and you accept it.
Almost every state requires drivers to have auto insurance, and all of the driving platform companies insist that you show proof of insurance before they will allow you to drive or deliver for them. That’s another reason why you can’t rely on the gig platform’s coverage alone.
Obviously, you also need to be covered when you’re not using your car for business. You won’t want to be without insurance if someone hits your car while it’s parked on the street or in a lot at the grocery store, for example.
If your car is damaged while you’re on the app and your gig company provides full coverage, another problem arises.The high deductibles they require you to pay can create real financial setbacks.
If you’re involved in an accident, even while your gig platform’s insurance is in full effect, you could be charged as much as $2,500 before their coverage will kick in. It would certainly be helpful to have a policy that protects you from that kind of exposure.
Once your claim is filed, what will happen while you’re waiting for your car to be repaired? If you expect to maintain your income, you’ll have to rent a vehicle. The price of vehicle rentals is substantial, and chances are you’ll need lots of financial assistance.
Plus, if you are injured, or if for some reason you have to wait to rent a car, you will lose income. As an independent contractor, you have to keep money coming in, and the right insurance policy should help with that, too.
To summarize the unique needs of gig drivers, here’s a list of what the right insurance policy would provide.
- a way to get personal auto insurance without being overcharged
- reasonably priced premiums, based on driving record and mileage
- some way to cushion the cost of those high deductibles
- coverage for vehicle rental
- protection from loss of income
- customer service that is helpful and professional
VOOM: Replace your traditional coverage and save up to 60% on your insurance
VOOM is an insurance company that has caught up with the gig economy. In fact, VOOM is way ahead of the game. VOOM’s policies are designed to be flexible enough to suit gig drivers, and are set up to support drivers who use their vehicles for rideshare and/or delivery most of the time. VOOM rideshare insurance gives rideshare drivers a much more affordable and customizable insurance policy to make ridesharing and delivery driving more profitable. Since rideshare drivers cover all their own expenses, having a way to cut costs on such a major expense can be life-changing.
Here are some of Voom’s unique features:
- VOOM offers insurance made for Uber and Lyft drivers. By switching their current personal auto policy, they can potentially save up to 60% and avoid insurance gaps.
- VOOM is Tailored specifically for rideshare drivers, covering unique risks with customizable policies.
- VOOM Provides essential coverage during all phases of rideshare work, including waiting for rides.
- VOOM replaces your current coverage, it doesn’t just add on top of your existing insurance.
- Forget the “One size fits all” coverage – VOOM is a hybrid rideshare insurance policy that only charges you for miles driven for personal use rather than traditional insurance companies’ one-size-fits-all approach.
- Instead of paying for coverage you don’t need, you only pay for the miles you drive while not working for a gig app. Rideshare drivers can keep more money in their pockets by reducing costs.
- VOOM is completely customizable, allowing you to determine the coverage needed when not on the clock. This ensures you only pay for what you need, keeping more money in your pocket.
VOOM has designed insurance services for serious gig drivers who use their vehicles for business a majority of the time. Why pay for a full-blown personal use coverage when you only need it for part of the time? With VOOM, you have coverage when and where you need it, at a greatly reduced cost.
Gridwise and VOOM have something very important in common. We are focused on solving the specific problems gig drivers face. Stop letting traditional insurance overcharge and short-change you. Get serious about your insurance, and start using VOOM Insurance.
