Uber & Lyft: The Insurance Problem They Don’t Talk About

With the internet able to connect users anywhere, anytime and identify their location, a new method of transportation service has developed.

Not long ago, if you had to get somewhere on the roads you needed your own motor vehicle or you could call a cab or take the bus. But today, you can go to an app on your mobile telephone and engage anybody who participates in transportation service through Uber and Lyft.

Uber and Lyft make a lot of money connecting drivers with riders through their apps. The promise to riders is that it is less expensive and more convenient than a taxi cab. The attraction to drivers is a way to make money whenever you’re behind the wheel if you want to give someone a ride somewhere.

All of this sounds like the internet making things so much easier and bringing us closer together as a society. But this week, lobbyists from Uber and Lyft are descending upon the Florida legislature to avoid insurance requirements that would make riders and the public safer.

At issue is the proposal that Uber and Lyft drivers carry liability insurance that covers the drivers’ liability during “on call” periods. An “on call” period is the time when Lyft and Uber drivers are using their vehicles for personal reasons, but want everyone to know they are available if somebody needs a ride. Uber and Lyft think that if these drivers need insurance that covers them during the “on call” periods, it will raise the costs of the service and lower their bottom line. But would it be fair that someone could be driving around town in an effort to be available to potential riders and not be adequately insured if the Lyft or Uber driver was negligent and caused an accident?

I say that Uber and Lyft can’t have it both ways. Either their drivers are available and should be insured so that the public is protected, or they shouldn’t be out on the streets hoping to get riders.

Do you think that Uber and Lyft should get a pass on responsibility or do you think that good insurance is good business?