A Toronto-based Uber driver has experienced the company’s insurance gap firsthand, and brokers can only hope his experience will help to bring about a solution.
Brokers have been warning consumers about the dangers of UberX’s insurance shortfalls since the service first launched in Canada, but one driver finally learned his lesson the hard way.
In early June, UberX driver Tawfiqul Alam was traveling on Toronto’s Queen Street when another vehicle drove through a red light and collided with his vehicle. Alam and his passenger were sent to the hospital, and the car was tossed aside as a “write-off,” reports Newstalk 1010.
Although Alam filed a claim with his personal insurance provider, he was denied on the basis that driving passengers for compensation voided his personal auto policy. He then hired personal injury lawyer Isaac Zisckind to seek payouts from Uber, but it has been two months and the company has not offered any funds to cover the damages.
The ride-sharing service has previously asserted that UberX is “backed by $5,000,000 of contingent auto liability insurance covering bodily injury and property damage.”
Alam, in the meantime, has no vehicle and lost his only source of income. “I’m in a miserable situation now,” he told Newstalk 1010.
Canadian brokers are not necessary surprised by Alam’s predicament, but are still dismayed that he had to arrive there in the first place.
“The government surprised me by agreeing that a CGL of a non-owned automobile is acceptable,” said Scott Meadwell, commercial lines producer, MMF Insurance.
“Under the current Uber policy, the only resolution method is to hire a lawyer and sue them,” he said. “If you don’t have the means to obtain physiotherapy or acupuncture or a chiropractic, you may end up going years and years between the accident and the settlement, if there even is one.”
He stresses that this delay in treatment could result in victims sustaining permanent harm to their bodies, such as loss of range of motion.
Other brokers echo Meadwell’s sentiment, arguing that Uber’s current insurance structure fails to protect drivers and passengers who use the mobile app.
