# Travelers Insurance



## Pedruber (Jan 8, 2015)

I called them this am and proceeded to explain my particular scenario which may be similar to others here. I've had a Geico policy for over 20 years, have multiple vehicles, only one which I'm using for rideshare, policy renewal is coming up and basically I'd like to be proactive and be ready should I get "the letter" from Geico. If/when I get "the letter" I'd like to be in a position to tell Geico thank you very much but I've already got a new policy ready to take over.

Keep in mind that Travelers is not guarantying coverage (under the scenario that we all fear, at fault and experience damage to our vehicle and/or ourselves,) but for me this is good because at least I know that they know and will at least not cancel me outright for doing it w/o their knowledge. This may not work for you but for me I've always been one to self-insure to the extent that I can - in all my years of driving I have never been at fault in an accident that insurance had to pay for. I once mildly rear ended a guy and spent my own $ 600 to have his car fixed, my truck didn't have any damage.

I can tell you that since I've been doing this work, my driving practices and style have improved, I drive extremely defensive now, do not break any traffic regulations and have many compliments from my riders on it. It actually also improves the fuel mileage in my prius - no fast starts and no fast stops.

So I'm ready for "the letter" now and will probably pull the trigger on a new policy in less than 1 month when my current policy is set to renew. The price I was quoted is in line with my current Geico policy.

Surge on!


----------



## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

Pedruber ... Did I understand that you are self-insuring? Or are you just changing to Travelers for "piece of mind"?

I've started the painful process of getting BlackCar (Livery) Insurance ... though, unlike personal policies, Livery Insurance takes a week or more to get a quote, let alone get the policy activated ... whereas you can typically activate a personal policy in minutes or few hours (if they're really slow). Not sure what the deal is; but 3 of 7 Livery Insurance brokers still haven't returned my call from 2 weeks ago ... sheesh. But according to 2 of the 3 that called me back, I should have a firm quote tomorrow ... fingers crossed I'll have my BlackCar (Livery) Insurance activated before next week. *Considering that FUber pissed off ATX airport authority and they likely will start fining U Drivers $500 for airport pickups ... likely I'll just attend SXSW until my BlackCar policy gets activated.


----------



## Casuale Haberdasher (Dec 7, 2014)

Pedruber said:


> I called them this am and proceeded to explain my particular scenario which may be similar to others here. I've had a Geico policy for over 20 years, have multiple vehicles, only one which I'm using for rideshare, policy renewal is coming up and basically I'd like to be proactive and be ready should I get "the letter" from Geico. If/when I get "the letter" I'd like to be in a position to tell Geico thank you very much but I've already got a new policy ready to take over.
> 
> Keep in mind that Travelers is not guarantying coverage (under the scenario that we all fear, at fault and experience damage to our vehicle and/or ourselves,) but for me this is good because at least I know that they know and will at least not cancel me outright for doing it w/o their knowledge. This may not work for you but for me I've always been one to self-insure to the extent that I can - in all my years of driving I have never been at fault in an accident that insurance had to pay for. I once mildly rear ended a guy and spent my own $ 600 to have his car fixed, my truck didn't have any damage.
> 
> ...


----------



## Pedruber (Jan 8, 2015)

The reason for mentioning self insurance is bc of the fact that I do not have full coverages on all my vehicles, I don't carry uninsured or underinsured motorist or comp and collision on all my vehicles. Additionally, due to the fact that the collision coverage that I do carry (I do have it on my rideshare car) MAY not cover my vehicle if I'm at fault, given that I'm using the vehicle for rideshare, I am assuming this risk as well to a degree. Liability I don't think is an issue as I believe we are covered there from what I understand. Everyone doing rideshare with a personal lines policy is basically in this category weather they choose to acknowledge it or not - weather or not your insurance covers damage to your vehicle if you are at fault while you have passengers will be a point of contention with most personal lines coverages. They may end up covering you but will likely drop you afterwards. What I am trying to accomplish at this point, since there are no hybrid products currently available in FL, it to first find a carrier that will write a personal lines coverage that I can be honest with regarding my doing rideshare and second, have a plan to change to this company if/when my current provider finds out that I'm doing rideshare so that I don't end up being cancelled and not have my options ready to go. The idea of being dropped from my current policy is not one which I would like to be faced with w/o having a plan in place. I have other vehicles and the inconvenience and cost ramifications could be significant if that were to take place. At this point I have not changed anything but I feel some degree of comfort knowing that there is a personal lines company out there that will write a policy knowing that I am doing rideshare part time. I don't have plans of doing this full time so I have no interest in looking into commercial products as I'm sure those would be cost prohibitive for this business. These issues are likely the ones that will change rideshare as we know it today in the near future.


----------



## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

@Pedruber

Thanks for sussing out the Travelers stance on ridesharing. I too currently have GEICO; and am anxiously awaiting USAA Hybrid that will be available in May (Texas). In the meantime, I'm also looking into BlackCar insurance ... I expect to get that quote tomorrow.

*Albeit, I did get 1 quote from an underwriter for "Uber Insurance" and it was so outrageous I almost passed out ... the funny thing was the quote had an airport exclusion in it and they wanted $11K for the year paid upfront ... sheesh*

So either I'll get a more reasonable BlackCar policy soon .. or I'll wait for the USAA Hybrid policy and use your approach til then


----------



## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Pedruber said:


> The reason for mentioning self insurance is bc of the fact that I do not have full coverages on all my vehicles, I don't carry uninsured or underinsured motorist or comp and collision on all my vehicles. Additionally, due to the fact that the collision coverage that I do carry (I do have it on my rideshare car) MAY not cover my vehicle if I'm at fault, given that I'm using the vehicle for rideshare, I am assuming this risk as well to a degree. Liability I don't think is an issue as I believe we are covered there from what I understand. Everyone doing rideshare with a personal lines policy is basically in this category weather they choose to acknowledge it or not - weather or not your insurance covers damage to your vehicle if you are at fault while you have passengers will be a point of contention with most personal lines coverages. They may end up covering you but will likely drop you afterwards. What I am trying to accomplish at this point, since there are no hybrid products currently available in FL, it to first find a carrier that will write a personal lines coverage that I can be honest with regarding my doing rideshare and second, have a plan to change to this company if/when my current provider finds out that I'm doing rideshare so that I don't end up being cancelled and not have my options ready to go. The idea of being dropped from my current policy is not one which I would like to be faced with w/o having a plan in place. I have other vehicles and the inconvenience and cost ramifications could be significant if that were to take place. At this point I have not changed anything but I feel some degree of comfort knowing that there is a personal lines company out there that will write a policy knowing that I am doing rideshare part time. I don't have plans of doing this full time so I have no interest in looking into commercial products as I'm sure those would be cost prohibitive for this business. These issues are likely the ones that will change rideshare as we know it today in the near future.


IF I trusted any insurance company (I DON'T!) I would say your assessment is reasonable, that you'd be covered and cancelled.

The big caveat here is the amount of damages. I would 'almost' guarantee that in any serious accident where a drivers car was totaled, it was the drivers fault and there were personal injuries involved to both the driver and pax that the drivers personal auto policy carrier would throw the driver, his personal injuries and property damage under the bus as fast as possible and leave the driver hanging. IF Uber pays, they would retain the option to go after the driver for any amounts paid out in such scenarios. 
*
In addition if you read the fine print in Uber's insurance statement they leave the driver on the hook for any amounts they pay out, if they choose to pursue them, and they WILL imho, if said driver is at fault has not legally protected themselves with commercial insurance for the gig.*

These are chances I am not willing to put my neck on the line for, especially for the shit for pay. It is totally not worth those kinds of life damaging consequences for any reason.

Is proper insurance cost going to bite? Uh, yeah. But the downside will cost much much more.


----------



## Ziggy (Feb 27, 2015)

@scrurbscrud

That's why I'm opting for full BlackCar (Livery) insurance ... purportedly ~ $4K in Texas. Far better than being on the hook for being underinsured with personal insurance. Hybrid might work too when it gets here ... but I'd rather carry too much coverage than not enough.


----------



## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Ziggy said:


> @scrurbscrud
> 
> That's why I'm opting for full BlackCar (Livery) insurance ... purportedly ~ $4K in Texas. Far better than being on the hook for being underinsured with personal insurance. Hybrid might work too when it gets here ... but I'd rather carry too much coverage than not enough.


GREAT idea. The notion of being 'super cautious' compared to legally commerically insured is huge.

Anyone at anytime knows they can have a very serious accident that is their fault regardless of how 'super cautious' they think they can be.

Self insurance for the super cautious can very easily end up as a complete bankruptcy for such super cautious commerical transportation drivers.


----------

