# Loan gap insurance for periods 2/3 ?



## madbrain (Jul 16, 2016)

I have a 1 year old Chevy Volt . I bought it fully loaded for $33k including sales tax a year ago. I borrowed 100% on a 7 year loan at 1.79% from my credit union.
I received $9,000 of incentives in the form of a federal tax credit and CVRP rebate.
Essentially, the market value of the car is diminished by the value of those incentives that new PHEV owners get. Thus, the car is worth $33k, less the $9k tax incentives, less other depreciation. Probably around $20k at this point with 12,000 miles on it. My loan balance currently is $29.5k. The loan will likely be upside down for a while as long as I keep making only the minimum payment. I want to keep it that way - this is a feature, not a bug.

I have loan gap insurance with my auto insurer which costs only about $10/year and would cover the loan shortage if the car was totalled.

However, if I start driving for Uber, I believe my insurer's loan gap coverage would not apply during periods 2/3. Only the Uber insurance would apply during periods 2/3.

Questions :
1) does Uber cover loan gap during periods 2/3 ? Pretty sure the answer is no. I'm only a prospective driver, not a current driver, so I don't know for sure.
2) if not, are there insurance companies that will offer loan gap for periods 2/3 ?


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

Do volts seat 5 people?


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## madbrain (Jul 16, 2016)

LAuberX said:


> Do volts seat 5 people?


4. Why ?


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

Uber requires 5


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## Beur (Apr 14, 2015)

Yep Volt doesn't qualify because it technically a 4 seater unless someone wants to straddle the cup holders in the middle of the backseat.


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## madbrain (Jul 16, 2016)

Beur said:


> Yep Volt doesn't qualify because it technically a 4 seater unless someone wants to straddle the cup holders in the middle of the backseat.


Seems the Volt is allowed in some markets on Uber according to some searches I did. SF is one. I live in San Jose, not sure if it's considered the same market. The Uber web site has no info on which car is allowed in which market that I can see.


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## Beur (Apr 14, 2015)

madbrain said:


> Seems the Volt is allowed in some markets on Uber according to some searches I did. SF is one. I live in San Jose, not sure if it's considered the same market. The Uber web site has no info on which car is allowed in which market that I can see.


All you can do is apply and see what the say. The Uber people probably have no clue that's it's classified as a 4 seater. Was looking at the Volt this weekend. Going to wait for the Bolt, but from pics it looks a bit small. I like my Prius, but for being the pioneer of the consumer hybrid Toyota fails when it comes to plugins. 21-23 mile range isn't worth the extra money. The Leaf is just too damn small, so is Chevy's current EV, if I remember correctly to also only has a 60 mile range. If I'm going to go full electric I need a minimum of 200 mile range.


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## SFAgentKyle (Mar 16, 2016)

madbrain said:


> I have a 1 year old Chevy Volt . I bought it fully loaded for $33k including sales tax a year ago. I borrowed 100% on a 7 year loan at 1.79% from my credit union.
> I received $9,000 of incentives in the form of a federal tax credit and CVRP rebate.
> Essentially, the market value of the car is diminished by the value of those incentives that new PHEV owners get. Thus, the car is worth $33k, less the $9k tax incentives, less other depreciation. Probably around $20k at this point with 12,000 miles on it. My loan balance currently is $29.5k. The loan will likely be upside down for a while as long as I keep making only the minimum payment. I want to keep it that way - this is a feature, not a bug.
> 
> ...


Uber doesn't offer gap coverage on your vehicle.
I don't believe there are any companies offering gap coverage during period 2/3. Only a few offer comprehensive and collision during those periods but that doesn't include gap.

You could look at refinancing with a bank that offers gap protection included in the loan... not sure if your equity position would work for a refinance however.


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## madbrain (Jul 16, 2016)

Beur said:


> All you can do is apply and see what the say. The Uber people probably have no clue that's it's classified as a 4 seater. Was looking at the Volt this weekend. Going to wait for the Bolt, but from pics it looks a bit small. I like my Prius, but for being the pioneer of the consumer hybrid Toyota fails when it comes to plugins. 21-23 mile range isn't worth the extra money. The Leaf is just too damn small, so is Chevy's current EV, if I remember correctly to also only has a 60 mile range. If I'm going to go full electric I need a minimum of 200 mile range.


I applied. The requirements stated were only 4 door, 2001 and newer vehicle. No mention of passenger requirement at all. So far, I haven't been asked for the model of my car yet. I guess I'm early in the application.

I have driven the 2001 Prius , 2007 Prius, 2012 Leaf and now 2015 Volt. Definitely been a pioneer with the new technologies.

I agree with you about Toyota. The Prius plug-in is a joke. It cannot drive in EV mode at freeway speeds, and the electric range is just too little to justify the price difference vs the gasoline-only Prius. Toyota is betting on fuel cells.

I leased a 2012 Leaf for 3 years after I sold my 2007 Prius. I regretted it greatly. The range was far too limited. Real range was far less than the advertised 73 miles due to living in the hills . It was closer to 50 miles range in the winter when using the heat for my regular 26 miles daily commute. IMO, you would be crazy to even consider driving a Leaf as a ride sharing vehicle. You would spend far too much of your time charging. If you can find a nearby charger. And cost per mile for public chargers is higher than cost/mile for gasoline. Leaf is great for a short commute, though. But once in a while I wanted to go to SF which is a 110 miles round-trip. The Leaf was not practical for that. A "quick charge" stop still took 30 minutes and is a significant time sink on a 2hr round trip. Also, the Chademo chargers did not materialize except in a few areas like 101 on the peninsula and south bay. My annual personal mileage dropped from 12k/year with the 2007 Prius to 8k/year on the 2012 Leaf, because of all the personal trips that I couldn't do in the Leaf - and chose to use my husband's car for - 2011 Prius. So we ended up putting more miles on the 11 Prius .

I returned the Leaf 3 months early to get a Volt a year ago. I use the Volt as a personal vehicle only so far. I will report if Uber lets me ride share with it, at least to collect the $1000 bonus in the area - not sure if I want to do it longer than the first month yet.

I will add that plug-in cars currently don't really reduce your ongoing cost of driving currently, unless you have very cheap electricity, or generate it yourself - I have solar PV at home. Solar PV at home is great to cover the miles for your own commute, but is not really helpful for ride sharing unless you have a huge battery like the Tesla S. But of course the S is far too costly of a vehicle to make any sense for ride sharing. I think the Bolt might make sense, though. It remains to be seen what its real-world range is, not the EPA range. For my driving, real EV range is about 70-75% of the EPA EV range, based on both the Leaf and Volt. I would expect the same to be true with a Bolt or Tesla.


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## madbrain (Jul 16, 2016)

SFAgentKyle said:


> Uber doesn't offer gap coverage on your vehicle.
> I don't believe there are any companies offering gap coverage during period 2/3. Only a few offer comprehensive and collision during those periods but that doesn't include gap.


I was under the impression that Uber's coverage included comprehensive and collision for periods 2/3 if you have comprehensive and collision on your personal policy.

Thus, it doesn't really matter if your own insurer covers you in periods 2/3, unless you want a lower deductible. I carry a $1000 deductible on my personal policy, same as what Uber covers in periods 2/3.



> You could look at refinancing with a bank that offers gap protection included in the loan... not sure if your equity position would work for a refinance however.


I would probably not consider a refi, new terms would be unfavorable. I'm not going to get 1.79% on a refi for a 1-year old car. My credit union does offer loan gap insurance, but I didn't purchase it from them a year ago, since my current auto insurer offered it - I got the option through my insurer. I will inquire with them to see if it can be added to my existing loan, and whether they would exclude ride sharing or not.

If I can't get gap coverage for ride sharing, I will probably forego using the Volt for ride sharing altogether, at least until such point that the loan is no longer upside down, but that could be years since I drive few personal miles (12k/year).


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## madbrain (Jul 16, 2016)

No reply yet from my credit union yet on adding gap coverage and whether their coverage would apply to ride-share or not.

My current insurer, Safeco, which excludes TNC confirmed that their gap coverage would only apply for personal driving.
The one insurer that covers TNC for period 1 that we are looking into, Mercury, confirmed that their gap coverage would only apply in period 1, but not in periods 2/3.

Uber won't let me submit a request through the partner app about about confirming whether my Volt is an eligible vehicle or not, because I haven't gotten the vehicle inspected yet. The only thing it will let me do is sign out or upload inspection documents. I don't want to waste my time having the car inspected if it's not even eligible. I guess Uber doesn't care about wasting their money on an unnecessary inspection either. So, I sent a request to Uber through the web site to confirm.


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

madbrain said:


> I agree with you about Toyota. The Prius plug-in is a joke. It cannot drive in EV mode at freeway speeds, and the electric range is just too little to justify the price difference vs the gasoline-only Prius. Toyota is betting on fuel cells.


You apparently haven't driven a Plugin Prius. The current model is programmed to run in EV Mode at speeds up to 62 mph, but mine has been known to stay in EV at 65. The overall mileage exceeds that of the regular Prius significantly, at 81 mpg lifetime, with approximately 43% in EV Mode. My two prior Prius hatchbacks averaged 54 lifetime under similar driving conditions.
The new one due out this fall, which will be rated at 22 miles of EV range, will run at freeway speeds up to 84 mph on a full charge.
Not to take anything away from your Volt, or the 2016 nominal five passenger model. I would include them with the Ford Fusion Energi on my short list, if I were shopping now to replace my '12 Plugin. However, since the 85,000 HOV green stickers are gone ( I have #00012 ) I'm not ready to trade until at least 2019. I'm hoping for higher range, lower priced all electrics to come out by then.


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## madbrain (Jul 16, 2016)

Older Chauffeur said:


> You apparently haven't driven a Plugin Prius. The current model is programmed to run in EV Mode at speeds up to 62 mph, but mine has been known to stay in EV at 65. The overall mileage exceeds that of the regular Prius significantly, at 81 mpg lifetime, with approximately 43% in EV Mode. My two prior Prius hatchbacks averaged 54 lifetime under similar driving conditions.
> The new one due out this fall, which will be rated at 22 miles of EV range, will run at freeway speeds up to 84 mph on a full charge.
> Not to take anything away from your Volt, or the 2016 nominal five passenger model. I would include them with the Ford Fusion Energi on my short list, if I were shopping now to replace my '12 Plugin. However, since the 85,000 HOV green stickers are gone ( I have #00012 ) I'm not ready to trade until at least 2019. I'm hoping for higher range, lower priced all electrics to come out by then.


No, indeed, I have not driven a PiP. I only drive off-peak hours, and well above 62 on the freeway usually. My lifetime MPG with the Volt is 211MPG, with 84% of my miles being electric. I have had several months at 1000 MPG (not using gas at all). In December, I did the most driving - 1420 miles, and my MPG dropped to 84.

IMO, the battery in the PiP is too undersized A lot of people bought them just for the carpool sticker, and without ever charging it. But even for those who charged, the premium is unlikely to be recouped in gas savings, IMO.

It looks like Toyota will increase the battery size a bit in the next Prius Prime. However, they are also making it a 4-seater. 1 step forward, 1 step back.
I do wish the Volt was a 5-seater - I hate the console in the back. It is still the vehicle that makes the most sense for me, having driven 3 model years of the gas Prius, 1 model year of the EV Leaf, and now 1 model of the Volt. I hope to keep my Volt at least for 7 years - which will probably happen if I don't rideshare with it.


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## madbrain (Jul 16, 2016)

Uber clarified that the Volt won't qualify for UberX. So, that obviates the need for any gap insurance that would work in this case.


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