Uber drivers should check if they are properly insured: Insurance Bureau

The Alberta government says people are taking a risk if they use ride-sharing services such as Uber.

Steve Kee recommends Uber drivers – and those working for other similar services – call their insurance providers to determine whether they are adequately covered.

“So unless that driver has contacted their insurance company…then any passenger that gets into that vehicle is going to be at risk just as will the driver and a bystander”.

It was Monday afternoon when the provincial Superintendent of Insurance told Albertans that Uber drivers and passengers are likely not covered in the event of a crash.

Some insurance policies only provide coverage for personal automobile use, which could lead to a rejected claim if the driver is using their vehicle to generate income, a spokesman for the Insurance Bureau of Canada said. “This is now not the case in Alberta”. He stated that there is a way for ride-share app drivers to get coverage, explaining “what a driver could do is go to their own insurer and explain that they are interested in driving for a ride-sharing company and ask for a commercial endorsement to be added to their policy”.

Prefontaine said his office pushed hard to convince the corporation to release its insurance policy.

Uber issued a statement in response, and said it’s working with regulators and insurers in Alberta on the insurance issue, but said every ride with the company is insured.

Questions about insurance prompted the city to seek an injunction against Uber while it figured out a way to allow the service to operate legally in Edmonton.

Transportation Minister Brian Mason set up an inter-departmental working group to create a regulatory framework for companies such as Uber to operate safely.

“The bottom line is this: every ride on Uber is insured”, he said in a written statement.