Farmers Insurance is expanding its appetite for ridesharing risk by providing new insurance products in states with legislation specifically requiring enhanced coverage for drivers with companies like Uber, Lyft or Sidecar.
The carrier announced the availability of Farmers Rideshare in Arkansas this week, in response to Act 1267, which was signed into law in early April and asks that ride-hailing drivers be covered from the moment they turn on their rideshare app.
Most ridesharing companies’ insurance policies do not cover drivers until they have been matched with a passenger.
The Farmers product offers comprehensive and collision coverage for drivers who are involved in an accident after switching on their app, as well as coverage for both uninsured and underinsured drivers and medical payments.
“Farmers Rideshare will provide Farmers coverage customers during Period 1, which begins once a driver turns on the ride-hailing application and is awaiting a match,” the company said in a press release. “The coverage will extend a driver’s Farmers auto insurance coverage until they accept a ride, at which point their [company] affiliate’s insurance applies.”
Farmers also introduced the product in Utah last month after Governor Gary Herbert signed a bill that requires drivers to be continuously covered with at least $1 million in liability insurance.
The endorsement adds roughly $15 a month to the customer’s premium – a considerably lower financial burden than purchasing a commercial auto policy.
The carrier is the first insurer in both states to offer an insurance solution for ride-hailing drivers. Several other insurers have introduced ridesharing products to cover this coverage gap at large, however, including
GEICO, USAA and
Allstate.
Ridesharing companies like Uber have largely fought against the requirements and even left states like Kansas that have required it to provide what it deems as “onerous” coverage amounts.
“People have operated their private vehicles for business purposes for decades and never needed this level of insurance: pizza delivery, lawyers driving clients, healthcare workers with patients, etc. have never had to carry this level of insurance,” Uber spokeswoman Jennifer Mullin said in a previous interview.
