Auto Insurance for Gig Drivers

[Recyclersteve]

Does anyone know where a gig driver can get auto insurance without paying an arm and a leg? I deliver food, dinners and nonfoods (think packages like UPS delivers). I drive for Amazon Flex, UberEats and Roadie. I had insurance with GEICO and they cancelled my policy since my car was being “used for deliveries”. In checking around I’ve found that a number of companies just don’t offer that type of insurance at any price. Others that offer it, like Progressive, are sky high at $2,100+/year. How many people making minimum wage or less with no benefits who pay all car expenses can afford that?

Dominos Pizza has been delivering for what, 15-20 years now? I called a couple Dominoes stores to see who the drivers use and one of them told me he uses GEICO. If/when they find out what he is doing, he will have his policy cancelled.

There are literally millions of delivery drivers. I find it hard to believe that they are all paying sky high prices for insurance or lying to their insurance companies.

Even though the pay isn’t good, I like getting out of the house and working whenever I feel like it. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

[68Camaro]

Frankly, I suspect almost all like drivers simply lie by omission. Insurance companies have a right to charge proportional to risk, and commercial driving has higher risk. A rate like $2100 / year is similar to the rates charged to under 25 males; it doesn't strike me as ridiculous.

[Recyclersteve]

I do remember the really high insurance rates when I was a young whipper snapper many years ago.

Maybe I'm not explaining this properly. If Amazon has a commercial policy that covers me while I am delivering for them and I pay a $1,000 deductible on any claim made to Amazon, why would another company even care? If I am driving the car for personal reasons, I can see why the other company would care as they would need to pay out on a potential claim. My deductible is $1,000 either way, so to me it shouldn't make a difference who pays the claim.

But for a carrier to refuse to insure a car for a reason that should never apply to them doesn't make a difference. This isn't a perfect example, but think about a crane operator who needs to have insurance in case the crane drops something valuable while hoisting it. I can see where they would have a commercial policy paid for by their employer to cover the risk. But while the crane operator is driving their own personal car to and from work, that shouldn't suddenly become a real expensive proposition because they got a job as a crane operator.

What am I missing?

[68Camaro]

I would suspect first that it might be because your core policy is still at risk in the event of an incident. There is probably no exclusion in it that prevents the insurance company from having to cover you for part of a claim, and if there is a major incident - say a fatality with a large claim - the opposing side will sue all insurers.