Welcome to Ask Clark, a column designed to answer your financial questions by money expert Clark Howard.
My Auto Insurer Won’t Cover Me While I’m Driving for a Food Delivery App. What Should I Do?
John from Kansas asks: “My wife and I are both retired. We recently started doing food delivery for a popular app on a part-time basis. I figured I should tell my auto insurance company so they can make any necessary adjustments. They told me today that while doing these food deliveries, we were not coverable. That shocks me, so what should we do?
Clark’s Take on What to Do If Your Auto Insurer Won’t Cover You When You Drive as a Side Hustle
Clark says: “The insurance industry has so much trouble responding to changes in the marketplace, and it varies by auto insurer how they treat people driving for Lyft or Uber or any gig job where they’re using their vehicle.”
While Clark thinks a forward-thinking insurer should have some kind of rider or coverage that gig workers can add to their regular auto coverage, he says it’s best to keep searching for companies that will work with you.
“Many of the gig-working apps where you are using your own vehicle have coverage they make available to you that steps in where your own automobile insurance doesn’t cover you,” says Clark. So that would be the most important thing for you to do if you don’t want to switch auto insurers.”
“See if the particular food delivery app you’re working for does offer you coverage, since your own automobile insurer doesn’t. If they don’t, then you need to look at another food delivery app, then another and another until you find one that steps in to cover that gap that’s left by your own automobile insurer.”
As Clark alluded to, some gig economy companies, such as Uber and Lyft, offer supplemental auto insurance, but the policies are limited. For instance, the policies are in force only when you have the app turned on.
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