The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) believes that Newfoundland and Labrador’s extremely limited number of insurance companies could present a challenge for the emerging car-sharing market.
Car-sharing service Turo announced last week that it would be launching in NL, in time for the tourism season. Unlike ridesharing, where hosts serve as drivers for guests, a car-sharing service like Turo would see hosts instead lease their vehicles to guests. Turo hopes that its services come at an opportune time for NL, as the province is experiencing a significant shortage of rental cars for tourists to use.
The company has noted that insurance is available to both Turo hosts and guests, through a partnership with Economical Insurance.
When asked about their thoughts on Turo’s NL launch, IBC Atlantic vice president Amanda Dean commented that car-sharing platforms have already conducted operations in other provinces for years, so “there is no reason to suppose it will not work in NL.”
In a statement to VOCM News, Dean, explained that as the sharing economy expands, there will be a corresponding growing need for new insurance products that meet the unique needs of gig economy businesses. But at the end of the day, gig companies will make their own decisions in terms of which risks they can and cannot support, the vice president commented.
While Economical has Turo’s back for its NL launch, not all car-sharing services will be as fortunate to partner with an insurer – Dean pointed out that there are “far fewer” insurers operating in NL relative to other Canadian provinces, which presents a challenge to sharing economy businesses. The vice president also told VOCM News that since the announcement of Turo’s NL launch, conversations in the industry are “happening quickly,” and that local insurers look forward to continuing their support for their clients.
