Commercial insurance a top issue as Mass. lawmakers deliberate over Uber, Lyft

Massachusetts’s insurance agents’ association weighs in on Uber’s current insurance claims and proposals on the table to regulate these cars-for-hire companies

By Josh Chetwynd

Insurance implications loom large as Massachusetts lawmakers debate how to regulate private ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft.

Last week, the state’s Financial Services Committee held hearings on four different bills that change the way these companies can do business in Massachusetts. Among the key elements of all these proposed pieces of legislation involves insurance requirements.

The state’s Public Safety Secretary Dan Bennett emphasized that any regulation should focus on safety issues. To that end, there is a major push for detailed background checks and proof of extensive insurance coverage.

For their part, Uber says they’ve already embraced the state’s desire for its contractors to possess robust insurance protection. According to Uber East Coast general manager Meghan Joyce, each of their drivers is covered by $1 million in commercial liability insurance. She added that this level of coverage is 25 times what is required of taxi or limousine drivers in the state.

That said, the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents (MAIA) is cautious at this point about any claims of coverage. According to the association’s president and CEO Frank Mancini, Uber has yet to share the policy forms for their coverage with state regulators. Until that occurs, it’s unclear what the scope of the coverage might be.

For the MAIA, which offered testimony at recent hearings, agents are very much in a wait-and-see mode.

“Our primary interest in this whole debate is public safety,” he said. “Whatever regulation the state comes up with must have sufficient limits. Right now drivers have private insurance, but once they turn on that app they need commercial [coverage].”

Whatever the outcome, any form of insurance will mean more business, as there are an estimated 10,000 Uber drivers in Boston alone.

“Certainly there would be an opportunity for someone to offer coverage,” Mancini said.
 

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