Uber Canada has ‘plenty of insurance coverage’ but is unwilling to share details of exactly what that coverage is for ‘competitive business reasons.’
The company is asking a judge in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to seal all details about the insurance policy, according to the Toronto Star, arguing the company’s “competitive advantage” would be lost with disclosure.
Uber claims that if the information became public, the companies marketing competitor apps could simply copy the terms.
According to a court affidavit, the insurance policy, which covers up to $5 million (US) for drivers, is so secret that very few people have seen it, even within Uber.
Henry Gustav Fulder, director of insurance for parent company Uber Technologies Inc. in San Francisco, states in an affidavit that the company’s insurance policy is not a standard automobile liability product. According to Fulder, it is a new product specifically designed to address the peer-to-peer transportation market (where Uber links drivers using their personal vehicles with riders through its smartphone app).
Rasier – Uber’s wholly-owned subsidiary – holds contracts with Uber’s drivers. Raisier said it spent seven months working with its insurance broker and multiple insurers in Canada and other countries to develop a policy to meet their needs, according to the Star.
According to Fulder’s affidavit, “procuring this coverage for Canada was accomplished after similar products were developed for Rasier or affiliated companies for us in Europe and the United States, but before P2P (peer-to-peer) services could be requested through the Uber App in Canada.”
Uber has been under fire from municipalities right across Canada, but the motion seeking a court order to seal the information is related to the City of Toronto’s application for a court injunction to block Uber’s operations here.
That hearing is scheduled to be heard in May.
Tracy Cook, the City of Toronto’s executive director of municipal licensing and standards, said at a news conference that Uber poses a risk to residents, and that anyone using the service does so at their own peril. (continued.)
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Tracey Cook, executive director of municipal licensing and standards, said at a news conference that the service poses a risk to the residents of Toronto, and users of the service do so at their own peril.
“Anyone driving as an Uber driver is doing so in violation of city bylaws,” said Cook.
According to CBC News, Cook said Uber has been operating in the city since 2012 and has committed at least 36 bylaw infractions in that time.
Calgary, Alta. has already banned Uber and Vancouver, B.C. is considering doing the same.
Bylaw officers in Ottawa conducted a sting in October and fined two Uber drivers, and future sting operations are anticipated
Montreal, Que. Mayor Denis Coderre has gone on the record stating that he believes Uber is illegal.
