Rideshare car insurance

If you drive for Uber or Didi, or are planning to, you’ll need rideshare insurance. In many cases, this can be as simple as adding rideshare cover to your personal car insurance if they offer that option.

If not, you can look at other insurers that offer it, or even standalone rideshare policies. In this guide, we’ll walk through how rideshare insurance works and the options you can choose from.

So let's dig in!

Rideshare insurance is car insurance that is designed to cover rideshare drivers for damages they cause while driving for Uber, Didi, Shebah or other rideshare service in Australia. 

It can be considered a type of business (or commercial) car insurance. 

Given how widespread rideshare services are these days, and how you might be using the exact same car for business purposes one minute and personal reasons the next - a growing number of car insurance companies are covering both types of use cases under one policy.

It all boils down to business vs. personal use. If an insurance company offers a rideshare insurance policy, that policy will cover you for both use-cases, and there are typically three main ways they handle it.

In all cases, you should expect to pay a higher premium due to the extra driving you’ll be doing and the unique risks associated with rideshare driving.

Here are the three main ways insurers structure rideshare cover:

• Extension of your personal policy. Some insurers let you add rideshare cover to an existing personal policy, usually as an add-on or extension.
• Specific rideshare insurance policy. Policies written specifically for rideshare drivers that also include personal use.
• Business car insurance policy. Some insurers place you on a business car policy once your rideshare driving reaches a certain threshold.

The table below sums up the key benefits and drawbacks of each option:

These policies may be labelled differently, but they cover similar ground. It’s a good idea to get quotes from a few providers, since what looks more expensive at first, such as a business policy, could still work out cheaper based on your unique circumstances. Always check the product disclosure statements to make sure the cover is the right fit for you.

Depending on your specific circumstances, there are a few levels and types of car insurance that are required by either the government, the rideshare company or whoever lent the money or provided the lease for your car.

Let’s have a look: 

Compulsory Third Party insurance: required by law

Compulsory third-party (CTP) insurance, also called your green slip, is mandatory in all states whether you’re a rideshare driver or not, and covers injuries you cause to yourself, your passengers, pedestrians, plus drivers and passengers of other cars. 

Third-party property insurance: required by the rideshare companies

Third-party property (TPP) insurance is the minimum level of property-related insurance, covering you for damages you cause to other peoples’ property, including their car, personal items, animals and any stationary items along the road - like someone’s fence or a public lamppost.

Both Uber and DiDi require you to add this level of cover, as a minimum, to your CTP.  

It doesn’t cover damage to your car unless you add fire and theft cover, which only applies in those situations. Rideshare companies don’t require the fire and theft add-on.

Comprehensive car insurance: required by your lender or lessor

Comprehensive car insurance covers everything TPP does, plus damage to your car from things like accidents you cause, bad weather, uninsured drivers and more. 

If you owe money on your car or are leasing it from a rideshare car leasing company, they may require you to have comprehensive car insurance to protect the asset until you’ve paid it off or returned it.

While companies like Uber, Did and Shebah may offer some insurance, it’s more like workers’ compensation insurance than car insurance. Meaning it covers your own injuries and financial losses from accidents while driving, such as hospital bills, disability, assault and funeral costs. What it doesn’t cover is damage to your car or other people’s property, so you still need your own policy for that.

The best car insurance will differ based on your needs and unique circumstances. If you’re just dipping your toe in the water to see if ridesharing is right for you, a good way to go about it is to find a familiar brand that offers insurance for personal use, and will then extend that policy to cover ridesharing. That way, if you decide to stop ridesharing, you can simply remove the rideshare cover and keep your same policy.  

Many large insurers, including QBE, RACV and Australia Post offer rideshare cover through comprehensive car insurance. You’ll need to tell the insurer you’re driving for Uber, and there may be limits on hours or kilometres.

Not all Australian car insurance companies offer rideshare insurance. Here are a few recognisable insurers that do: