Vero Car Insurance Claim s – Uber Drivers UNINSURED!

According to the recent NZ Herald report, people who use their car to offer Uber services will not be covered under private vehicle insurance. Vero car insurance claim spokesperson Richard Goodman has issued a warning to those who rent out their cars for commercial use including Uber drivers and says they should check their insurance cover as claims are likely to be declined.

The article quotes Vero’s technical manager Richard Godman but the message applies to all insurance policies and all insurance companies. The Herald article below explains further.

Vero says the sharing economy is changing the way we use our assets and belongings – and blurring the lines of traditional insurance policies. “The rise of platforms that allow us to rent out our personal belongings mean that people are now making money from their cars, homes, clothes and even their money.” But he said that raised questions for insurers about when something you own stopped being for personal use and started to be a commercial asset. Beware before you think about lodging a Vero car insurance claim.

“For insurers, the sharing economy changes the amount of risk that assets face and makes it harder to put things into traditional commercial and personal insurance buckets.” Godman said that meant Uber drivers or those who used other paid for ride-sharing services would not be covered by a Vero car insurance claim under a private car policy.

“We have a clear exclusion for that.” Drivers will still be covered for a Vero car insurance claim for private use but if you have an accident while carrying fee-paying passengers you won’t be. Godman said they may need to change their insurance for commercial insurance. While that could result in a higher premium cost he said the alternative was to not be covered at all by a Vero car insurance claim and face the full cost of replacing a vehicle or paying for damage to another person’s car. “The ramifications for not doing so would be worse than the premium increase,” he said.

He suggested the best advice was to read your insurance policy wording. The last thing you want is a nasty surprise when making a Vero car insurance claim.

Godman said the changes had been so quick the insurance industry was still adapting but in the future there could be hybrid policies to cover people who use their property in different ways.

 

Uber drivers beware – you’re not covered for a Vero car insurance claim – talk to Crash Management for more info, we’re here to help with a Vero car insurance claim or any other insurance company.

For car insurance claims , repair assistance, and free replacement vehicles see https://crashmanagement.co.nz/clients/insurance-claims/

 

4 Responses

  1. Justin
    | Reply

    Yeah right Vero everyone reads their policy wording! I bet there’s nothing in there about forcing customers into your “SMART” shops though is there? I’m not sure where the ‘SMART” comes from either it’s the same technology top grade panel shops have all used for the last decade. Great to see the strategies working so well – sell them a policy full of exclusions AND set up your own panel shops doing all the quick and easy little jobs so the trade sqeezed even more then expect us to do the big smashes you can’t – thats SMART!

    • Broker 1979
      | Reply

      I think you’ll find customers do still have choice, this concept is an option, not compulsory .

  2. Broker 1979
    | Reply

    Uber drivers uninsured? And so they should be – “non disclosure”…

  3. Adrian
    | Reply

    Interesting debate from Justin. Our Fleet Manger was made aware of aware of the Vero Insurance smart repair “option” a few weeks ago when we were told by Vero to ignore the service arrangements Crash Management had made for one of my team. We’ve always had an excellent service record from you with reliability & convenience so Vero’s instruction was puzzling and confusing. Needless to say we proceeded with Crash Management’s service as usual. I understand a second attempted intervention has occured since then and that a complaint was passed on to our insurance brokers who had introduced the company to Crash Management originally. From what I’ve heard I think Vero are on thin ice verging on intimidation. I didn’t receive either of the Vero contacts but have been told the tone was VERY directive and included an ‘inducement’ of a discount on the excess to be paid on both car accidents which seems quite underhanded. Our Risk Manager also mentioned that any excess ‘discount’ will most likely just be added to next years fleet premium anyway. I do think customer choice is being compromised so Insurance Brokers need to be aware of this so they can make clients aware that Vero is both the insurer and the repairer (conflict of interest), and provide other insurer options . I hope Broker 1979 has taken note of all this too.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *