If you click the link, it appears that drivers are very well insured on all fronts when driving for Uber. There is a minimum of 1 million smooth liability when transporting passengers, or when driving to pick up passengers. They also have underinsured, comp&collision etc..
Liability often specifically excludes medical coverage. Better read the fine print on that policy. Liability nowadays is a very specific (and relatively cheap) coverage in many places. Medical coverages are often "per seat" and limited by things like not driving for hire. "Smooth" liability is great. It may or may not explicitly cover medical claims.
The passenger can still sue, for anything they want, of course. (Hell, they can sue you for discrimination or anything they please really. You're a business in the eyes of the law, once you choose to drive for any of these places.)
If the liability coverage purchased excludes medical expenses, they can TRY to get the insurance company to pay up, and some may settle... But it won't be a simple claim and over with. At least not with my insurer. "Liability" coverage and "medical" coverage are two distinctly different things the way they wrote their policies.
Okay by me. Keeps my rates low and raises rates for a group with a higher likelihood of an accident by simply acknowledging that driving for hire usually puts one on the road X times the amount of hours more, and with more people on board, than a single driver who occasionally has passengers.
It's a little odd that Uber would require Comprehensive. That's going to fix the vehicle and that would seem to be the business of the owner of the vehicle, not Uber.
It's really just worth noting. We all run our various risks and take our chances. Even with "coverage" it's likely some lawyer or judge will change the plain language of what a policy means, because they feel like it. One can appeal, too, of course. But the costs of doing so are often bankruptcy-inducing and many years long. Especially at the pay grade of an Uber driver.
Imagine the "damages" an estate could claim of an accident in your car while you're driving a Wall Street banking exec around, and he or she is killed. That number will be astronomical. And their multiple lawyers will be on retainer anyway for the estate and the family so... Hope you can afford at least as good a firm as they can, whether covered or not. $1M won't even cover the first month of damages they'll claim.
Hell, $1M won't even cover the assumed real liability of picking up a typical upper middle class schmuck, once the lawyers get through explaining how much money he or she would have made to send the ankle-biters to college over the next 20 years. $1M is nothing nowadays in a significant Civil suit.
I doubt Uber lets you put a limit on the assets and earning power of the person who just got in your back seat.
Our legal system will provide all the "Justice" you can afford. Caveat emptor. If you have significant personal assets, you'll be "enjoying" wondering whether you get to keep them as the case wanders through the Court system for years.
The good news is, most Uber drivers probably don't have deep pockets so the estate's lawyers get to battle it out with the insurance company lawyers while the "independent contractor" lies in a hospital bed with bills of their own, and Mr. Upper Middle Class' family tearfully authorizes the Estate's attorney to get every penny they can out of the poor dude.
Uber is great. For the folks running the website. For the drivers? Probably not so much. But maybe the paycheck is worth it to them, as long as nothing happens.
Here's a general thought: If you go to work for someone who makes you carry your own insurance and makes you sign a waiver that even though you're making THEM money, that you're not an employee and you're not covered by anything more than the equivalent of a $50-$75/year (if you buy one personally) $1M liability policy... you'd better have nothing real to lose, and they'd better be paying you real well to augment that personal liability.
Nobody would do it in any other business.
They're taking advantage of the need for a paycheck and the low assets of most folks willing to drive around picking up their customers.
I have a $1M personal liability policy and it's cheap cheap cheap. Mainly it's there to cover liability of being involved in various Boards of Directors and Officer positions of organizations too small to afford their volunteer Officers and Directors any liability coverage.
It protects my assets from being eaten up defending against the actions of a doofus representing any of those organizations, since I could be named personally in a lawsuit for their wrongdoing, with my name on the State-filed Officers and Directors list.
$1M is probably too low, but it's essentially "go away, I didn't make that decision nor condone it", money to pay for my attorney. Any good attorney is going to pull that list and name everyone even remotely involved.
Don't know (haven't looked to see) if an Uber driver has killed anyone with significant assets yet, but one will, and the case law created during the trial will be quite entertaining to read, if the lawyers don't settle and seal the amount paid by all parties, behind privacy laws. Which is by far the most common outcome, unless someone wants to be idealistic about something.
Uber has made it very clear that beyond that $1M, most of which will go to pay attorneys, that the driver is on their own. Whether a Judge or Jury will agree, probably remains to be seen. (Again, haven't looked for cases... But would happily read through one for entertainment value if it doesn't cost any money to pull a copy of it.)
