Friday, July 1, 2011

Risks of car-sharing

Hank Stern at InsureBlog has posted on the risks to car-owners who sign up with car-sharing companies, which coordinate the very short-term rental of private individuals' cars to local people who need to, say, make a grocery run. (These companies should not be confused with Zipcar, which rents out its own cars.)

I strongly agree with Hank's basic point, which is that you should be cautious about insurance issues before signing up with a car-sharing company, because there may be no coverage under your policy if the car is involved in an accident while rented out.

Hank points out that one car-sharing company states that it provides liability coverage to renters, and therefore presumably not to the owners. If he's right then the car-sharing company has demonstrated a shocking lack of judgment, and no one should sign up with it. It is not worth the risk.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

https://relayrides.com/owners/common-questions

Would you comment on the insurance terms here please?

Nina Kallen said...

I can't comment on a specific program. (My own malpractice carrier wouldn't like it.) I would say that, generally, if you are considering whether insurance is adequate you need to weigh the likelihood that a loss will occur, the likelihood that a loss will exceed the policy limit, and the cost of the insurance.

Nina Kallen said...

And, of course, what and who is covered and excluded.

tiki said...

nice article
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