Advertisement

Insurance doubts for Uber drivers

WA UberX drivers could be exposing themselves to significant financial risks despite assurances from the ride-hailing business that they are covered.

Prospective drivers, such as Queens Park man Liam Ducey, have been told by Uber representatives their insurers will honour claims, only to find that was not the case.

Only one insurer contacted by The West Australian – SGIO – said they had made a “discretionary decision” to cover members who revealed they drove for UberX.

The rest, including RAC, AAMI and QBE, said driving for UberX would void their private and commercial policies.

Despite this, Uber lists third-party property insurance as a requirement for UberX drivers.

It is one of many regulatory grey areas dogging the expansion of the global giant in WA, where 20 UberX drivers have now been charged for breaching taxi laws since the service launched last July.

The first alleged UberX driver prosecuted in Perth, Sukhwinder Singh, appeared in court this month charged with operating a vehicle as a taxi without taxi plates and camera surveillance.

The charges carry maximum fines of $5000 each.

A further 19 prosecutions were announced this week.

State and national taxi bodies, whose members are being drastically undercut, have accused Uber of praying on the naivety of drivers, but Uber maintains its drivers are protected by $5m contingent liability cover through a US-based insurer.

The $5m third-party policy is believed to be untested in Australia and details are few and far between.

When The West Australian asked for a copy of the policy's product disclosure statement, a spokeswoman for Uber Australia said: “Not sure what a PDS is.”

After the PDS concept was explained, she said details were not given to the media because of “commercial confidentiality.”

There was no reply to a follow-up email asking if Uber shared such details with its UberX drivers.

The Insurance Council of Australia has continued to warn Australians that UberX is an illegal service excluded from the majority of Australian insurance policies.

ICA spokesman Campbell Fuller said while insurers were not anti-Uber, there were serious concerns that WA UberX drivers – Uber claims there are more than 1000 of them – were unwittingly exposing themselves to risk.

Mr Ducey, 32, decided he would sign up with UberX between jobs earlier this year.

As requested by Uber, he paid for a medical check-up, obtained a police clearance, applied for an F-class extension to his driver's licence and changed his CTP insurance class to *3F' through the Department of Transport.

As he was waiting for his F-class extension, his girlfriend asked him to double check that their comprehensive car insurance would cover him while driving for UberX.

After learning it would not, he asked Uber Perth for clarification and received a reply via email.

“There are a HEAP of driver who have received insurance through AAMI, SGIO, RAC, etc etc,” Uber Perth said.

“All you need to ask for is 3rd party or comprehensive insurance. You are not required to have commercial insurance. Uber has insurance while you're in trip.”

Mr Ducey said he supported the Uber concept, but he believed it should be “put on ice” until the regulatory issues were resolved.

“It just seems like there's something they aren't telling you,” he said.

“You can't get a straight answer and that tends to indicate there's something wrong.

“I think a lot of the people driving for them aren't covered as well as they think they are and I think Uber are being a bit dodgy in not saying anything about it.

“The real question is what happens when an Uber driver gets into a serious accident which leaves them with serious injuries?”

An Uber spokeswoman said the State Government had voted to remove the regulatory barriers faced by Uber, a San Francisco-based company operating in 58 countries and valued at nearly $50bn.

The chairman of the Liberal Party’s policy committee in WA, Tom White, is also Uber's demand manager in Perth.

The Department of Transport is finalising a draft green paper on the taxi industry which will be submitted to Transport Minister Dean Nalder next month and then released for public comment later this year.