Metromile is an insurance company that teamed up with Uber and offers a per mile insurance policy. Why does Metromile warrant an article? Because most insurance companies don’t want to insure ride-share drivers, and if they do agree, they will offer large premium’s the same way they insure taxi drivers. So, one of the biggest concerns for Uber drivers is insurance, and rightly so.
Metromile:
Metromile is an insurance company that insures you for the actual miles you drive. This means you only pay for actual driving and not parked car time. How do they do this? They install a “Metronome” which is a recording device that is attached to the car’s OBD-II port and tracks the cars actual mileage as it drives. It is a handy add-on since it will give an accurate mile tracking for all your driving, which you can use to compare to your Uber mileage recording feature in their app.
The insurance policy includes a flat fee payable monthly and an additional fee for extra miles. So this means you pay more insurance for more mileage, which might not seem like a great idea for an Uber driver, but wait, and you will see the advantages.
Metromile Pros:
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The less you drive, the less you pay. Metromile has a standard base rate, quite cheap and a pay per mile addition. -
Its got major insurance backing, so you are not trusting in a weak company. -
Metromile has an app: Pulse, which offers daily updates and can also diagnose car problems as well as work as a car locator. -
The coverage is complete offering pet injury protection and a comprehensive collision coverage.
Metromile Cons:
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Metromile coverage is sparse; it only covers a few states. -
Their car add-on and car tracking raise privacy questions, this would not be an issue, but because they track mileage time, they are tracking all your daily movements. -
It’s a mile saving policy, focused on driving time and fuel costs rather than safe driving issues that standard insurers cover.
Uber Only
The Uber-Metromile plan only covers Uber miles recorded, so if you have another ride-share company, you will not get coverage. You will receive personal coverage, but at a standard Metromile rate and not the negotiated Uber rate.
In regards to Lyft and other ride-share companies, here is a how you would work with Metromile insurance:
You are working for Uber and Lyft, you drive around 100 miles on the trip, and on, you might drive for five minutes or more without a rider while connected to Uber. Your Lyft app can be on as well since the Metromile app will know when you are driving with Uber. You drive 100 miles for Uber and 25 miles with Lyft and 25 miles without any app open. Metromile will not charge you for the Uber miles, that’s $0. They will charge your $0.25 per mile while you drove around without passengers and will charge you $1.25 for Lyft and when you were driving home.
This is a really interesting option if you only drive for Uber. If you drive for Lyft, then you will incur more expenses. This doesn’t mean you can’t sign a separate policy with Metromile for all Non-Uber activities.In fact, this might be your best option.
Here is a comparison table presenting the various insurance coverage schemes for ride-share drivers, (Note, we didn’t discuss standard insurance coverage because we expect our readers to know about this, that is why we just explained about Metromile.) (Source: Nerdwallet)