Florida Uber Driver Insurance Bill Gains traction

January 29, 2016

On January 19, 2016, the Florida Senate Banking and Insurance committee unanimously advanced an “Uber bill” that would set statewide insurance standards for drivers of ride-sharing services. The panel voted 10-0 to send Senate Bill 1118 to the next step in the legislative process.

The senate bill was filed by Senator David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, and sets separate minimum coverage requirements for when drivers are personally using their vehicles and when drivers are logged into transportation network companies’ apps.

The bill would require transportation network company drivers to carry primary automobile insurance coverage of at least $50,000 for death and bodily injury per person, $100,000 for death and bodily injury per incident, and $25,000 for property damage, under Simmons’ bill. Also, the insurer must be aware that the driver provides TNC services, and the policy must still apply while the driver is logged into a TNC app to receive ride requests but is not in the act of transporting a paying passenger, according to the bill.

“There exists no mechanism in the state of Florida to require that the company even have any insurance,” Simmons said. “My goal is to provide coverage to the person who is the driver and the riders and the persons who may be injured as third parties in the event of an accident.”

S.B. 1118 also provides definitions of TNCs, drivers and other elements of the service, and requires that TNCs cooperate with any claims investigations, including providing precise times that a driver logged on and off the company’s digital network for the 12-hour periods immediately before and after an accident.

The bill aims to go into effect January 1, 2017, and includes a section preempting local governments from imposing any insurance requirements on TNCs.

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