I recently wrote about travel insurance with a focus on insurance for home exchange. Just a few days later Peers launched an insurance product for workers in the sharing economy. While this product doesn’t cover travelers, it does address some of the risks faced by sharing economy workers within the United States.
Peers recently re-launched their website as a tool for workers in the sharing economy, “making the sharing economy work for the people who power it.” People can find jobs, calculate earnings, get community advice, and get tax and legal advice. One of their first acts of service to workers was the launch of an insurance product for people offering their homes for rent through sites like AirBnB and those driving for peer to peer taxi services like Lyft.
Peers describes their home insurance product, which can be used with any company through which people can rent out homes:
Homesharing Liability Insurance is personal liability insurance that covers you for all your homesharing, no matter which website you use. We know you need simple solutions to make your homesharing easy and safe, and that means one policy that covers you for all your homesharing. Homesharing Liability Insurance covers:
- Bodily injury to your guest, up to $1 million
- Property damage to your guest, up to $1 million
- Lost income as a result of major damage to your home by your guest, up to 3 months’ income or $5,000
Oh, and you also said you wanted it to be affordable too, so it’s $36/month, only for the months you need it. Only homeshare once a year when you go away for summer vacation? No problem, just pay for the month you’re gone.
The driver insurance can be purchased by peer to peer taxi drivers and delivery drivers. Peers explains how it works:
Keep Driving helps ridesharing drivers feel more stable in their earnings, by protecting you from being unable to drive after your car has been damaged in an accident. You told us that one of your biggest concerns was relying 100% on your car to be able to work, as the ridesharing platforms don’t allow you to work in a borrowed or rented car. …
Keep Driving keeps you in business after you’ve been in an accident, giving you access to a 2015 Prius free of charge so you can keep earning. It’s only available in the Bay Area, and space is limited, so register now at the introductory $19.99/month rate
These products address one of the major concerns of contract workers in the sharing economy. Though they don’t deal with all aspects of insurance needed. For instance, drivers need to know that their personal car insurance will cover liability for injury to riders and damage to their car that happens while working. Some insurance policies don’t include coverage for accidents that happen while the covered driver is driving for pay.
I’m definitely not an insurance expert, and so I encourage everyone to think about what you need covered before engaging in any new activities, whether it’s working in the sharing economy or traveling using sharing economy services. Find out what your existing insurance covers so that you are fully informed about any gaps and risks.