What you need to know about insurance guidelines when driving or riding with Uber and Lyft.

Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft are revolutionizing how people get around. Through their smartphone applications, people can hail independent but are pre-screened drivers who use their personal cars. The upside for the rider is a cheaper ride that avid smartphone users find easier to hail than a traditional cab. There has been some concern about these companies, though. Specifically, people have run into trouble regarding whose auto insurance protects where. For clarity on that subject, new insurance guidelines for companies like Uber and Lyft went into effect on July 1^st. Here's a look at how those new guidelines work: Phase 1: The App Is Turned On: When a driver turns on his or her rideshare app, indicating ability to pick up a passenger, he or she begins commercial activity. As a result, his or her personal auto insurance policy is nullified. Under the new guidelines, the rideshare company's commercial coverage goes into effect at this point even though that driver has not yet been notified of a passenger in need of a ride. Phase 2: The Driver Is On The Way To Pick Up A Passenger: Once the driver accepts a ride and is en route to pick up that passenger, his or her rideshare company's commercial coverage limits have to increase under the new guidelines. Phase 3: The Driver Picks Up The Passenger And Completes The Ride: The same, higher-limit coverage from the rideshare company covers the driver and the passenger. Once the driver drops off his or her passenger, his or her coverage reverts back to the lower limits in Phase 1. Do you have more questions about whose auto insurance covers you when driving for or riding with a rideshare company? If so, contact Weeks & Associates Insurance Services in Thousand Oaks, California!