Uber in Waterloo Region

[ookpik]

Uber is willing to share the data with insurance companies

And yet as I understand it when Aviva does its post-claim underwriting they'll go to Uber to obtain the evidence that the driver violated the terms of the policy, e.g. drove more than 10 hours/week but had only <10 hr/wk coverage. So they must have some arrangement with Uber to get this data, at least on a special case basis.

Consider as well Uber's position. They want...
• insurers to cover their drivers in order to take the onus off Uber to provide a blanket policy (of questionable value to drivers) as they do now.
• to get legislators (and taxi companies) off their backs for the similar reasons.
• the cost of this insurance to be as low as possible in order to facilitate attracting drivers.
• they also want low insurance costs in order to stay competitive with taxis who pay higher commercial rates.

Uber has all sorts of incentives to cooperate with insurers. My inference is that it's the insurers (at least Aviva) who are too timid to innovate and/or all too willing to pass costs on to drivers. There's ample evidence of the latter in the auto insurance industry in general. 

Anyway it's most definitely good news that Uber drivers now have a way to get properly insured. My lament isn't with that but rather with the lost opportunity to leverage on Uber's technology.