Insurance for app drivers. What should you know?

App taxi driving is one of the most common types of gig employment, and it offers both advantages and disadvantages compared with the traditional model of employment. It’s an oft-mentioned argument that you are your own boss with limitless flexibility – you can choose your own hours, take a day off at any time, and so on.

Then we have some of the negatives associated with gig employment – such as lack of benefits, isolation, and extra personal expenses. In the past, insurance for app drivers was also often considered an issue. However, we have come a long way regarding flexible solutions suitable for the gig economy – read on to learn why you need insurance as an app driver and why Cachet might be an optimal solution.

In the eyes of the law

A type of insurance that every vehicle must have is a motor third-party liability insurance or traffic insurance. It is mandatory for all vehicle owners in all EU countries, and this type of insurance will cover expenses in cases when your vehicle causes damage to a third party such as other vehicles, people, property, etc. Not having traffic insurance for the vehicle you’re driving is a violation of law – regardless whether you’re driving a car for personal purposes or as an app taxi. 

Traffic insurance, however, doesn’t cover any costs of repairs to your car or other expenses due to damage caused by a third party. This aspect sometimes causes misunderstandings between insurance providers and policy holders when the latter ones are denied compensations needed to fix their vehicles. 

Casco insurance comes in handy in such cases.

Casco for the extra line of defense

As we clarified, the traffic insurance only covers the damage you’ve caused to someone else. But  what if you collide with an animal on a countryside road or come out of a supermarket to find out that your car has been scratched and the culprit is nowhere to be found? Or perhaps worse, someone has stolen valuable belongings you left in the car trunk. Or the car itself? 

Luckily, there’s Casco insurance policy – an optional insurance for your vehicle that gives you the absolute best support when your car gets caught in an accident or receives other kinds of damage. 

Most insurance companies offer various levels of Casco – the more expensive ones offering more perks. Consider your situation – financial means, where you drive and how, what are the potential risks, and choose the policy that affords you a peace of mind.

But what about app drivers?

One of the challenges of the gig economy is that most of our laws and regulations have been built around the traditional economy. As various forms of gig employment become more prevalent, this will likely change. But at the moment, we are still in the transition period with associated uncertainty and challenges. 

That’s the case with insurance for app drivers. As traffic participants, they are required to have motor third party liability insurance. We know that plenty of app drivers do it as a side gig on the weekends or whenever they want to earn some pocket money. How much should they pay for their insurance? Surely a Sunday app driver shouldn’t be paying as much as a full time driver.

Cachet leading the way with flexible insurance

Cachet has seized the opportunity to offer tailor-made insurance plans for app taxi drivers. The new reality of the gig economy demands a more flexible approach to insurance. Imagine that you are an occasional app driver – last week, you didn’t drive at all; this week, you are planning to work on Saturday, and next week you might take a few passengers on weekday evenings. How to deal with insurance when you have such a sporadic schedule?

Cachet might be just the right solution – it avoids the rigid inflexibility of traditional policies. The price is based on the actual hours you spend doing your work. Let’s say you were interested in driving a taxi from time to time but were put off by the high prices quoted by insurance companies – Cachet allows you to buy taxi insurance based on your driving habits. That’s 100% transparency.

All you need to do is download the Cachet mobile app. You can purchase the insurance policy directly via the app and view and manage everything there – there is no need to bother with any paperwork. You can keep track of your working hours, and if something happens and you need to file a claim, that can be done directly in the app as well. Cachet can offer you various insurance options best suited to your needs, and you also have the option to pay in monthly installments if you live in Estonia.

To conclude, the gig economy presents various new challenges for which our old tools are often ill-suited. Insurance for app drivers used to be one of these instances, but that changed with the inception of apps like Cachet – now, you can focus on your job with the knowledge that your insurance has been taken care of – and without lightening your wallet too much.