Turo is an app that allows car owners to rent out their car to earn some extra cash when they're not using it. They've just launched in Canada and are starting to gain some momentum on Alberta's streets and highways. Here's what you need to know about how your car insurance works when renting your car with Turo.
Chances are that your standard personal car insurance policy doesn't cover you while you're using your car for commercial reasons. Yet, more and more vehicle owners are making money lending out their driving services and even their cars these days. While users across Canada are starting to take advantage of Turo's peer to peer car rental service, Intact has been working behind the scenes to make sure those cars stay insured while on the road.
A New Product
Peer to peer concepts like Uber and Turo have been creating demand for more and more innovative insurance products for some time now. Traditional insurance contracts just don't have the wordings to allow for some of the developments that we've seen over the past few years. Under a standard Alberta personal auto insurance policy you are not normally covered when using your car for commercial purposes, including renting it out to people through Turo. Hence, Turo's relationship with Intact.
Intact has developed a product that ensures that Turo drivers are covered throughout the entire process. This new product is made up of two parts:
- Personal Auto Policy Permitting Car Sharing
- Commercial Fleet Policy
The car owner is responsible for the personal side of the product and Turo and Intact provide the Commercial Fleet Policy.
The personal side covers you while you drive to work, drop the kids off at school or run any of your daily personal errands with your vehicle. It operates as most other personal auto policies would. There is really only one difference to this policy: it allows you to automatically switch over to the Turo commercial fleet policy when you start using the service.
The commercial fleet policy starts working when ever you are delivering your vehicle to the renter and while the renter is using your vehicle. Once the vehicle is returned to you, your personal policy kicks back in.
What You Need to Do
To make it easier for car owners to use this service there is only one step Intact Insurance holders need to take. Simply phone your broker and inform them that you will be using the Turo car sharing service with your vehicle. They will be able to add Car Sharing to your policy and you'll be ready to go. There is no additional charge to add this to your Intact policy.
What If I Don't Have Intact
This only applies to Intact personal car insurance policy holders. Other insurance companies may allow the use of this service as well, but each company is different. If you are unsure if your company allows this, just give your broker a call and ask. As with any change in the use of the vehicle you will need to inform your broker anyways.
If you don't have Intact Insurance and would like to take advantage of their Car Sharing insurance policy give us a call or use the link below to quote your car insurance with Intact online:
