RACT raises under-insurance fears for Tasmania’s growing number of Airbnb, Uber operators

A Tasmanian insurance provider is urging local Uber drivers and short-stay accommodation hosts to check if their assets are properly covered. If not, any claims may fall on deaf ears.

A TASMANIAN insurance provider is urging local Uber drivers and short-stay accommodation hosts to check their assets are properly covered, with new figures showing thousands may be exposed to risk.

The warning from RACT Insurance follows another from the Insurance Council of Australia that cars and houses used for commercial purposes may not be covered by existing insurance.

RACT Insurance CEO Trent Sayers says data collected in November showed there were more than 5000 Tasmanian properties listed with a popular short stay website.

“When we compare this figure with our data, we can make a fair assumption that a significant proportion of these properties may not have the appropriate insurance coverage for their homes and contents,” Mr Sayers said.

“In 2018, RACT Insurance received just 35 notifications from policy holders that their homes were being used as short stay accommodation. We are concerned there could be thousands of Tasmanian homeowners out there that may not have appropriate cover should the worst happen while a holiday-maker is staying at their property.”

Mr Sayers said RACT Insurance data for ride-share insurance policies told a similar story.

RACT Insurance CEO Trent Sayers says policy holders must notify their insurer of the intentions to start operating a ride-sharing or short-stay accommodation service.

“Data obtained from Transport Tasmania shows there were 873 vehicles registered as ‘ride-sourcing’ as of November 2018. These figures could be higher given some drivers may not have correctly registered their vehicles yet,” he said.

EXPERT ADVICE What to do if you have a ride-share car or home-share house: Before starting any ride-share or home-share activities, speak with your insurer. Some insurers will not extend their services to cover these activities, so it’s important to check with them to ensure you have adequate coverage. This could result in an increase in premium or a change to your excess. Failure to disclose these activities could affect your claim.

“Our data indicates we only received notifications from 104 policy holders, letting us know their vehicles were being used for ride sharing, less than 11 per cent of the current fleet.”

Mr Sayers said a small number of insurers now provided cover for ride-share vehicles and short-stay properties, but typically policy holders must notify their insurer of their intentions before commencing their services.

“If you fail to disclose this information and you need to make a claim, it may have an impact on your claim,” Mr Sayers said.

He said short-stay homeowners could also reduce their risk by removing valuables and irreplaceable possessions like artworks, jewellery or collectors’ items during the short-term stay and by ensuring their properties were safe and secure.

“Ride-share operators can reduce their risk by ensuring that GPS and mobile devices are not interfered with while driving,” he said.