<prompt> Human: Ive seen threads where someone says they need to earn extra money and some folks will suggest becoming an UberLyft driver. I am just trying to make everyone aware of the potential personal finance risks of driving for a ridesharing program from an insurance perspective.Almost all personal auto policies contain an exclusion stating there is no coverage for an insureds ownership or operation of a vehicle while it is being used as a public or livery conveyance, except that the exclusion does not apply to a share-the-expense car pool. This is the exact policy language from the standard ISO Insurance Services Office personal auto policy. Your insurer may not use the ISO policy language but your policy almost definitely contains a similar exclusion. So what does a public or livery conveyance mean? It has been defined as transporting persons or property for a fee. Some ridesharing companies have tried to get around this exclusion by charging a donation instead of a flat fee but from what Ive seen in claims adjustments-- insurance companies still define a donation based service as for-hire livery and will apply the coverage exclusion.So what all of that means is that if you are transporting a passenger for a fee-- your personal auto coverage does not apply in any way. You are not afforded liability, physical damage, or medical payments.I will say Uber and Lyft have gotten a lot better over the last year because what I saw in 2013 was drivers assumed because they had 1M in coverage that these companies like to talk about so much, that they were covered. A lot of people didnt realize that 1M was just liability coverage so what would happen is they would get in an accident, the ridesharing company would pay for the other partys damages and then the personal auto insurance would deny payout on collision so some drivers ended up with totalled cars that they were still making payments on that the insurance company was not legally liable to cover. The ridesharing companies have addressed this gap somewhat by offering contingent comprehensivecollision if you already carry it on your personal auto policy but at pretty high deductibles so you need to be aware that even if you carry a 500 deductible on your personal auto insurance for collision, with Lyft youre going to pay a 2500 deductible and the max they will pay is 50,000 so if your vehicle is worth more than that the rest is out of pocket. Your medical payments coverage is not covered by the ride sharing company so if you have a passenger in the car and you wreck, you better have good medical insurance. Lastly, even with some of these gaps addressed-- once you report a claim your personal auto insurance is almost guaranteed to set up your policy for cancellationnon-renewal due to you violating the terms of the contract. At this point, most insurance companies are requiring that rideshare drivers carry a commercial policy similar to what a taxi is required to carry and those policies can be OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive depending on your state and will almost definitely be more than the amount youll make driving with a ridesharing company. Youre going to find it very difficult to find personal auto insurance at this point, one Geico insured had to send a certified letter stating she would never drive for a ridesharing company again before Geico would reissue a personal policy.TL;DR: If you drive for a ridesharing company, you are almost definitely invalidating your personal auto insurance. You are leaving gaps in your insurance coverage and may get your personal policy cancelled or non-renewed. Edit: Also interesting, after I posted this a news story came out of Tampa that their public transportation commission is now charging drivers with misdemeanors for operating without a permit.  <response>: The reasoning that the claim gets denied by your first party coverage your insurance is because of how the policy is written.Each coverage liability, collision, comprehensive, etc has policy language that lays out what is covered and what is not covered. There is a specific section that takes away coverage in certain situations, referred to as exclusions. I have seen a lot of the major insurance carriers policies auto and home, and they all have exclusions for business use. From experience, business use is one of the harder exclusions that is used to deny coverage. For example, pizza delivery is covered on most standard policies. The reason that LyftUber is always denied for all coverage is because you are transporting a person which drastically increases the exposure for risk the company is taking.I see a different result as compared to OP when it comes to the policy standing with the company. Our underwriters will usually look more into the matter to see if it was something that was their only source of income or if it was something they did for a little bit etc. As was mentioned in OPs post, ensuring that you have a way to cover your medical expenses is very important. If the company is providing liability coverage and you get in an accident that is your fault, anyone injured will be covered under the liability but if you are injured, that will not be. Medical claims can become insanely expensive very quickly depending on what is done. I have seen a flight for life cost nearly 80,000.00.TLDR; policies exclude business use...make sure you have some way to pay medical bills after an accident.Source: Claims adjuster 