But does that really apply in the case of Uber? Honest question. You are agreeing to perform a task, in this case, driving an individual from point A to point B for a set $ amount. You can see that dollar amount and decide to take it or not, correct? So, if you get injured in a car accident you are covered by your or the other driver's insurance. If this is a side job, not your full time work then you could have health insurance on top of that. So where exactly is the problem here? Now, this isn't speaking to the so called "gig economy" in general because I think that each company is responsible for its own rules and actions when it comes to labor. If one company fails to pay an honest wage and exploits its workers, that doesn't incriminate every company that creates a contract platform.
> So, if you get injured in a car accident you are covered by your or the other driver's insurance.
Not necessarily. Most car insurance companies won't cover you if you're using your vehicle commercially unless you get a commercial policy. You could be put into the position of having nobody to foot the bill in the case of an accident. The market will eventually adjust to these new kinds of insurance customers, but if the insurance companies start catering to Uber drivers, that could cause problems for them seeing as how ride-sharing is illegal in many if not most places.
So the insurance companies could be exposed to legal risk for facilitating illegal businesses, just as banks would be exposing themselves to criminal liabilities if they start catering to the marijuana industry. So they have to be careful. All increasing the risk of you getting into an accident and having no one but yourself to pay the hospital bills and getting sued by the other party or your customer for failing to carry proper insurance. The ride-sharing companies offer to shoulder the risk themselves by carrying policies, but it's unclear as to whether this is really enough.
