Life Insurance and Income Protection for Taxi and Rideshare Drivers

Income Protection

Days without driving passengers after illness or injury: what would keep things going at home?

Part of your income can be paid by income protection after a waiting period, under the policy’s definitions and exclusions.

We’ll put income protection options side by side with you for how you drive and how you’re paid.

Moneysmart says income protection usually bases the benefit on your earnings in the 12 months before an illness or injury, and each policy has its own definition of disability. Exclusions can apply, including to occupations or activities. An insurer usually looks at your job and duties when you apply, and this can affect whether cover is offered, the benefit periods and the amount. The insurer decides.

What we look at with you on income protection:

• Twelve months of fares before an illness or injury, and which part of them each insurer counts as income
• Platform fees, a pay-in and car costs, and how each insurer works out income once they’re taken out of fares
• Minimum hours, which Moneysmart notes some policies require, compared with the hours you drive each week
• Self-employed driving, which Moneysmart notes comes without paid sick leave, and the fares put aside to cover a waiting period
• Rank work, bookings or app trips you couldn’t manage for a while, checked against each policy’s definition of disability
• Workers compensation payments, where each scheme sets who qualifies, and how they may reduce an income protection benefit
• Income protection premiums paid from fares or from super, with an accountant explaining the tax side
• A taxi licence or car repayment that keeps falling due, and how long you’d want income protection to pay (the benefit period)

Learn more about Income Protection

Life Insurance

Would the people who count on you be able to keep their plans going without your income?

Your beneficiaries could receive a lump sum to put towards debts, daily costs and the plans you’ve made.

We can size life cover with you from what you owe and anyone relying on your income.

If you pass away, life cover can pay a lump sum to the people you name, and some policies also pay on a terminal illness diagnosis. Moneysmart notes it can help if you have large debts or a mortgage. For cover in super, the trustee, who runs the fund, pays eligible people or your estate. A nomination, if your fund offers one, can set out your wishes.

What we weigh up with you on life cover:

• A car loan or lease still owing, added to the amount the people relying on you would need
• Rent or a mortgage, if that’s your situation, and the household bills that fares currently meet
• Life cover sitting in each super fund, listed side by side before you choose an amount
• Nominating who receives a super death benefit, within the choices each trustee allows
• Bundled life, TPD and trauma, where paying out one part may shrink what’s left of another
• Rank, booking or app work and your weekly hours, described carefully when a life application asks
• Two incomes at home, if that’s your situation, and how much cover each person would need
• A taxi licence bought with finance, if you hold one, and the amount still owed on it

Learn more about Life Insurance

TPD Insurance

Never able to work again: which of your plans would you most want to keep?

Under the policy’s definition, a TPD lump sum can go towards debts and plans if you can’t work again.

Together, we’ll check TPD definitions against the work your driving experience could suit you for.

Own occupation wording looks at whether you could return to your usual work. Any occupation wording looks at any job your education, training or experience suits. Own occupation TPD is usually only found outside super. Some policies use everyday activities instead of work, and a TPD payment may reduce life cover in the same package.

What we compare with you on TPD:

• Whether a policy offers own occupation wording for driving passengers, which is mostly found on policies outside super
• Dispatch, fleet, customer service or driver training work, and how any occupation wording may treat your experience
• Each fund’s TPD definition, compared side by side for a driver who could still do other work
• Everyday living tests in some TPD wording, used in place of a work test, explained before you choose a policy
• Car finance, a mortgage and other debts, set against the size of a TPD lump sum
• Income protection for short absences from fares and TPD for never working again, with both amounts worked out together
• Leaving taxi or app work for an office role, and how a TPD definition may then treat your usual occupation
• Funding TPD inside or outside super, and what each route means for the definition you’d hold

Learn more about TPD Insurance

Trauma Insurance

Costs can build after a serious diagnosis and time off driving: what might help with them?

Trauma cover can pay a lump sum for a listed condition that meets its definition and isn’t excluded.

We’ll go over with you the conditions a trauma policy lists, and how it could work alongside income protection.

Each trauma policy lists the conditions it covers and defines each one, and Moneysmart notes those medical definitions can differ between insurers. New trauma cover can’t be held inside super, which has been the rule for policies written since 1 July 2014.

What we look at with you in a trauma policy:

• The conditions a policy lists, and each one’s medical definition, checked with you one at a time
• Partial benefits for early-stage illness, if a policy pays them, checked before you compare quotes
• Trauma premiums paid from your fares, as new trauma policies have had to sit outside super since 1 July 2014
• A licence loan or car lease still due during an income protection wait, and how a trauma lump sum might help
• Days without fares after a diagnosis, and how a lump sum could go towards car and household costs
• Trauma and life sharing one policy, so a trauma claim may reduce the life amount left
• Trauma cover bought years ago, if you hold some, with its list of conditions compared with current wording
• An accountant’s view on whether a trauma payment is taxed, before you plan around it

Learn more about Trauma Insurance

Cover in Super

Cover in a fund from an earlier job, if you have one: does it match the driving you do today?

Checking each fund’s insurance first can show what you hold and what it’s costing your balance.

We’ll line up each fund’s insurance with you, before you combine, switch or cancel anything.

Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. Premiums are deducted from your super balance, so it’s worth asking your fund what a low balance would mean for your cover. If you’re moving from employee to self-employed, Moneysmart suggests checking how that affects any insurance through super.

What we check in each fund with you:

• Funds from earlier jobs, each listed with the cover it holds, before you combine any of them
• Bailment or app income with no employer contributions, if that’s your situation, and how premiums keep drawing on the balance
• Starting with a fund while under 25, as cover may not begin automatically, depending on the job and fund
• Default amounts a fund sets, compared with the car loan, rent or mortgage your fares cover
• A low balance, and what your fund’s rules say it could mean for the cover you hold there
• Premiums coming out of each balance rather than your take-home pay, and what that does to your super
• A move from employee to self-employed driving, checked against any insurance you hold through super, as Moneysmart suggests
• A fund record listing a different job from driving passengers, and asking the fund for a correction

Learn more about Superannuation

Bailment, Licences and Apps

Could bailment, a licence of your own or an app change what your cover needs to do?

How you’re engaged can change which leave and payments might apply if you couldn’t drive for a while.

We can talk through cover with you when you start a bailment, buy a licence or move to an app.

If you drive a taxi on bailment in metropolitan Sydney, a NSW contract determination gives permanent bailees paid annual leave, sick leave and long service leave, and casual bailees no paid leave. If you’re self-employed, Moneysmart notes you won’t have paid holidays or sick leave. Workers compensation is separate, and each scheme sets who qualifies.

What we look at with you on how you’re engaged:

• Permanent or casual bailment, and what your agreement, or the Sydney determination if it applies, says about leave
• Paid on commission or a set pay-in under a bailment, with records kept to show what you earned
• Owning a taxi licence or plate, and how your earnings as an owner-driver are recorded for an insurer
• App driving, if you’re self-employed, with GST collected on fares and which income an insurer counts
• Employed hire car or chauffeur work, with leave under the National Employment Standards and super from your employer
• Personal accident or other cover, if your bailment agreement includes it, which the operator or its insurer can explain
• Workers compensation if you’re hurt while driving, where each scheme sets who qualifies and decides any claim
• How your own cover would sit beside personal injury insurance a platform arranges, which the platform or its insurer explains

Learn more about Personal Insurance

Driving Hours and Duties

Would a clear picture of your hours and duties help cover suit the driving you actually do?

An accurate description of your driving lets an insurer assess the work you really do.

Together, we’ll describe your duties for any application, and how a fund records them.

Insurers usually ask about your job when you apply, and driving passengers can look different from one week to the next: rank work, bookings, airport runs or app trips. Since 5 October 2021, the duty when applying for consumer life cover is to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation, which means answering the questions asked with reasonable care.

What we write down with you about your driving:

• Taxi, rideshare or hire car driving, and the share of your week each one takes, if you do more than one
• Nights, early starts and the length of a usual shift, written down as your week really runs
• Hours in a second job, described beside your driving hours so an application shows both kinds of work
• Wheelchair accessible taxi work, and any training it requires, set out as part of your duties
• Airport, event or corporate bookings, described as part of your work, with how much of your week they take
• Loading luggage and helping passengers in and out of the vehicle, listed as the duties they are
• The authorisation you need to drive passengers, listed as part of the job you do
• A fresh description for a new application when the mix of your driving changes

Learn more about Personal Insurance

When to Review Your Cover

Since you started driving, has anything at work or home changed what you’d want from cover?

A new way of driving or a change at home can be a good moment to look at cover.

Together, we’ll look at any cover you hold against how you drive and your life at home.

Driving can move from casual to permanent bailment, from a taxi to an app, or into hire car work with an employer. Default cover through super is for a set amount, so it might not match your needs. Any of these changes is a good reason to book a conversation with us, and the insurer decides on a new application.

Changes worth raising with us when we talk:

• Casual to permanent bailment, and what new leave, if it comes with the change, means for the waiting period you’d want
• Taxi to app driving or back again, and how your fund or policy records the job you do
• Buying a taxi licence or a car with finance, and the life or TPD amount you’d want alongside that debt
• Hire car or chauffeur work with an employer, and the cover that may come with that job’s super fund
• Your last chauffeur shift with an employer, and asking the employer or fund beforehand about cover that comes with the job
• Fewer shifts or a second job, and how a policy’s definitions may treat the change in your hours
• Driving for an employer before you turn 25, and asking the fund whether insurance starts for you
• A first home, a child joining the family or a separation, if one applies, and the amounts your household would now want

Learn more about Personal Insurance

Making a Claim

Help with the paperwork and follow-up: would it make a claim easier, if you ever need one?

Someone beside you for each form and call can make a claim easier while the insurer or fund decides.

We’ll lodge your claim with you and follow up each step while the insurer or fund assesses it.

Moneysmart suggests starting with whoever you bought the cover through, or your employer if it came through your job. An insurer can ask about your duties, including physical requirements, and the hours you work each week, along with payslips and tax returns, or financial statements if you’re self-employed. The insurer, or the fund for cover in super, assesses the claim, and complaints go to the insurer or fund first, then the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

How we help with a claim:

• Who to call first, from the policy papers or your fund statement, so the claim starts in the right place
• A plain account of the driving you did, its physical side and your weekly hours, prepared for the insurer
• Records of what you earned: payslips from an employer, or tax returns or financial statements if self-employed
• BAS and app earnings summaries, if you have them, kept ready as records of what you earned from fares
• Which reports an insurer asks for, so you know what’s needed before the forms go in
• An injury while driving passengers, where workers compensation is a separate matter and each scheme sets who qualifies
• Money from elsewhere during a claim, and how a policy may offset it against what it pays
• Disputing the outcome with the insurer or fund first, with AFCA as the next step for an unresolved complaint

Health Conditions & Illnesses

Could a health condition change the cover an insurer offers you?

Our guides explain what insurers may ask about common conditions, and a health condition doesn’t necessarily rule out cover.

We can help you prepare an application when you have a health condition or a past illness.

Underwriting is how an insurer assesses an application and decides whether to offer cover, on what terms and at what price. Possible outcomes include standard terms, a higher premium, an exclusion, a request to apply again later, or a decline.

Guides by health condition:

• Cover with a health condition: where to start
• Autoimmune conditions
• Back or joint conditions
• Blood conditions
• Cancer history
• Diabetes
• Digestive conditions
• Eye or hearing conditions
• Heart conditions
• HIV or hepatitis
• Kidney conditions
• Mental health conditions
• Neurological conditions
• Respiratory or sleep conditions
• Weight, smoking or alcohol history
• Women’s health conditions