Passenger Liability Insurance E-Hailing Drivers: Why It Matters

Passenger liability insurance e-hailing drivers take out is often misunderstood, being mistaken for the Road Accident Fund or simply being part of any commercial vehicle insurance. None of these presumptions can be made. This guide will explain what exactly passenger liability insurance is, why RAF is not enough in this case, and how you can check your e-hailing driver’s policy for this kind of coverage.

What Is Passenger Liability Insurance?

Passenger liability insurance covers an e-hailing driver’s legal liability if a passenger is injured while in the vehicle. It pays for the passenger’s medical costs, loss of earnings, and any general damages awarded by a court or agreed in settlement, up to the policy’s indemnity limit. It also covers the driver’s legal defence costs if the passenger pursues a formal claim.

This is distinct from the comprehensive vehicle cover in an e-hailing policy, which covers the vehicle itself. Passenger liability covers the human consequences of an incident: what happens to the people inside the vehicle, not the metal around them.

What Happens If a Passenger Is Injured in Your Uber?

If a passenger is injured in an e-hailing vehicle during a trip, several types of claims can follow:

• The passenger may claim for medical treatment costs, hospitalisation, rehabilitation, and any ongoing disability-related expenses.
• If the passenger is unable to work due to the injury, they may claim for loss of earnings.
• In serious injury cases, a passenger may pursue a claim for general damages, covering pain and suffering and loss of amenity of life.
• If the passenger is killed, their dependants may pursue a fatal accident claim.

Without passenger liability cover, the e-hailing driver is personally responsible for all of these costs. There is no cap on the personal liability exposure without insurance in place.

Does the Road Accident Fund Cover Injured Passengers?

The Road Accident Fund, or RAF, provides compensation to victims of motor vehicle accidents caused by the negligent driving of a motor vehicle in South Africa. It covers third parties injured in road accidents, including passengers in some circumstances. However, the RAF has significant limitations that mean it is not a substitute for passenger liability insurance:

• RAF compensation is capped: general damages claims for pain and suffering are subject to a serious injury assessment threshold, currently set at 30 percent whole person impairment. Minor to moderate injuries may not qualify for general damages under the RAF at all.
• RAF processing is slow: claims can take years to resolve. The injured passenger may face immediate financial hardship while the RAF processes the claim.
• RAF does not cover all scenarios: single-vehicle accidents, incidents where the driver’s own negligence is the sole cause, and some passenger injury scenarios may fall outside the RAF’s scope.
• RAF does not cover the driver’s legal costs: if the passenger pursues a claim directly against the driver rather than the RAF, the driver has no cover for legal defence without passenger liability insurance.

Key point: RAF covers the injuries of third parties in a lot of cases of road accidents on a no-fault basis. It is important to note that RAF does not take the place of passenger liability insurance covering the liability of the driver directly.

Is Passenger Liability Insurance Mandatory for Uber Drivers?

Uber requires its South African driver-partners to hold insurance that covers the vehicle for commercial passenger-carrying activities. Passenger liability cover is a standard component of any compliant e-hailing insurance policy. While there is no single statute that specifies passenger liability cover independently, it is effectively mandatory because:

• Uber’s driver requirements specify commercial insurance that covers passenger-carrying activities.
• A specialist e-hailing policy that does not include passenger liability is considered inadequate for platform compliance purposes.
• Operating as an e-hailing driver without passenger liability cover exposes the driver to full personal liability for passenger injury claims.

What Passenger Liability Cover Includes

Passenger Liability vs Third-Party Liability: The Difference

Third-party liability in motor insurance implies liability to persons who are not in the vehicle but get hurt because of an accident involving the insured vehicle.

Passenger liability specifically covers the people inside the vehicle. In standard personal car insurance, passengers are usually excluded from liability cover because they are assumed to be travelling at their own risk. In e-hailing insurance, passengers are paying customers and the driver owes them a duty of care, which is why passenger liability must be specifically included and confirmed rather than assumed.

Important: It is essential that you confirm with the insurer if passenger liability is covered under the e-hailing insurance policy. It cannot be presumed that third-party liability will cover passengers, as they fall into different risk categories.

How to Confirm Your E-Hailing Policy Includes Passenger Liability

• Request the policy wording or policy summary from the insurer.
• Look for ‘passenger liability’, ‘liability to passengers’, or ‘passenger legal liability’ in the policy document.
• Make sure that the passenger liability indemnity cap is verified.
• If the wording is unclear, ask the insurer in writing: does this policy cover claims made against me by passengers injured in my vehicle during Uber or Bolt trips?
• In case there is no passenger liability insurance coverage, the policy should not be activated until coverage confirmation.

This article is part of our complete e-hailing insurance guide for Uber and Bolt drivers. For a full breakdown of cover types, see our Uber insurance cover guide, and for why personal cover fails for e-hailing, see Uber car insurance: business vs personal cover. For the full application process, see how to get e-hailing insurance, and for typical pricing, see how much e-hailing insurance costs.