New business, non-standard risk, trying to do this right. Where do I even start?
I’m launching a personal driver service in Texas. A customer requests a driver, we send a vetted professional to their location, and our driver operates the customer’s own vehicle to get them home safely. We provide zero vehicles — only the driver.
This is not a TNC under Texas law because we don’t provide a vehicle for hire. We provide a driver for hire. That distinction matters for both regulatory and insurance classification.
There are existing companies doing this model nationally — Dryver and Jeevz. After reviewing their terms carefully, their insurance structure relies on the customer’s personal auto insurance as primary, then falls back on their own commercial liability if the personal policy denies. The problem is their terms and conditions are written in a way that makes it extremely difficult to actually get a payout on that commercial liability coverage when something goes wrong. To me that looks shady and I want no part of it. I want to be transparent with my customers about exactly what covers them and when.
What I want: From the moment our driver gets behind the wheel until the customer arrives home safely, I want the vehicle and all occupants covered under our company policy — including if an uninsured driver hits us and the customer’s personal insurance denies due to a commercial use exclusion. I’m not trying to put all liability on my insurance company and I don’t want to drive rates through the roof. I just don’t want the customer to get screwed if something happens.
Operational details: Texas. Friday and Saturday nights only. 96 operating nights per year. 2 to 3 independent contractor drivers.
The cost structure problem: Revenue is strictly tied to ride volume. A fixed annual premium before the business scales is a real burden. I’ve read that major rideshare platforms structure insurance as roughly 10% of fare revenue rather than fixed overhead. Is there any path to a per-ride or revenue-percentage premium structure for a specialty risk like this in Texas?
What I’ve already ruled out: Drivers are 1099 independent contractors so standard HNOA may not be the right product since driving customer vehicles is the primary business activity not incidental use. I also looked at garagekeepers liability — the coverage valet services use when operating a customer’s vehicle — but that’s designed for a very short distance on a fixed premises. Our drivers are taking customers home which could be several miles away. So garagekeepers doesn’t apply either. This feels like it needs some kind of specialized commercial auto product that I haven’t been able to clearly identify yet.
A note on my knowledge level: I’m still learning this space and some of what I’ve stated above may be incorrect in how I’ve classified or described things. If I’ve gotten something wrong please correct me — I’d rather know now than structure this incorrectly from the start.
What would make an underwriter comfortable taking this risk: I genuinely want to understand what a clean, well-documented submission looks like for a non-standard risk like this. I’m willing to put the work in — whether that’s driver vetting standards, documented operating procedures, ride logs, background checks, MVR monitoring, or whatever else makes an underwriter confident that this is a well-run low-risk operation. If anyone can shed light on what requirements or documentation would make this an easier risk to write I’m all ears. I want to be the operator that makes an underwriter’s job easy, not the one that ends up in the decline pile.
Anyone with experience or insight on how to properly classify and structure coverage for this type of model in Texas is appreciated.