Virginia Code 46.2-2099.52: TNC insurance.
A. At all times during the operation of a TNC partner vehicle, a transportation network company or TNC partner shall keep in force TNC insurance as provided in this section.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 46.2-2099.52
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Certificate: means a certificate of public convenience and necessity or a certificate of fitness. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Department: means the Department of Motor Vehicles. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Digital platform: means any online-enabled application, software, website, or system offered or utilized by a transportation network company that enables the prearrangement of rides with TNC partners. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- Financial responsibility: means the ability to respond in damages for liability thereafter incurred arising out of the ownership, maintenance, use, or operation of a motor vehicle, in the amounts provided for in this chapter. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
- Person: means any individual, firm, copartnership, corporation, company, association, or joint-stock association, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- Prearranged ride: includes the period of time that begins when a TNC partner accepts a ride requested through a digital platform, continues while the TNC partner transports a passenger in a TNC partner vehicle, and ends when the passenger exits the TNC partner vehicle. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- Route: when used in connection with or with respect to a certificate of public convenience and necessity, means the road or highway, or segment thereof, operated over by the holder of a certificate of public convenience and necessity or proposed to be operated over by an applicant therefor, whether such road or highway is designated by one or more highway numbers. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- TNC insurance: means a motor vehicle liability insurance policy that specifically covers liabilities arising from a TNC partner's operation of a TNC partner vehicle. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- TNC partner: means a person authorized by a transportation network company to use a TNC partner vehicle to provide prearranged rides on an intrastate basis in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- TNC partner vehicle: means a personal vehicle authorized by a transportation network company and used by a TNC partner to provide prearranged rides on an intrastate basis in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- transportation: include the service of, and all transportation by, all vehicles operated by, for, or in the interest of any motor carrier irrespective of ownership or contract, expressed or implied, together with all facilities and property operated or controlled by any such carrier or carriers and used in the transportation of passengers or the performance of any service in connection therewith. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- Transportation network company: means a person who provides prearranged rides using a digital platform that connects passengers with TNC partners. See Virginia Code 46.2-2000
- Vehicle: means every device in, on or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, except personal delivery devices and devices moved by human power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Virginia Code 46.2-100
B. The following requirements shall apply to TNC insurance from the moment a TNC partner accepts a prearranged ride request on a transportation network company‘s digital platform until the TNC partner completes the transaction on the digital platform or until the prearranged ride is complete, whichever is later:
1. TNC insurance shall provide motor vehicle liability coverage. Such coverage shall be primary and the minimum amount of liability coverage for death, bodily injury, and property damage shall be $1 million.
2. TNC insurance shall provide uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage as required by § 38.2-2206. With regard to such underinsured motorist coverage that applies solely from the moment a passenger enters a TNC partner vehicle until the passenger exits the vehicle, it shall be paid without any credit for the bodily injury and property damage coverage available for payment, and neither the TNC nor the TNC partner shall elect to refuse the change in underinsured motorist coverage pursuant to subsection C of § 38.2-2202.
3. The requirements of this subsection may be satisfied by any of the following:
a. TNC insurance maintained by a TNC partner;
b. TNC insurance maintained by a transportation network company; or
c. Any combination of subdivisions a and b.
A transportation network company may meet its obligations under this subsection through a policy obtained by a TNC partner under subdivision a or c only if the transportation network company verifies that the policy is maintained by the TNC partner.
4. Insurers providing insurance coverage under this subsection shall have the exclusive duty to defend any liability claim, including any claim against a TNC partner, arising from an accident occurring within the time periods specified in this subsection. Neither the TNC partner’s nor the vehicle owner’s personal automobile insurance policy shall have the duty to defend or indemnify the TNC partner’s activities in connection with the transportation network company, unless the policy expressly provides otherwise for the period of time to which this subsection is applicable or the policy contains an amendment or endorsement to provide that coverage.
5. Coverage under a TNC insurance policy shall not be dependent on a personal automobile insurance policy first denying a claim, nor shall a personal automobile insurance policy be required to first deny a claim.
6. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require a personal automobile insurance policy to provide primary or excess coverage. Neither the TNC partner’s nor the vehicle owner’s personal automobile insurance policy shall provide any coverage to the TNC partner, the vehicle owner, or any third party, unless the policy expressly provides for that coverage during the period of time to which this subsection is applicable or the policy contains an amendment or endorsement to provide that coverage.
C. The following requirements shall apply to TNC insurance (i) from the moment a TNC partner logs on to a transportation network company’s associated digital platform until the TNC partner accepts a request to transport a passenger and (ii) from the moment the TNC partner completes the transaction on the digital platform or the prearranged ride is complete, whichever is later, until the TNC partner either accepts another prearranged ride request on the digital platform or logs off the digital platform:
1. TNC insurance shall provide motor vehicle liability coverage. Such coverage shall be primary and shall provide liability coverage of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death and bodily injury and at least $25,000 for property damage. TNC insurance shall provide uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage as required by § 38.2-2206.
2. The requirements for the coverage required by this subsection may be satisfied by any of the following:
a. TNC insurance maintained by a TNC partner;
b. TNC insurance maintained by a transportation network company that provides coverage in the event that a TNC partner’s insurance policy under subdivision a has ceased to exist or has been canceled or in the event that the TNC partner does not otherwise maintain TNC insurance; or
c. Any combination of subdivisions a and b.
A transportation network company may meet its obligations under this subsection through a policy obtained by a TNC partner pursuant to subdivision a or c only if the transportation network company verifies that the policy is maintained by the TNC partner and is specifically written to cover the TNC partner’s use of a vehicle in connection with a transportation network company’s digital platform.
D. In the event that the digital platform becomes inaccessible due to failure or malfunction while a TNC partner is en route to or transporting a passenger during a prearranged ride described in subsection B, TNC insurance coverage shall be presumed to be that required in subdivision B 1 until the passenger exits the vehicle.
E. In every instance where TNC insurance maintained by a TNC partner to fulfill the insurance obligations of this section has lapsed or ceased to exist, the transportation network company shall provide the coverage required by this section beginning with the first dollar of a claim.
F. This section shall not limit the liability of a transportation network company arising out of an accident involving a TNC partner in any action for damages against a transportation network company for an amount above the required insurance coverage.
G. Any person, or an attorney acting on his behalf, who suffers a loss in an automobile accident with a reasonable belief that the accident involves a TNC partner vehicle driven by a TNC partner in connection with a transportation network company and who provides the transportation network company with the date, approximate time, and location of the accident, and if available the name of the TNC partner and if available the accident report, may request in writing from the transportation network company information relating to the insurance coverage and the company providing the coverage. The transportation network company shall respond electronically or in writing within 30 days. The transportation network company’s response shall contain the following information: (i) whether, at the approximate time of the accident, the TNC partner was logged into the transportation network company’s digital platform and, if so logged in, whether a trip request had been accepted or a passenger was in the TNC partner vehicle; (ii) the name of the insurance carrier providing primary coverage; and (iii) the identity and last known address of the TNC partner.
H. No contract, receipt, rule, or regulation shall exempt any transportation network company from the liability that would exist had no contract been made or entered into, and no such contract, receipt, rule, or regulation for exemption from liability for injury or loss occasioned by the neglect or misconduct of such transportation network company shall be valid. The liability referred to in this subsection shall mean the liability imposed by law upon a transportation network company for any loss, damage, or injury to passengers in its custody and care as a transportation network company.
I. Any insurance required by this section may be placed with an insurer that has been admitted in Virginia or with an insurer providing surplus lines insurance as defined in § 38.2-4805.2.
J. Any insurance policy required by this section shall satisfy the financial responsibility requirement for a motor vehicle under § 46.2-706 during the period such vehicle is being operated as a TNC partner vehicle.
K. The Department shall not issue the certificate of fitness required under § 46.2-2099.45 to any transportation network company that has not certified to the Department that every TNC partner vehicle it has authorized to operate on its digital platform is covered by an insurance policy that meets the requirements of this section.
L. Each transportation network company shall keep on file with the Department proof of an insurance policy maintained by the transportation network company in accordance with this section. Such proof shall be in a form acceptable to the Commissioner. A record of the policy shall remain in the files of the Department six months after the certificate is revoked or suspended for any cause.
M. The Department may suspend a certificate if the certificate holder fails to comply with the requirements of this section. Any person whose certificate has been suspended pursuant to this subsection may request a hearing as provided in subsection D of § 46.2-2011.26.
N. In a claims coverage investigation, a transportation network company and its insurer shall cooperate with insurers involved in the claims coverage investigation to facilitate the exchange of information, including the dates and times of any accident involving a TNC partner and the precise times that the TNC partner logged in and was logged out of the transportation network company’s digital platform.