Insurance for Senior Citizen Transportation
For many senior citizens who cannot drive or do not have easy transportation access, a volunteer or commercial transportation service is critical. According to one resource, half of Americans aged 65+ don’t have access to public transit. More than half stay home all day without transportation. But there is a risk for people offering transportation to get around this problem. Senior citizen transportation insurance gives seniors this vital service while protecting drivers and other workers or volunteers from liability.
Is There a Difference for Businesses vs. Volunteers?
Many offer senior citizen transportation on a volunteer basis, perhaps with a personal vehicle. Others might volunteer to drive a vehicle owned by a nursing home or activity center. Others still might run a senior transportation business, charging a fee to seniors, their families, or a residence giving access to the service. First, let’s look at the senior citizen transportation insurance requirements for someone who owns a driving service. Liability insurance and auto insurance coverage are critical for business use of a vehicle.
For volunteers, the non-profit or commercial business likely has insurance for when volunteers are using an organizations’ vehicle. However, that means coverage is essential if your clients represent the non-profit or commercial business. That vital liability insurance and auto insurance coverage – combined as senior citizen transportation insurance – protects the organization and its volunteers.
If volunteers are driving their own vehicles, their personal insurance may not be enough. While it would offer some coverage, damages can quickly exceed personal limits if there is any kind of catastrophic incident. Then, the business or non-profit could be at risk of a lawsuit. An organization could also be at risk if it assumes incorrectly that a volunteer driver has adequate personal insurance. It’s a good idea for non-profits and businesses involved in senior citizen transportation to buy non-owner auto policies to protect them in these situations.
Risk Management and Senior Citizen Transportation
Aside from ensuring adequate insurance coverage, regardless of whether the driver is volunteering or paid, senior citizen transportation requires risk management. At Prime Insurance Company, our in-house risk management team works with every policyholder and with every producer to identify risk. We offer solutions and strategies to reduce these risks. With regard to senior citizen transportation, we’ve identified key areas to consider.
Volunteer drivers working with vulnerable populations, like senior citizens, may benefit from special training. Your client’s organization or business should also think about how they are screening drivers, ensuring a clean criminal record and drivers abstract. Strong policies and procedures need to be in place governing all aspects of senior citizen transportation.
Those policies and procedures should cover guidelines for how drivers will conduct themselves. It should detail whether they may be alone with passengers, how many passengers they may transport, whether they should assist passengers, and more. It is important to know that it is not only auto accidents and damages that could lead to an insurance claim. Theft, assault, and other issues are also considerations.
Organizations need to be aware of the impact of volunteers offering senior citizen transportation with their own vehicles. The organizations will require a policy covering inspection and approval of personal vehicles, and they need to be fully aware of what personal auto insurance covers.
Our risk management team is happy to help your clients deal with all of these factors and more. We help policyholders find clarity in their coverage. We help them find the ideal coverage for their needs.
Making a Senior Citizen Transportation Claim
If your clients need to make a claim regarding senior citizen transportation, we are here to help. Our robust risk management exists to reduce the number of claims that occur. If there is a claim, we believe in fair results for fair claims. Our high level of in-house expertise applies to claims management, from investigation through to any legal action.
Your clients have access to Prime Insurance Company 24/7. We stay in touch with our policyholders regularly throughout a claims process. As the producer, we also keep you in the loop so that you are aware of a claim’s status. We work quickly and efficiently, without sacrificing results or the quality of our work.
See for yourself how well the Prime Insurance Company partnership works. Apply for a quote online. If you or your clients would like more information about senior citizen transportation insurance or any other specialty risk, please get in touch. Call Prime at 800-257-5590 or email info@primeis.com. Find us on social media on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You can also visit our website at https://www.primeis.com/.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Authored by Rick J. Lindsey, CEO, President, and Chairman of Prime Insurance Company
Rick J. Lindsey hails from Salt Lake City, Utah. He began working in the mailroom of his father’s Salt Lake City insurance firm, getting his introduction to the business that became his lifelong career. Lindsey quickly rose through the ranks while working in nearly every imaginable insurance industry job. As an entrepreneur, specialty lines underwriter, claims specialist, risk manager, and a licensed surplus lines broker, Rick Lindsey is highly skilled in all levels of leadership and execution. As he progressed on his career path, Rick discovered an urgent need for insurers willing to write policies for high-risk individuals and businesses. He was frequently frustrated that he could not provide the liability protection these entities desperately needed to safeguard their assets. He also formed the belief that insurance companies acted too quickly to settle frivolous claims. Lindsey decided to try a different approach. He started an insurance company and became the newly formed entity’s CEO. This opportunity has enabled Rick to fill a void in the market and provide a valuable service to businesses, individuals, and insurance agents who write high-risk business. Prime Insurance also specializes in helping individuals and businesses who live a lifestyle or participate in activities that make them difficult for traditional carriers to insure. If you’ve been denied, non-renewed, or canceled coverage, don’t give up quite yet. Chances are Prime Insurance can help.
