Virginia Code 46.2-1409: Peer-to-peer insurance coverage
A. A peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform shall ensure that at all times during each vehicle sharing period the shared vehicle owner and the shared vehicle driver are insured under a motor vehicle liability insurance policy that provides uninsured motorist coverage and bodily injury and property damage liability coverage and that provides primary insurance coverage in an amount not less than the applicable financial responsibility limits set forth in this title and in § 38.2-2206 and:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 46.2-1409
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- 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 Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
- Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. Source: FDIC
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Peer-to-peer vehicle sharing: means the authorized use of a shared vehicle by a shared vehicle driver through a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform. See Virginia Code 46.2-1408
- Peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform: means an online-enabled application, website, or system that connects vehicle owners with drivers to enable the sharing of peer-to-peer shared vehicles for financial consideration. See Virginia Code 46.2-1408
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
- Shared vehicle: means a motor vehicle that has been made available for sharing through a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform. See Virginia Code 46.2-1408
- Shared vehicle driver: means an individual who has been authorized to operate a shared vehicle by the shared vehicle owner under a vehicle sharing platform agreement. See Virginia Code 46.2-1408
- Shared vehicle owner: means the registered owner, or a person or entity designated by the registered owner, of a vehicle made available for sharing to shared vehicle drivers through a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform. See Virginia Code 46.2-1408
- 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
- Vehicle sharing period: means the period of time that commences with the vehicle sharing delivery period or, if there is no vehicle sharing delivery period, that commences when the vehicle sharing start time occurs and ends at the vehicle sharing termination time. See Virginia Code 46.2-1408
- Vehicle sharing platform agreement: means the terms and conditions applicable to a shared vehicle owner and a shared vehicle driver that govern the use of a shared vehicle through a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform. See Virginia Code 46.2-1408
- Vehicle sharing termination time: means the earliest of the following events:
1. See Virginia Code 46.2-1408
1. Contains written recognition that the shared vehicle insured under the policy is made available and used through a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform; or
2. Does not exclude use of a shared vehicle by a shared vehicle driver.
B. A peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform shall assume primary liability, except as provided in subsection C, of a shared vehicle owner for bodily injury and property damage to third parties and uninsured motorist losses during the vehicle sharing period in an amount stated in the vehicle sharing platform agreement, which amount shall not be less than the applicable financial responsibility limits set forth in this title and in § 38.2-2206.
C. Notwithstanding the definition of vehicle sharing termination time in § 46.2-1408, the assumption of liability under subsection B does not apply to any shared vehicle owner when such shared vehicle owner:
1. Performs an act, practice, or omission that constitutes fraud or makes an intentional misrepresentation of material fact to the peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform before the vehicle sharing period in which the loss occurred; or
2. Acts in concert with a shared vehicle driver who fails to return the shared vehicle pursuant to the terms of the vehicle sharing platform agreement.
D. The insurance described under subsection A may be satisfied by motor vehicle liability insurance maintained by:
1. A shared vehicle owner;
2. A shared vehicle driver;
3. A peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform; or
4. Any combination of a shared vehicle owner, a shared vehicle driver, and a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform.
E. The peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform shall assume primary liability for a claim when it is in whole or in part providing the insurance required pursuant to subsections A and D and:
1. A dispute exists as to who was in control of the shared vehicle at the time of the loss; and
2. The peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform does not have available, did not retain, or fails to provide the information required by § 46.2-1413.
F. The vehicle owner’s insurer shall indemnify the peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform to the extent of its obligation under the applicable insurance policy, if it is determined that the shared vehicle’s owner or his designee was in control of the shared vehicle at the time of the loss.
If any insurer providing insurance coverage under subsection D pays a claim that it was not obligated to pay, such insurer shall be entitled to indemnification from the insurer of the party that had the obligation to pay the claim.
G. If insurance maintained by a shared vehicle owner or shared vehicle driver in accordance with subsection D has lapsed, has been canceled, or does not provide the required coverage, the insurer providing the insurance maintained by a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform shall provide coverage pursuant to subsection A beginning with the first dollar of a claim and shall have the duty to defend such claim except under circumstances set forth in subsection C.
H. Coverage under a motor vehicle liability insurance policy maintained by the peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform shall not be dependent on another automobile insurer’s first denying a claim, nor shall another motor vehicle insurance policy be required to first deny a claim.
I. Nothing in this chapter:
1. Limits the liability of the peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform for any act or omission of the peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform itself that results in injury to any person as a result of the use of a shared vehicle through a peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform; or
2. Limits the ability of the peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform to, by contract, seek indemnification from the shared vehicle owner or the shared vehicle driver for economic loss sustained by the peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform resulting from a breach of the terms and conditions of the vehicle sharing platform agreement.
J. A peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform shall either provide or offer for sale to the shared vehicle owner or shared vehicle driver collision and other than collision coverage for physical loss to the shared vehicle during the vehicle sharing period. Such coverage shall be in an amount not less than the actual cash value of the shared vehicle.
K. Any insurer providing coverage under subsection D, or an individual who suffers a loss arising from the use of a shared vehicle or the attorney for such insurer or individual, or a personal representative of the estate of a decedent who died as a result of a motor vehicle accident involving a shared vehicle if not represented by counsel, and who provides the peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform with the date, approximate time, and location of the accident and, if available, the name of the shared vehicle owner and, if available, the accident report, may request in writing from the peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform the identity of any insurer that may have provided coverage and the limits of liability, regardless of whether the insurer contests the applicability of the policy to the claim, and whether, at the approximate time of the accident, the shared vehicle was in a vehicle sharing period. The peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform shall respond within 30 days with the requested information if such information is in the peer-to-peer vehicle sharing platform’s possession. Any further exchange of information shall be covered pursuant to § 8.01-417.
2020, c. 1266.