Smartphone apps that help you find a ride in a driver's personal car have emerged in Columbus amid a national debate over whether the out-of-state companies behind them have adequate insurance. While UberX and Lyft have started using their apps to connect Columbus passengers to a stable of drivers using their own vehicles, questions have emerged about who is responsible if a driver causes a crash.

Smartphone apps that help you find a ride in a driver�s personal car have emerged in Columbus amid a national debate over whether the out-of-state companies behind them have adequate insurance.

While UberX and Lyft have started using their apps to connect Columbus passengers to a stable of drivers using their own vehicles, questions have emerged about who is responsible if a driver causes a crash.

On New Year�s Eve, an Uber driver struck and killed a 6-year-old girl in San Francisco. The company has said it is not responsible because the driver was between fares, but it faces a lawsuit in the death, according to The New York Times.

Critics say a similar situation could crop up in Columbus, but the companies say they carry more commercial liability insurance than the city requires for taxis and limos. A typical personal auto-insurance policy won�t cover a driver who is working, insurance experts say.

�I would encourage any driver who wants to be a part of one of these services to look at their insurance policies,� said Amanda Ford, spokeswoman for the Columbus Department of Public Safety. � They have a risk of being dropped by their insurance company if they�re involved in an incident."

Columbus officials say they were blindsided by the Uber and Lyft launches, and regulations that would require the companies and their drivers to obtain local licenses won�t be finished until the end of March. Insurance requirements are among the code changes Columbus is considering.

Cities across the country are trying to figure out whether these ride-sharing companies should be regulated like taxicabs or some altogether different type of company.

Drivers use personal vehicles and log into the app to troll for fares during a shift. Passengers use the app to request rides and pay through their phones using a credit card.

�This is a new model not accounted for by existing regulations,� said Erin Simpson, a Lyft spokeswoman.

In Columbus, taxi and livery companies are required to carry $300,000 and $500,000, respectively, in commercial liability coverage for their drivers, Ford said. Lyft and Uber tout $1 million in coverage. The taxi and livery policies also cover drivers between fares.

But if the Uber and Lyft policies are defined as �excess� coverage, drivers and their passengers risk not being covered at all, said Bob Passmore, a senior director of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

Personal auto-insurance policies typically have exemptions for commercial activity, he said, and excess coverage kicks in only if a primary insurance plan is in place.

�They have to have coverage that�s specific to this activity because a personal auto policy doesn�t do it,� he said.

Uber�s policy would cover drivers as a primary insurer if a driver�s individual policy would not, said James Ondrey, general manager for Uber Ohio.

Lyft driver Sabrina Garman said her insurer, Grange Insurance, already has assured her that she would be covered in a crash, and she�s confident that Lyft�s policy would fill in any gaps.

She drives her 2013 Kia Soul for the company as a second job when she�s not coordinating bone-marrow transplants at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital. Garman, 33, said riders have been enthusiastic about the service.

Lyft started in Columbus on Feb. 21; Uber launched its service last week. Both companies were working with city officials to help develop regulations for the industry, but they started operating before the city could finalize its rules.

Ford said the regulations likely will require both the companies and the drivers to obtain local licenses and submission of background checks and traffic records for each driver. Until the code revisions are finished, Uber and Lyft drivers who charge for rides are operating illegally, she said.

�They�re blatantly telling you that we�re going to be out here violating the law,� said David Herring, operations manager of Acme Taxi. �And we�re still going to create laws to license them? I don�t understand that.�

rrouan@dispatch.com

@RickRouan

@Crawlumbus