Personal Lines Emerging Risks
Personal Lines Emerging Risks
This domain tests the exposures personal forms have not caught up with - app-based work, home-sharing, micromobility, drones, connected devices and digital assets - and how to place them without overpromising.
The sharing economy and the business trigger
- Rideshare: the PAP excludes carrying persons for a fee. The uncovered gap is the period after the app is switched on but before a match; TNC endorsements or the platform's own coverage address the later phases. Food and package delivery is commonly excluded even where a rideshare endorsement attaches.
- Home-sharing: routine short-term rental exceeds the HO exception for occasional rental, so the business exclusion applies. Home-sharing host endorsements add liability and limited property; heavy hosting belongs on a dwelling or commercial policy.
- Platform 'protection' programs are secondary, conditional and limited - never a substitute for insurance.
New mobility and devices
- E-bikes: a pedal-assist model at or under 750 watts and 20 mph is a bicycle under federal law, so homeowners liability can respond as it would for a bicycle. Throttle-driven or faster models are often treated as motor vehicles and need PAP or specialty coverage; state law controls.
- Drones: aircraft is excluded, so a separate drone policy or endorsement is needed; commercial use requires FAA Part 107 certification and raises privacy and trespass claims.
- Smart home devices: the hardware is covered property, but data loss, cyber extortion and breach response are not - add a personal cyber endorsement.
Intangible exposures
- Identity fraud expense endorsements pay restoration costs, legal fees and limited lost wages.
- Crypto: treated at best as money or securities, so special limits of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars apply; loss of access or an exchange failure is not a covered peril.
- Online activity: libel, slander and invasion of privacy are personal injury offenses added by the umbrella, not the HO; monetized content is a business pursuit.
Worked example
A client rents a cabin on the property 120 nights a year for $18,000 and delivers for an app on weekends. The rental is regular and service-based, so the HO business exclusion applies and the occasional-rental exception does not. The PAP excludes delivery for a fee, and a rideshare endorsement does not fix delivery. Placement: a home-sharing endorsement or dwelling policy for the cabin, a commercial auto or hired-auto endorsement for delivery, then raised umbrella limits with written confirmation that the rental activity is not excluded.
Traps
- Relying on a platform's protection program.
- Assuming a rideshare endorsement covers delivery.
- Treating crypto as insured cash.
- Missing the business character of monetized social media.