Does Your Car Insurance Cover Volunteer Driving?

Driving a neighbor to dialysis, taking seniors to the grocery store, delivering people with disabilities to appointments: much of this transportation runs on volunteers using their own cars. California decided decades ago that volunteers should not lose their auto coverage for doing it.

What the statute says

Insurance Code section 11580.1 bars any California auto liability policy issued, amended or renewed since January 1, 1976 from containing a provision that excludes the named insured's use of an insured vehicle to provide social service transportation as a volunteer for a nonprofit charitable organization or a governmental agency.

The same section says a policy may not be cancelled solely because the named insured performs that volunteer work. Social service transportation is defined as transportation provided by private nonprofit organizations or individuals to senior citizens, or to people with special transportation needs because of physical or mental conditions, supported at least in part by private or public agency funding.

The line you must not cross

The protection disappears if you receive "any remuneration of any kind" other than reimbursement for actual mileage, at a rate no higher than the one the statute ties to the state's own reimbursement rate. A stipend, a per-ride payment or a gift card per trip can move you outside the statute and back onto your policy's ordinary rules, which commonly exclude carrying people for a fee.

Volunteering that isn't covered by this rule

Driving a youth team to a tournament, carpooling for a church event or shuttling volunteers to a beach clean-up is not social service transportation as the statute defines it. That does not mean you are uncovered. It means the usual terms of your policy decide, including any exclusion for carrying people or property for a fee. For unpaid, occasional driving the answer is often unremarkable, but read your policy's exclusions or ask.

Whose policy goes first

Your own. Under Insurance Code section 11580.9, when two policies apply to one accident, the policy that describes or rates the car as an owned automobile is primary, and any other is excess. A nonprofit may carry coverage for volunteers' cars; when it does, it generally sits above yours. Its terms vary by organization and insurer.

A worked example, limits only

You volunteer with a nonprofit that drives seniors to medical appointments, and you receive mileage reimbursement only. You carry liability of $100,000/$300,000. On one trip you cause a crash that injures your passenger.

• Your policy cannot exclude the trip because it was volunteer social service transportation.
• Your $100,000 per-person limit is primary for your passenger's claim.
• If the nonprofit carries excess coverage for volunteer drivers, it may respond above your limit, depending on its terms.
• Had the program paid you per ride beyond mileage, the statute would not apply, and your policy's ordinary exclusions would decide.

Volunteers who carry passengers often should look hard at their liability limits. If you want to compare a higher limit, request a quote.