Income Protection for Taxi and Private Hire Drivers

Driving for a living looks like one of the safer jobs on this list, and the thing that ends it is rarely an accident.

It is a medical. Licensing requires one, and it looks at exactly the conditions that sitting for sixty hours a week tends to produce. The second problem is that the costs of being a driver do not stop: a rented vehicle or a plate usually has to be paid for whether anybody is driving it.

Income protection pays a monthly amount while you cannot work, and for a driver it is worth arranging with the licence in mind rather than only the back.

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The short answer

A taxi or private hire driver's income depends on a licence, and the licence depends on a medical. Conditions that would not stop most people working, including some heart conditions, diabetes treated in certain ways and sleep apnoea, can remove it while you feel entirely well. Drivers are almost always self-employed with no sick pay, and vehicle or plate rental usually continues whether the car is working or not.

What actually stops you working

Failing the licensing medical, which ends the work while you may feel perfectly well
Heart conditions and the notification requirements that follow them
Sleep apnoea, which is strongly associated with long hours seated and affects fitness to drive
Diabetes, depending on treatment, under the rules that apply to licensed drivers
Back, neck and shoulder problems from very long periods in a driving position
Assault, which is a genuine occupational risk on night work

Sick pay, if you get any

None. Drivers are effectively always self-employed, so there is no sick pay of any kind, and the costs usually continue: a rented vehicle, a plate, insurance and radio or app fees frequently have to be paid whether the car is earning or sitting. Being off can therefore cost money rather than simply stopping income.

Why the definition of incapacity decides it

A driver who has lost their licence on medical grounds is well enough to do a great many jobs and cannot do this one. An any occupation definition sees a healthy person, correctly, and pays nothing. Only a definition that asks whether you can drive professionally reflects what has actually happened to the income, which makes it the clause that decides the value of the policy.

The Medical Is The Real Risk

Drivers insure the car exhaustively and almost never insure the thing their licence depends on.

Licensing requires a medical, and the conditions it looks at are precisely the ones a life of long hours seated tends to produce: blood pressure, cardiac conditions, diabetes, sleep apnoea, eyesight. There is no accident, no injury and often no symptom that stops you doing anything else, and the income ends completely.

Income protection responds to being medically unable to work, which is exactly this, so it is worth raising specifically when arranging cover. A licence lost through a motoring conviction is a different matter and not a medical one.

The Costs Carry On Without You

Most self-employed people stop spending when they stop earning. Drivers frequently do not, and it changes the maths.

A rented vehicle, a plate, insurance and app or circuit fees often continue regardless of whether the car is moving. A driver who owns the vehicle still has finance and insurance running. So an absence produces outgoings as well as the absence of income, which is unusual and makes a longer deferred period considerably more dangerous than it looks on a quote.

Work out what is genuinely due each month whether you drive or not, and set the wait against the point at which that becomes unmanageable rather than against the cheapest premium.

If you stop

Account work and regular school or contract runs are reassigned within days because the passengers still need collecting. App work simply stops. Either way there is nothing held open, and a rented vehicle usually has to go back or keep being paid for.

A Plate Is Not Always An Asset

What a driver leaves behind depends on whether anything is actually owned, and often very little is.

A rented vehicle and a rented plate are worth nothing to a family. An owned hackney plate may have real value in some areas and effectively none in others, and realising it takes time and local knowledge. There is no business to sell in app-based private hire at all.

So life cover is sized against the household rather than against any expectation that the vehicle or licence will raise money, and it is worth being realistic about which of those you actually have.

The Licence May Not Come Back

The worst realistic case for a driver is a medical event that ends licensing permanently rather than temporarily.

Somebody recovering from a cardiac event may be fit for ordinary life and never licensed to drive professionally again. Monthly income replacement is designed to bridge an absence; it is not designed for a career that has simply ended, and it will usually stop once you are assessed as fit for some work.

A lump sum is what answers that: clearing a vehicle finance agreement, retraining, or reducing the mortgage so a different and lower paid job is survivable. For this trade it deserves looking at alongside the monthly cover rather than after it.

Common questions

Would income protection pay if I failed my taxi medical?+

If a medical condition means you cannot hold the licence and therefore cannot work, that is the situation income protection is designed for, because it responds to being medically unable to do your occupation. It would not cover a licence lost through a motoring conviction, which is not a medical matter. Since this is the likeliest way a driving career ends, raise it specifically when arranging cover.

Do taxi drivers get any sick pay?+

No. Drivers are effectively always self-employed, so nothing arrives, and the position is worse than most because the costs usually continue. A rented vehicle or plate, insurance and circuit or app fees frequently have to be paid whether the car is earning or standing still. Being off can therefore cost money rather than simply stopping income.

Is sleep apnoea a particular issue for drivers?+

It is strongly associated with this work, because long hours seated contribute to it, and it bears directly on fitness to hold a licence. It is also treatable, and drivers who are diagnosed and treated often continue working. Declare it accurately when you apply: a condition disclosed at application has been considered, while one appearing for the first time at claim becomes the focus of the investigation.

What deferred period should a driver choose?+

Usually a short one. Nothing arrives in the first weeks, and unlike most self-employed trades your outgoings continue, so the gap is not simply an absence of income, it is a monthly bill with nothing funding it. Work out what is genuinely due each month whether you drive or not, and set the wait against when that becomes unmanageable rather than against the cheapest premium.

I drive for an app rather than a firm. Does that matter?+

For cover it mostly matters in how your income is evidenced, since insurers generally base the benefit on earnings and app income varies week to week. Bring accounts or statements covering a typical few months and we will work out what level of cover that supports. It also matters practically, because app work simply stops when you do, with nothing held open.

Cover that often goes with this

The gaps we most often find sitting next to this one.