Levy Cover FAQ

Short answers to the questions operators and riders ask most. For deeper dives, follow the cross-links to the topic pages.

General

What is Levy Cover?

Per-ride micro-insurance. The rider opts in at unlock for a small fee (typically $0.50 to $2.00), gets coverage for that specific ride, and can file a claim later in the app if something goes wrong. Underwritten by Cover Genius (Slice as a fallback in some regions); Levy distributes.

Is Levy the insurance company?

No. Levy is a distributor. Cover Genius (or Slice) is the licensed carrier. They underwrite, hold reserves, and adjudicate claims. Levy handles the rider UX, intake, accounting, and operator dashboards.

Why isn't Levy Cover offered on every ride?

Three reasons: the subaccount might have it disabled; the jurisdiction might not be supported yet; or the carrier might have declined to quote that ride. See Jurisdiction Matrix for supported regions.

Pricing

How much does Levy Cover cost the rider?

Carrier-determined per quote. Standard is typically $1.00 per ride. Minimal is $0.50 and Premium is $2.00 in v2. Final pricing depends on vehicle, location, time of day, and rider profile.

Can operators set their own prices?

No. Prices are set by the carrier. Operators can choose which tiers to offer and can set their commission share, but not the rider-facing price.

Does the rider pay tax on the premium?

No. Insurance premium tax (IPT) is handled by the carrier separately. rides.tax_amount excludes the premium.

How much does the operator earn per insured ride?

Approximately $0.05-$0.10 per Standard policy at the typical commission split. The exact amount depends on INSURANCE_OPERATOR_SHARE_PCT (defaults to 50% of Levy's gross commission, configurable per subaccount). See Overview for the full economics.

Claims

How does a rider file a claim?

Open the mobile app -> Rides -> tap the ride -> tap File a claim. Multi-step form with photos, incident type, and description. See Filing a Claim - Rider Flow.

How long does a claim take to pay out?

Target is under 72 hours from filing to payout for straightforward claims. Cover Genius's XClaim system can pay within 24 hours for clear-cut cases. Complex claims (large amounts, missing information) can take 5-10 business days.

What if the carrier denies a claim?

The denial reason is shown in the app. The rider can reply in the in-app claim thread with additional information; the reply is forwarded to the carrier. If the rider believes the denial is wrong on the facts, they can contact support@levyelectric.com and Levy can escalate to the carrier's account team. Levy cannot override an adjudication decision.

Can operators approve, deny, or pay claims?

No. Operators see claims in the queue, can add internal notes, and can chase the carrier through Levy support, but they cannot adjudicate. This is deliberate - operators get the benefit of insurance without the regulatory burden.

How long does a rider have to file a claim?

30 days from rides.end_time. The filing window is enforced server-side and the button is hidden in the app after expiration.

Payouts

Where does the payout money come from?

The carrier. Levy never pays claims. When the rider chooses Levy wallet as the payout destination, the carrier funds Levy's monthly settlement to cover the wallet credits.

Can the rider get the payout in cash?

No. The supported destinations are card refund, bank transfer, PayPal, or Levy wallet credit.

Why does an insurance_claim_payout wallet credit need a real insurance_claims row?

To prevent misposted credits and to maintain audit trail. See Carrier Payouts and the Wallet for the full rule.

Premium refunds

When does a premium get refunded?

When the ride never started (motor did not engage within 5 minutes of unlock), when the carrier voided the policy retroactively, or when the bind call failed retroactively. See Premium Refunds via the Ride.

Why does the wallet credit for a premium refund go through the ride refund API?

Because the ride is the source of truth. Refunding the premium without adjusting the ride corrupts net_deposited, partner payouts, and tax remittance. This is the same accounting discipline that applies to every refund on the platform.

Does a claim denial trigger a premium refund?

No. A denial means the carrier did not pay out on a claim; it does not mean the policy was invalid. The premium stays collected.

Carriers

Why two carriers?

Resilience and coverage. Cover Genius is the primary; Slice is the Phase 2 fallback for jurisdictions Cover Genius cannot cover. The carrier-agnostic abstraction means adding a third carrier (Sundae was mentioned in the spec) is a single registry entry plus a new client file.

Can Levy switch a region from Cover Genius to Slice?

Yes, via the jurisdiction matrix. The change takes effect on the next deploy or via runtime override in insurance_offerings. Existing bound policies stay with their original carrier until ride end.

What if Cover Genius exits a region mid-quarter?

Existing bound policies remain honored by Cover Genius for the rest of their term. New unlocks in the region stop offering Levy Cover until a replacement carrier is wired up. Affected operators are notified.

Jurisdictions

Where is Levy Cover available?

Phase 1: California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Germany, France, Netherlands, Portugal.

Phase 2 adds Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, Oregon, Tennessee.

See Jurisdiction Matrix for current state.

Why not New York or Washington?

DOI scrutiny. New York requires mandatory consumer disclosures and waiting periods that don't fit the unlock-screen UX. Washington has PIP complications around micromobility. Both are out of scope in v1 and v2.

Can a subaccount in an unsupported region still use Levy Cover?

No. The matrix is enforced at unlock based on geocoded location. If the unlock location is in an unsupported region, the card is hidden.

Privacy and security

What rider data is shared with the carrier?

Identity (handled by Stripe Identity), the ride record (time, location, vehicle), and the photos and description filed with the claim. The carrier is a data processor under Levy's privacy policy; a DPA is in place.

How long are claim photos retained?

7 years per insurance recordkeeping requirements, then anonymized and purged.

Who can see the photos in the operator queue?

Operators on the subaccount with the insurance:read permission. The Storage bucket is private and RLS-gated.

Operator economics

Does Levy Cover slow down the unlock UX?

By design, no. The opt-in card adds one screen between waiver and unlock. The quote is fetched in parallel with the existing pre-unlock checks. If the carrier doesn't respond within 2 seconds, the card is skipped and the ride proceeds.

Can an operator A/B-test having Levy Cover on?

Yes, the subaccount toggle can be flipped on and off. We do not currently support per-rider A/B at the matrix level, but most operators see the rate within a few weeks of enabling.

Does Levy Cover reduce my damage bill?

In aggregate, yes. Insured rides shift rider-caused damage onto the carrier. The exact magnitude depends on opt-in rate; once opt-in crosses 25% on a subaccount, damage reimbursement requests typically drop by 15-20%.

Edge cases

What if a rider is on a multi-rider ride (e.g. car share with friends)?

Only the account holder is named on the policy. Passengers are not insured. Disclosed in the policy wording.

What if a ride starts in a covered region and ends in an uncovered one?

The policy applies because binding is based on unlock location. The carrier's policy wording specifies the geographic scope of coverage if the ride leaves the binding jurisdiction.

What if the card declines at end of ride and the premium goes uncollected?

The payment retry framework attempts to charge. If retries exhaust, the carrier voids the policy as uncollected - meaning the rider was uninsured during the ride. This is disclosed in the policy wording at opt-in.

What if a rider files the same claim twice?

The claim API is idempotent on policy_id + filed_at + photo_hash[0]. Duplicate filings return the existing claim ID.

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