Widespread fraud among ride-service drivers: MPI

Ride-service drivers have been defrauding Manitoba Public Insurance by improperly insuring their vehicles as for personal use.

The public insurer and the City of Winnipeg, which regulates ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, discovered the widespread fraud after MPI conducted a review in December last year, the Crown corporation announced at a news conference Thursday.

MPI’s review looked at a random sample of 408 ride-hailing vehicles and found 108 were operating without the proper vehicle-for-hire insurance coverage. In order to register with the city as a ride-service driver, a vehicle must have such insurance and proof must be provided to the ride-booking company.

After being approved to work as Uber or Lyft drivers with proof of the proper insurance, the drivers would change their coverage to personal all-purpose or pleasure use policies, which are as much as 50 per cent cheaper. Officials said it was intentional fraud.

Between February and August, officials identified about 3,000 ride-service vehicles that did not have the proper insurance coverage and prevented them from operating in the city. A city official said the number of registered vehicles varies, but there’s typically about 4,000 to 5,000 in the city.

MPI’s initial review found about 1,200 policies carried insufficient coverage between December 2025 and February. The Crown corporation was underpaid about $260,000 in premiums during that period.

As many as 36 collision claims were filed between April 1 2025 and April 1 this year by drivers without the proper vehicle-for-hire insurance, MPI said. Those amounted to a total of $189,000 in claims.

MPI lawyers are considering how to recover the money, CEO Satvir Jatana said.

The city and MPI are working on strengthening oversight to prevent similar frauds from occurring in the future.

erik.pindera@winnipegfreepress.com