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Comment by vladd | Hacker News Reader

Insurance probably requires a hotel reception-like presence (person on site, cam surveillance, security coverage, signed contracts, in-person ID validation and a way to prove who did what in case something bad happens).

I can't imagine any insurance company signing up for insuring "rented your home while being away" guests at rates that would be considered affordable for the rental model, nor a lot of AirBnB audience willing to turn their property into a de-facto hotel establishment.

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If an insurance company won't write a policy for it, you probably shouldn't be doing it.

I can't wait to use this line.

If everyone followed this rule, there would be very little innovation, none of it disruptive.

I found this very glib, while we may mock insurance for certain things there are professionals in that industry.

If an insurance company specialising in unconventional insurance don't think they can make money out of a premium, that does actually say something pretty insightful about the risk you're taking.

The professionals in the insurance industry specialize in estimating the risk associated with any endeavor. Innovation, especially disruptive innovation, is extremely risky in the beginning and is almost always perceived to be riskier than it is. This does not mean that it will stay risky forever and perceptions certainly change. Innovations that go mainstream become progressively less risky.

If you'd like a specific example, consider that insurance companies in 48 states can and will likely cancel insurance policies of anyone who rents their car to another individual, even if they hold a separate insurance policy to cover it[1]. This means that the tens of millions of cars sitting in garages would never be shared even if a startup decided to insure those doing peer to peer sharing.

GetAround, which won the TechCrunch Disrupt audience prize last year, or RelayRides which does the same thing, would never have started if they followed this rule. It's a bit early to claim that they have changed the world for the better, but I am optimistic they will.

I think what I said may be somewhat pithy but I certainly wasn't being glib.

[1] http://travel.usatoday.com/news/2011-06-17-personal-car-shar...

You're arguing against yourself here - GetAround obtained insurance even while being disruptive.

More to the point, neither GetAround or AirBnB are in any way deep into territory that insurance hasn't ventured before. Insuring against burglary/damage in rental properties happens all the time, just like for rental cars.

The only times when insurance is unattainable is when the risks highly outweigh the premiums (SEE: Flood insurance in the Mississippi Delta) or when there is no actuarial data available which is tough to come by at this point.

For the first point I'm going to say the parent is very correct in avoiding this type of un-insurable behavior. And as for the latter, you had better have deep, deep pockets because if you can't even convince an insurance company of the risk, are you sure you've thought it through?

I am not arguing against myself. People had been trying and failing to get insurance for car sharing for decades before Getaround succeeded at it. My co-founder is one of those people. Yet, even today, if you become a Getaround subscriber, your insurance company can cancel your policy. If that doesn't convince you about the slow moving nature of insurance companies, I don't know what will.

I know of few disruptive markets for which actuarial data sets are available.

Obviously you should think through the risks of starting a business not endorsed by insurance companies. If you have an appetite for such risk and believe the rewards (to yourself and/or to society) outweigh the risk, you should do it. Do you think Google could have bought insurance for their self driving cars before they started working on them?

Here's what homeaway has to say about it:

http://community.homeaway.com/docs/DOC-1357

this sound like an opportunity for an insurance company to me. i'm sure they can come up with a rate..

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