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?
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?