What to Do After a Car Accident with Uber

As personal injury attorneys, we often have clients that are involved in Uber car accidents. Ride sharing has become a massive part of the traffic happening on the roads. With the increased use of ride sharing, car accidents with Uber drivers have been on the rise. Here’s more information but if you’ve been in a car accident in Uber, call 419-900-0955 for a free consultation or contact a car accident lawyer from our team using the form below.

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Seek Medical Treatment for Any Injured Parties

For all injuries from car accidents, the most important thing is to protect the lives and health of those involved. This usually means that if you are in an accident, call the police, an ambulance, or other first responder in order to make sure professionals respond and any medical conditions that require immediate treatment are addressed as fast as possible. It also means taking action to reduce secondary accidents by moving vehicles to safety where possible.

Call A Personal Injury Lawyer and Schedule a Consultation

If you were in an accident with an Uber driver or while driving for Uber, you should contact an injury attorney in your State immediately after the accident. Most personal injury firms offer free consultations. It is incredibly important that you have an attorney review your case given the complexities of Uber insurance after a car accident. Does Uber’s insurance cover your injuries or do you need to consider your own personal coverage? There are several critical issues at hand when determining whether Uber’s insurance maintained for drivers might apply to your case. If you were in an Uber car accident in Ohio, Georgia, or Michigan, contact us for a free consultation.

Does Uber Cover Accidents?

Uber’s own website states that when you drive for Uber, they do “maintain auto insurance on your behalf.” This is broken down into rideshare users and delivery users separately.

Uber Insurance for Rideshare Drivers

They explain, however, that if the Uber driver is “offline” or the “driver app is off”, their insurance does not cover the incident and instead, only personal insurance coverage applies. If the Uber driver is “marked as available or waiting for a ride request”, Uber maintains insurance for third-party liability if the driver’s personal auto insurance doesn’t apply. When the Uber driver is “En route to pick up riders” and “during trips”, Uber maintains coverage that includes: third-party liability coverage; uninsured/underinsured motorist bodily injury and/or first-party injury insurance, contingent comprehensive and collision coverage and up to the actual cash value of car with a $2,500 deductible.

Uber Insurance for Delivery Drivers

What happens for Uber car accidents while driving delivery, like with Uber Eats? The nuances of Uber’s insurance for these types of accidents is different from accidents while using the ridesharing feature. While the specifics are different, the driver’s usage of the app determines the coverage. If the Uber delivery driver is “offline” or the “driver app is off”, their insurance does not cover the incident and instead, only personal insurance coverage applies. If the driver is “available” or “waiting for a delivery request”, the insurance maintained will apply if the driver’s personal auto insurance does not apply and will cover third-party liability. The limits of this policy are $50,000 in bodily injury per person; $100,000 in bodily injury per accident and $25,000 in property damage per accident. If the driver is “en route to pick up deliveries” or “during trips”, Uber maintains insurance on your behalf in case of a covered accident with limits of $1,000,000 for third-party liability. It includes contingent comprehensive and collision and up to the actual cash value of the car with a $2,500 deductible. But notably, the Uber website notes this is excluding accidents occurring in New York State

Does Car Insurance Cover Uber Car Accidents?

Before you can become an Uber driver, you need to have your own personal car insurance. The problem is that there may be different coverages or exclusions in this policy for ridesharing, and in certain cases as outlined above, Uber’s own insurance they provide might apply instead. Your personal automobile insurance may not cover you while ridesharing! Most personal car insurance policies have a list of exclusions which include “driving-for-hire.” If this exclusion is in your policy, you may not be covered when driving for Uber since its driving for hire. Before driving for Uber, we strongly recommend you check with your insurance policy and if excluded, you pursue supplemental commercial automobile insurance that covers ridesharing.