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Proper Steps to Take After Ridesharing Accidents Occur

By Ernest Hamilton | Update Date: Oct 16, 2019 09:26 PM EDT
Proper Steps to Take After Ridesharing Accidents Occur

Proper Steps to Take After Ridesharing Accidents Occur
| (Photo : Proper Steps to Take After Ridesharing Accidents Occur )

Ridesharing is big business in the United States today. Millions upon millions of rides are provided by ride sharing drivers every single day across the nation. 

Unfortunately, this also means there are more ride sharing accidents happening on the roadways today. The increase in these types of auto accidents has presented legislators, ride sharing companies and drivers with new challenges as far as how to handle claims from such incidents.

In other words, when you are a passenger or bystander who is involved in a ride sharing accident, getting your claim processed may take a different course than what you are used to.

You should always contact your personal injury lawyer in Los Angeles after being involved in a ridesharing accident. 

Steps to Take After Being Involved in a Ridesharing Accident


Just as with any car accident, your first and most important job (after making sure you are safe) is to document everything.

Document everything you can remember about what occurred. Document the condition of the vehicle and any injuries you have sustained. Document what the driver was doing and everything you can remember about the traffic conditions, weather, roadways and behavior of other drivers.

Document with photos, video and notes so you can add to them later as you remember more.

Understand Your Rights As a Passenger or Bystander


Your path to getting your insurance claim processed after a ridesharing accident can be different depending on whether you were a ridesharing driver's passenger or an innocent bystander.

You were a passenger.

If you were a passenger, in most cases your claims process will be simpler and faster to complete than if you were a bystander.

This is because the driver will always be on shift, "on the clock" so to speak, if you are a passenger involved in a ride sharing accident.

You are the customer in this scenario, and the ride sharing company will be carrying insurance coverage for just this type of incident.

However, it is important to remember that just because the ridesharing company has an insurance policy that covers injury to their passengers doesn't automatically mean they will be willing to roll out the red carpet for you.

Hiring the best personal injury attorney to represent your interests will ensure you get everything you are entitled to under the ride sharing company's policy benefits.

You were a bystander.

If you were a bystander who was involved in a ride sharing accident, it can become more complicated to receive coverage, care and reimbursement from an insurer. This is because the driver may or may not have been on duty.

Depending on what the driver's own status was while behind the wheel of the vehicle, any coverage you are awarded may either come from the ride sharing company or the driver's own personal or commercial auto insurance policy.

This issue is becoming particularly complicated since the state of California has recently legislated that ride sharing drivers must be treated as employees rather than contractors.

For each of these reasons and more, the best course of action in either case is to retain the services of an experienced ridesharing accident lawyer right away to be sure you get the benefits you deserve.

Steps to Take for Passengers Involved in a Ridesharing Accident


When a ride sharing accident occurs, there are at least two participants: the driver and the passenger. The driver is nearly always deemed at fault in this case.

This is because, as the ridesharing passenger, you may understandably not even be paying attention to what is going on outside the vehicle on the roadway. You may be texting on your phone, napping, daydreaming, working, reading or doing something else entirely, entrusting the driver you have hired to get you safely to your destination.

When this does not occur and the driver has an accident while you are in the vehicle, it is highly unlikely you will be held at fault.

In this case, the claims process should be fairly straightforward. You file your claims with the ride sharing company's insurance and follow their instructions to receive all care and compensation you may be entitled to. You should always also alert your own insurer even though you were not driving when the incident occurred.

However, until the incident has been successfully resolved, we recommend hiring the best auto collision attorney with experience in ride sharing accidents to protect your interests.

Steps to Take for Bystanders Involved in a Ridesharing Accident


For bystanders who are involved in a ride sharing accident, the landscape of insurance claims can become more complicated quickly.

Many ride sharing passengers do not even realize that drivers are not always on the clock, or on shift, while behind the wheel of the car they use to provide ridesharing services.

Whether or not the driver was on the clock when the accident occurred has everything to do with how an insurance claim gets processed and which insurer is responsible for handling the insurance claim.

If the driver is behind the wheel for personal business, the insurer responsible will be the driver's own personal auto insurance company. Here, you may find you are at the mercy of the level of coverage the driver carries for personal vehicle use. It may or may not be sufficient to cover your claim.

If the driver is behind the wheel and actively seeking a passenger, the ride sharing app will be on. In this case, the driver will either be looking for a passenger, on the way to pick up a passenger or actively transporting a passenger to their destination.

In these three cases, as a bystander involved in a ride sharing accident, you will have at least some level of coverage from the ride sharing company's insurance carrier. How much coverage you have access to will depend on where the driver was in this process: on the way to pick up a passenger, transporting a passenger or seeking a passenger.

If the driver is seeking a passenger, your access to coverage will be limited based on the limits imposed by the ride sharing company's insurer.

If, on the other hand, the driver is on the way to pick up a passenger or is actively transporting a passenger, you will have access to the full coverage provided to passengers under the ride sharing company's policy.

The levels of coverage in all cases will depend on the specific coverage limits and levels set up by the ride sharing company. Here again, this can get particularly complicated here in California, where the entire status of ride sharing drivers as independent contractors versus employees with benefits is shifting. 

West Coast Trial Lawyers Can Help


Ridesharing accidents are on the rise throughout California and the nation. These types of car accidents are different from what most people are used to, because the passenger is a customer and several different types of insurance policies may be involved in filing an insurance claim.

Ridesharing accident claims can get complicated quickly, which is why you want to alert your West Coast Trial Lawyers team as soon as possible after being involved in a ride sharing incident.

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