What Happens if I’m in a Accident While Using Lyft or Uber?
Ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft have changed the landscape of transportation for many Americans and Floridians. The cost efficiency and costs effectiveness is attractive for consumers everywhere. While states, including Florida, struggle with how to regulate this new and important form of transportation, consumers find themselves in collisions with drivers. While it is easy to understand who pays for what in a normal car accidents, these questions are much more difficult to answer when a ride-share vehicle was involved in an car accident. The question becomes: what happens if a consumer is hit or injured while in a ride share vehicle?
PIP May Protect Some Accident Victims
Florida law requires all drivers to have personal injury protection (PIP) coverage. The coverage will protect a driver if they are injured in an accident and ensure they do not need to worry about covering bills. In order to access PIP coverage it is important victims take a few steps before filing a PIP claim: 1) Seek medical treatment within 14 days of the accident and 2) ensure medical treatment is provided by a doctor. This means accident victims must go to an emergency room, urgent care or see their primary care doctor. If you follow the legal requirements then then you may be able to use our PIP coverage:
- Driver that Collides with a Ride Share Vehicle: if your car is in an accident with a ride-share vehicle, your PIP insurance should provide coverage up to $10,000.
- Ride-Share Passengers: if you are a passenger when your ride-share is in an accident and you are injured, it may be more difficult to file a claim. Florida does not require taxis and limos to have PIP coverage, and it is not possible your ride-share driver does not have PIP coverage either. However, if your driver has PIP you should be able to file a claim under the policy.
While it may be difficult to recover if there is no PIP policy injured rideshare passengers may still be able to recover under bodily injury or uninsured motorist policies.
- Bodily Injury Coverage: Florida does not require all drivers to have bodily injury insurance. This means that Florida drivers can cause an accident and your only recourse to seeking recovery is through a lawsuit. Fortunately, Uber and Lyft provide bodily injury coverage for passengers to protect drivers and passengers. Uber vehicles carry a sliding scale of coverage depending on whether the driver is picking up or looking for passengers.
- Uninsured Motorist Insurance: If you are a passenger in an rideshare vehicle that collides with another vehicle and the other driver does not have bodily injury coverage, you may still be protected. Both Uber and Lyft indicate that they carry approximately $1,000,000 in UM coverage to protect the passengers a protection for their customers.
An Attorney can Help
It is important that both drivers and passengers seek medical attention immediately after an accident with a ride share vehicle. Once you have sought appropriate medical attention, contact the Miami car accident attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. to discuss your accident. We can go through the different types of insurance coverages and determine the best way for you to recover from your accident. Contact us today to schedule an appointment.
