Many people choose ridesharing companies instead of their cars to get to their destinations. However, what happens when you book an Uber ride and get into an accident? No matter how it occurred, you are entitled to compensation for your injuries. You will need an Uber car accident lawyer by your side to receive the best compensation possible.
1-800-Injured is an attorney and medical referral service that can help you out. You can learn more here. Let’s see exactly how you should proceed to get your Uber settlement money following a car accident!
Pursuing A Personal Injury Claim With Uber
What you first need to know about Uber car accidents is that plenty of insurance companies will be involved based on the accident circumstances. For example, if the accident occurred during a fare, the driver will be covered by commercial liability insurance.
If the accident occurred when the fare wasn’t active, you could file a claim through their personal insurance, but if it occurred while the driver was going to pick a fare, the coverage is limited through Uber.
Determining which insurance company you must file a claim with is time-consuming and frustrating. You should contact an Uber accident lawyer first and let them handle the paperwork. Also, you need to consider that if you file a claim with Uber’s insurance policy, you will encounter a higher resistance to your claim and, more often than not, a lesser settlement amount.
However, with an Uber car accident attorney by your side, they will handle the negotiations and proceed to help you gain the compensation that you deserve. Uber has a one-million-dollar liability insurance policy to cover damages, and you have the right to pursue it under Florida’s Chapter 627.748 insurance rates and contracts regarding transportation network companies.
Driver or Vehicle Fault
Another issue that prolongs a settlement from being reached is placing liability. For example, most Uber drivers aren’t CDL licensed, unlike taxi operators. This means that you can’t use the stricter CDL regulations and guidelines against them to prove fault.
These drivers also don’t use company vehicles. They use their own vehicles. Thus, Uber isn’t responsible for maintaining or upkeeping vehicles, the driver is. If your Uber accident resulted from a maintenance failure, you can’t pursue compensation from the ridesharing company.
You will need to take a different legal course of action unless your Uber driver does have a CDL and a commercial registration for their car.
Getting Your Uber Settlement Money
As you can see, there are many variables when it comes to Uber car accidents. Since they are a ridesharing company, you must sort out many issues before knowing who to file a claim with and what to include in it.
In the end, the best way to get your Uber settlement money is to collaborate with a professional lawyer that has dealt with Uber accidents before. They can help you build your case, gather evidence, hire expert witnesses or accident reconstruction professionals, negotiate your settlement amount in your favor, including economic or non-economic damages to your claim, and more!
What you can do before contacting an uber accident attorney is to make sure you follow the normal procedures during a car accident.
First, contact the authorities and inform them of the accident. This is when you should also evaluate your wounds and if other people are injured. If there are other injured people, try to help them through phone instructions provided to you by the authorities.
Once the medics are on the scene, be sure to have your injuries checked out as well, even if you feel fine. Very often, the adrenaline rush experienced during a car crash can hide injury symptoms.
Apart from thinking about your own health, you also need to consider that these evaluations will help out your personal injury claim.
Take photos or record the accident scene, and this includes taking photos of the damaged vehicles and your injuries. If there are eyewitnesses, write down their contact information and the Uber driver’s contact information and insurance information of all the drivers involved in the accident.
Be sure to write down the police officer’s name as well because you will need to contact them later to get an official report or use that information to help your lawyer get it. Once this is over, your lawyer will handle the rest, and you won’t have to deal with all that paperwork to get your settlement money. What is important is to rest and heal and let your lawyer do the work.
