Taxi Cab and Ridesharing Accidents: How You Could End Up with Little to No Compensation

If you’re involved in either a taxi or a rideshare accident, like the increasingly popular Uber or Lyft, there are some things you should know about how insurance works in these situations.

Taxi Cab Accidents: You Don’t Always Get What You Deserve

If you’re involved in a taxi cab accident, insurance generally works the same as it does with any other car accident. Just like a typical accident, if a taxi cab hits your car, you file a claim with their insurance company. Also like a typical car accident, if you’re riding in a cab and get hit, you would file a claim with the insurance of the person at fault.

While all that seems fairly easy and straightforward, there are a couple of aspects of a taxi cab accident that can make things complicated.

First, if you’re involved in a two-car accident where both the taxi driver and the other driver are at fault, it becomes extremely difficult to get insurance on either side to pay for damages and injuries. They’ll generally fight over the amount that each side is responsible to pay and you may end up in the middle of a court battle.

Secondly, if you’re involved in a multi-car accident with a lot of damages and serious injuries, there may not be enough insurance money to go around. Usually, insurance policies have a limit on how much they’ll pay for one accident, and that limit can be reached very quickly when dealing with major medical bills. In this case, you’re often stuck settling with the insurance company for less than what you need to cover your medical expenses.

Rideshare Accidents: An Insurance Nightmare

Rideshare services like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar are exploding in popularity because of the convenience of using an app and the fact that it’s generally a much cheaper option.

So, what’s the problem? If you’re involved in a car accident while using a rideshare service, it can be a nightmare trying to get insurance to pay. The current debate between these rideshare companies and insurance companies is who is actually liable for such accidents.

Companies like Uber have commercial insurance that covers drivers when they have passengers in the car, but they leave a lot of gray areas such as coverage in-between jobs. These companies claim that they are not taxi services; they are merely facilitators that help people find a ride when they need one. Because of this outlook, they don’t assume responsibility in most cases, and this leaves the drivers and passengers in a vulnerable position.

This article from policygenius.com explains:

That leaves much of the insurance burden on the drivers, who are using their own personal cars and their own personal car insurance (PCI). What these drivers may not know, however, is that their PCI policy may not cover them if they’re driving for Uber, Lyft, or any other “ride-sharing” app.

Insurance companies are getting wary of covering people who are rideshare drivers and have been known to cancel personal policies if they find out a driver is working for one of these companies. Other insurance companies will only provide insurance coverage to an Uber, Lyft or Sidecar if the driver buys an additional endorsement on their policy that covers them while they are driving for compensation.

As you can see, both of these types of accidents can get complicated quickly, and it can prove difficult to get the compensation you need to cover injuries, damages, and other expenses.

If you’ve been involved in either of these types of accidents, contact a skilled Colorado car accident attorney at the Babcock Law Firm to set up a free consultation. We are here to help you get the compensation you deserve.