There are a million and one places Cheney residents need to be over the course of a week. EWU students may need a ride to the grocery store or over to the airport. All reasons to pull up a rideshare app and ping your location.
Companies like Uber and Lyft make snagging a ride easy and affordable, but they also add extra vehicles on local roads and highways. All of those rideshare employees, watching their apps while also trying to drive safely can increase the risk of accidents for anyone inside and outside of a rideshare vehicle.
Help for Rideshare Accident Victims in Cheney
Uber drivers zip across Cheney and Spokane County day and night, but what happens when their rush to get somewhere causes an accident. You may be in your own vehicle, a pedestrian, or a passenger in an Uber vehicle when you are forced into a collision and suffer an injury.
Would Uber or Lyft provide everything you need to pay for the best medical care and support you through your recovery? For questions like this and more, you can contact a Cheney rideshare accident attorney with CCD Law. You may be battling with a billion-dollar company to try to get compensation for your suffering. It’s important to know your rights as a victim and to know the common tricks insurance companies try to use to get you to accept an unfair settlement.
Insurance Claims Against Uber and Lyft
After a collision with a rideshare or delivery vehicle, your journey to finding support from an at-fault driver may be just beginning.
Uber and Lyft purposely keep their drivers categorized as independent contractors. It means drivers can be fully responsible when they cause accidents, even when on-the-clock for a rideshare. You’ll first have to file a claim over your injuries with the driver’s own insurance company. This might only be a formality because insurance firms can have clauses in their policies that let them reject claims over accidents that occurred while their policyholders were working.
If your claim is rejected or you don’t win enough compensation to cover your recovery costs, Uber and Lyft allow you to then file an injury claim with them. They both provide up to a million dollars in coverage for victims, but only if the accident meets certain criteria. A driver must’ve been on the way to pick up a rider, or already have a passenger in the vehicle when the accident occurs.
Once the passenger has been dropped off, this million-dollar coverage ends. If a driver is logged onto the app but doesn’t have a ride request or passenger when an accident happens, Lyft and Uber can offer up to 100,000 dollars in coverage to victims.
Uber and Lyft Insurance Tactics After Cheney Accidents
Rideshare companies rely on their own teams of lawyers and insurance agents to keep their settlements low or even to try to convince you to give up your case.
They can convince innocent victims that an accident was their own fault. They can also take any statements you offer and twist them to prove their own driver was faultless, even though this is untrue.
Here are a few other strategies rideshare lawyers may try:
- Make you wait: Uber may take its time in processing your claim, all while you deal with pain, a loss of enjoyment of life, and mounting financial burdens.
- Lowball offers: If Lyft thinks you’re desperate and running out of money they may make you a lowball offer hoping any amount will get your approval. Your attorney can help you avoid getting to this point. Your attorney can also make sure any offer submitted shows respect for your intelligence and the hardships you’ve endured.
- Reject your claim: Rideshare insurers can deny your claim, even if they know the accident was their fault. They hope that you’ll get frustrated and just give up. Once they see that you can’t be scared off, you can usually expect a settlement offer that’s fair.
Contact a Cheney Rideshare Accident Lawyer
If you are hit by a Lyft or Uber vehicle, or you’re a passenger when an accident occurs, contact a Cheney Rideshare Accident Attorney to make sure you’re rights are protected. If a representative from a rideshare company contacts you, don’t give them a statement about what happened in the accident. These statements can be used against you later. Let your lawyer handle all communication until you have the compensation you’ll need to rebuild your life.
Established in Spokane in 1948, Crary, Clark, Domanico, & Chuang, P.S. is committed to providing our clients with the absolute highest quality legal representation. Contact us after any accident resulting in a serious injury for a free, confidential consultation and case evaluation. We will only offer you advice that is in your best interest.
