Today, ride-sharing services have reduced the demand for taxis. Those services hire contractors. Those contractors/drivers use their own vehicles. Do they also use their own insurance?

Rules for someone that has been hit by a ride-sharing vehicle

Do not plan to sue the ride-sharing company. Each of its drivers is a contractor. Those contractors set their own schedule and create their own work conditions. Still, a ride-sharing company could be held financially responsible for accident-caused losses. The person that has suffered such losses could go after the company’s own insurance coverage.

Someone that has been in collision with a vehicle that is providing ride-sharing services should first make a 3rd person claim with the responsible driver’s insurance company. If that company has refused to cover the incident, then the injured victim of the collision should contact the ride-sharing company.

Approach taken by auto insurance companies

Typically, such a company will not cover someone that drives for hire. Still, some states allow the same drivers to purchase a type of protection that is called an endorsement. The purchased endorsements get added to the auto insurance policies of the men and women that have chosen to serve as a contractor for a ride-sharing company.

What happens to drivers that live in a state where insurance companies do not sell such endorsements? In those states the drivers that are contractors for a particular ride-sharing service get forced to assume a certain degree of risk. Typically, an insurance carrier that does not sell such endorsements does not want any of its policyholders driving for hire. Consequently, if a contracted driver gets into an accident the carrier refuses to cover the victim’s losses. Furthermore, the same carrier might cancel the policy that had been purchased by the contracted driver.

Of course, that would not keep an injured victim from seeking some level of compensation. He or she could go after whatever insurance coverage was being offered by the insurer of the ride-sharing service. Of course, a victim with severe injuries might submit a claim that exceeded the limit, as stated in the service company’s policy.

In that case, the insurance company would refuse to cover the victim’s losses. Yet in the eyes of the law, the ride-sharing company would remain financially responsible for the victim’s losses. Consequently, the Personal Injury Lawyer in Mississauga know that the injured victim would have the right to sue the ride-sharing service, which would mean facing the service’s legal representative in a court of law.

Victims that get into such a situation have to spend many hours visiting a doctor’s office. In that way, the same victims can create the sort of medical record that might impress a jury, and might lead to receipt of a generous compensation.