Sacramento Lyft Car Accident Lawyer

Car crashes are complicated enough, but collisions involving rideshare drivers are even more so. Make sure you get treated fairly by working with a Sacramento Lyft car accident lawyer.

It’s no fun dealing with the aftermath of an accident that occurred while you were traveling in a Lyft car. Your injuries may have taken you away from your job, leaving you in debt with huge medical bills and lost income. Whether the Lyft driver or the driver of another vehicle caused the accident, you are entitled to seek compensation for your injuries.

While it may sound easy to file a personal injury claim and recover damages on your own, ridesharing accidents are complicated by the varying parties that may potentially be liable. A Sacramento Lyft car accident lawyer from Crowell Law Offices will steer you in the right direction to recover the largest possible settlement for your injuries.

Complexity of Auto Wrecks with Lyft Drivers

As ridesharing becomes more popular, more and more Sacramento residents have been using the rideshare service Lyft. Unlike taxis, which are heavily regulated with local and state laws, transportation network companies, such as Lyft, have not had the same stringent rules since they became legal in 2013.

Taxis are often inspected and maintained regularly because the taxi company that owns them must abide by certain safety regulations. With Lyft cars, however, you are riding in a vehicle owned and maintained by the driver. Although Lyft performs an initial inspection on their driver’s cars, they do not routinely inspect and maintain the vehicles Lyft drivers use.

As a result, Lyft does not know if their drivers are actively providing maintenance to their vehicles beyond the initial inspection, making it difficult to know who is at fault for an accident.

Does the Lyft Driver Have Insurance Coverage?

It is important to know that the Lyft driver’s personal car insurance policy may not cover damages that occur while carrying passengers for money, as insurance carriers view ridesharing as commercial use. In some policies, this could even be a terminable offense.

However, Lyft provides insurance coverage to their drivers under certain circumstances. The full Lyft policy is in effect as long as the driver has a paying customer at the time of the wreck. This also applies if the driver has accepted a ride request and is on the way to pick the new fare up.

A less comprehensive contingent policy applies when the Lyft app is engaged and “driver mode” is active but no ride request has been accepted. In this situation, Lyft will want you to file a claim with the driver’s personal insurance first. If they don’t respond or if your damages exceed the driver’s policy limits, the Lyft policy should then kick in.

Recovering Damages for a Lyft Accident

To pursue damages for your injuries, we will aggressively negotiate with whichever insurer is appropriate for your particular accident. We will make sure all of the losses you suffered are included in the claim. You can seek compensation for any of the following that apply to your case:

• Current and future medical expenses
• Lost income and future earnings
• Physical therapy and rehabilitation
• Medical equipment and devices
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Wrongful death

Trust a Sacramento Rideshare Auto Wreck Attorney

If you or a loved one were injured in a Lyft car accident, contact Crowell Law Offices at 916-303-2800 or reach us online through the form below. Our consultations are free and there is no obligation to proceed beyond the initial meeting.