Maison Law represents people who are hurt in Oildale car accidents caused by an Uber driver’s mistake. Our personal injury lawyers aggressively seek compensation for our clients from the Uber driver and their employers. Please contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation for all local injury victims. It’s a no-risk opportunity to find out what your injury may be worth and how to hold insurance companies fully responsible for recovery costs.
Do I Need a Lawyer After an Uber Accident?
If your injuries end up being serious and an Uber driver was to blame for your crash, you should talk over your options with a skilled Oildale Uber Accident Lawyer.
When medical costs are high, Uber will fight hard to avoid having to provide full compensation. They’ll have corporate lawyers on the case, all trying to shift blame in an accident or working to downplay your injuries so they can offer you less.
Your lawyer is your shield against these heartless tactics. Your Maison Law car accident attorney gathers powerful evidence to force insurance companies to provide the maximum in compensation for you and your family.
Common Uber Accident Hazards in Oildale
Unless you commonly ride in an Uber car in Oildale or into Bakersfield, you may not realize how many Uber employees are on local roads. Uber and its drivers make a lot of money with their use of busy routes like Chester Avenue. Uber’s business model can flood the lanes with careless drivers.
Careless Uber drivers can put you at risk of an accident if you’re in the backseat during a collision. You can also suffer a crash while in your own car when a careless Uber driver collides with you. Uber drivers are doing more behind the wheel than most drivers, and it’s why they are often involved in serious accidents. They are in the driver’s seat while on the clock and are also under pressure to respond to passengers and deliver them quickly to their destinations.
These are look at some of the distractions they face during a shift:
- Cruising for a Customer: Uber drivers can have minutes or hours between ride requests. They can be cruising the roads in hopes they’ll be closer to any potential passengers. This is an empty trip, also known as “deadheading” for drivers. That’s more time on the road and more chance of causing an accident. To cut down on dead time, they may also work for several rideshare companies at once. This can lead to double the distraction during high traffic times.
- Notification Distraction: Drivers get an audio alert when they get a ride request. It means an immediate glance at their phones to check out the location of the request. They have a limited time to decide if they’ll accept the rider or if the request goes to another Uber employee. All of these decisions and interactions on a cellphone and they may have traveled hundreds of feet without really looking out their windshields.
- Locating the Rider: Even with mapping help from their cellphones, locating a customer can take full attention when streets start to get confusing and passengers aren’t waiting where they said they’d be. While they’re hitting the brakes and weaving while they look for a street sign, Uber drivers can fail to see your brake lights or might even blast through a stop sign.
- Passenger Distraction: Riders can be asking questions or yelling at their drivers, causing an Uber driver to drift into your lane. The driver may also be tempted to speed or drive recklessly to get a passenger to their destination on time.
- Ride Pressures: The unreasonable pressure to get a good driver rating can encourage Uber employees to take some chances. They can speed to get a rider to a destination on time or be tempted to drive aggressively. They may also skip needed rest breaks and meals to try to make more money. These practices make drivers more tired, rundown, and less able to focus on the road.
Injury victims hurt by a careless Uber driver could be able to hold the company’s insurance and the driver’s insurance responsible for their negligence. However, insurance adjusters don’t usually offer injury support automatically. They are paid to first question the fault in the accident and the seriousness of the injuries. Basically, they hope to twist the facts so the insurance company can get away with offering less in compensation or none at all.
Your Maison Law representative is your shield against this type of unfair treatment. Your lawyer makes sure you get the most in support for your injury and that a settlement check is awarded as soon as possible.
Who Can I Hold Responsible After a Kern County Uber Accident?
There could be several parties responsible for your Uber accident while you are recovering, from Uber drivers or the driver of another vehicle to the actual Uber company. Here is what could happen during the claims process:
- The Uber Driver’s Insurance: Uber drivers are required to carry car insurance just like any other driver on our roads. You will start by filing a claim with their insurer, though it may be denied once the car insurance company finds out the policyholder was working when the crash occurred. If your claim is rejected, or the policy is too small to cover all of your damages, you’ll need to file a claim with Uber’s supplemental insurance to seek the rest.
- Uber Insurance Coverage: Uber retains coverage that is up to a million dollars for both drivers and their victims in the event of an accident. However, this will only be available to you if your driver was logged into the Uber app at the time of the accident. Uber will do anything to challenge your claim in order to justify offering you much less than you need to fully recover.
- Your Own Car Insurance Provider: You may also choose to file a claim against your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage through your insurance company.
If Uber attempts to deny your claim or offer you a low settlement offer, your lawyer can help you file a lawsuit and take the rideshare to court. Your lawyer will examine several aspects to support your claim, from Uber’s work policies to hiring practices. Maison Law also has an accident reconstruction team on their side who can assist you in showing what actually happened at the time of your collision. All of these aspects can be incredibly helpful when it comes to the outcome of your claim.
What Can an Uber Accident Injury Settlement Cover?
Whether you were a passenger in an Uber or involved in a collision in your own car, the process for seeking damages and benefits remains the same as any other car accident.
This involves filing a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance company or pursuing a lawsuit. In either case, your car accident lawyer would be demanding full compensation for every hardship you and your family had faced and those medical issues expected to continue into the future.
These and other damages must all be considered in an Uber accident settlement check or court judgment:
- Medical expenses and physical therapy costs
- Lifelong support for victims suffering a permanent physical disability
- Support for pain endured
- Support for the emotional trauma experienced in an accident and during recovery
- Support for a loss of enjoyment of life due to an injury
- Lost income and benefits
- Repair or replacement costs for your vehicle
Contact an Oildale Uber Accident Lawyer Today
If you have been injured in an accident involving an Uber driver, you should contact our Oildale Uber accident lawyers at Maison Law immediately. Filing an injury claim with Uber and its insurance providers can be complex. It’s also easy to be tricked into accepting far less than you need to fully recover from an accident.
We offer a free and confidential case review to all Oildale victims. Please contact us today to schedule an appointment. It’s a no-risk way to determine what your case is worth and how to hold Uber fully liable. We will gather all evidence available in your accident and provide you with the resources that you need to successfully move forward with a case.
And if you do need Maison Law’s help to secure more in support, you don’t need to worry about having the money to hire a lawyer. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement Uber must provide.
