What to do if you’re involved in an Uber accident

Note: this post is not limited to Uber only. It also applies to other rideshare services out there.

Ordering an Uber or Lyft ride from your phone is so common. I know you probably haven't thought about it, but what if, just what if, you ever get into an accident and you become injured-what would you do?

It could be the car you are being driven in that crashes into another car as a result of your driver's poor driving or it could be the other way around where someone else on the road crashes into your car.

Either way, Uber accidents can happen in diverse ways. But what really matters is that you know what to do when it does happen.

Talking with an experienced and knowledgeable Atlanta personal injury lawyer who has handled many Uber and accidents can help answer questions and guide you as you deal with the insurance company.

First, take a deep breath and call for help

Immediately after the accident occurs, the first thing to do is to call for help.

Help, in this case, could mean calling an ambulance and alerting the police by dialing 911. Calling 911 is crucial as you will be reporting the situation to the authorities so that they can come and assess the situation.

It is important to involve the police immediately so that they will provide you with a police report which you'll need later when filing your claim.

By and large, the first thing you need to do right after the crash is get medical attention (and even if you don't have any visible injuries or feel like anything is broken, you could be injured internally without knowing it.)

Gather evidence

While waiting for an ambulance to arrive or the police to come, you can take out your phone and snap photographs or take short videos of the crash scene. You should also take down notes about the events and write down the names and contact information of any nearby eyewitnesses. The more information you gather the better,

This will help you defend your claims later on when you're trying to file a lawsuit against the driver and Uber.

Note: in the event that you're too badly injured to gather information from a crash scene, try ask the people around to do the gathering for you.

Detailed documentation of injury

One condition upon which a successful personal injury lawsuit can be filed is if you've truly sustained an injury.

And as you might have guessed, the only way to prove you were truly injured in an Uber accident is to provide a detailed documentation of injuries. Medical records will be that proof.

In most cases, injuries are pretty obvious. A broken arm or a bleeding nose is pretty obvious and very easy to prove.

As soon as you call an ambulance and you're driven to a hospital, a medical report will be created in your name to document your medical status after a thorough medical examination has been conducted on you.

Hire a personal injury attorney

If you already have a personal injury attorney at your disposal, you can ring him immediately.

However, if you don't, you should look to hire one as soon as possible, well, at least before you give any insurance company a recorded statement. (Of course seeking medical care is stop one.)

This is important because filing personal injury claims against Uber is not the same as other auto injury claims.

Things can get complicated when it comes to Uber.

Although Uber carries a $1 million insurance policy for its drivers, passengers, and third parties that may get injured in an accident, it's not uncommon to see them trying to dodge paying any compensation to you.

Sometimes, they try to shift the payment responsibility to the driver's insurance company.

But even then, the driver's insurance company will only be liable to pay you if the type of insurance purchased by the driver covers commercial accidents.

What if the Uber driver was not at fault?

In a case whereby the accident was caused by another vehicle, you can bring a claim against the driver of this vehicle.

But note that you will be able to get compensation only if the offending driver has an auto insurance policy.

Your best bet to get fair compensation for your personal injury when dealing with Uber accidents is hiring a knowledgeable and trusted Atlanta personal injury lawyer who has done it before. And to do that, you'll need an experienced personal injury attorney in Atlanta who's used to dealing with ride-sharing companies like Uber.