# HELP! Hit and run accident last week while doing a fare and no word from Uber!



## Sassypants (Oct 22, 2014)

Hi everyone, 

Sorry, I'm fairly new with Uber, I'm also new to this site (found this site hoping to get some actual help) so please forgive me if the answer to my question is found elsewhere on a thread here. I realize that's irritating when people ask the same questions over and over on a forum. LOL

I've only been driving for about 3 weeks and I've gotten into a good groove with picking up fares and making a bit of secondary income. 

Last Wednesday (a week ago) shortly after I picked up a fare and was en route to their destination, I was involved in a minor accident with another vehicle. Its hard really to say WHO was technically at fault, because it happened so quickly. But without stating anything too incriminating, I was looking at my navigation, it was lagging behind in directions for some reason and when I realized I needed to switch over lanes to be able to take a left on a Y-intersection, the driver on my left side must have been in my blind spot when I tried to quickly switch lanes and we hit one another. 

To summarize what happened next, I asked the passengers if they were fine, which they were. I pulled over, as did the other driver, who pulled over in front of me. I turned off my fare at the time so the passenger wouldn't continue to get charged. The other driver gets out of her vehicle and starts yelling at me and I ask her if she's ok (which she didn't respond to but she was walking around just fine). 

I stated that I was insured, and I would need to call the police to have an accident report filed and we would exchange information. She proceeds to tell me that SHE DOESN'T HAVE INSURANCE that I "****ed up her car" (to which I said, uh, I have damage to my vehicle too?) and then when I was like "WHA?" and told her she can't drive without insurance, its illegal, she began ARGUING the fact with me. I said, well, I have to follow accident protocol anyway and call the police to come and that's when she started getting nervous. 

After a few minutes me arguing with her about well, no Miss, no you can't just drive around without insurance, and her pacing around her car, it became clear to both me and my riders that she was going to leave the accident without either giving me her information or asking to take mine. Since she was parked right in front of me, both myself and my riders were able to note her license plate number before she literally got in her car and drove off. 

The riders stated they would prove a witness statement if I needed, gave me their contact information and then got out to call another driver to pick them up. 

I had to wait about 15-20 mins for a police officer to actually show up (after calling 911 TWICE to ask for one) and get this: when I told the officer I was giving someone a ride with Uber, he literally had NO IDEA WHAT UBER EVEN WAS. Shameful that the city of Chicago police department deals with motorists every day and has no idea what ride sharing is or the companies that provide ride sharing services. 

Anyway, I gave him my statement, stated that I had two witnesses, gave their information, told him the other drivers license plate number (which he pulled up her name, address and vehicle information) and told him that she stated several times that she didn't have insurance and fled the scene (which was notated on the police report). 

The damages to my vehicle could have been worse, but the fact is I still need to get them fixed and I have a ton of questions about the protocol for this and am not getting anywhere with Uber at all. 

I sent an email to support that evening stating I had been in a minor accident, the passengers were fine, there is damage to my vehicle, I had a police report. Someone contacted me back right away the next morning, asked me if I was ok, but wouldn't really field any specific questions about coverage or Uber paying out for my damages. All he did was confirm that I was ok, the passengers were ok, informed me that my Uber driving app was turned off, and gave me a link to download the accident report to fax the claims department along with the police report and any photos and someone from the claims department would be in touch with me, send out an adjuster and it would go from there. 

Well that's been almost a week ago and neither my phone message or email to the Uber rep who contacted me has been returned but NOONE from the claims department has since contacted me and not only am I not even able to turn on my app to drive at all last weekend, or this upcoming Halloween weekend and missing out on revenue, but I'm also driving without a drivers side mirror and while not illegal to drive without one, its certainly not very SAFE to drive without one and I'm still needing to drive my car for personal errands and my ACTUAL job. 

I went to my body shop and the estimate I was given was $1200 to fix the cosmetic work to the bumper area and the mirror. I can not afford that right now and I'm relying on Uber to get back to me to pay for the damages as I was given the impression that their insurance would cover me should I get into an accident while actually transporting a fare in progress (which I was). 

Now I don't know if their payment on claims is dependant upon who can be determined as being at fault for the accident, if the other driver having insurance or not has anything to do with it or if I'm on my own here. 

For the record, I have NOT contacted my personal insurance about this. Of course, I could just omit the truth that I was driving for Uber at the time and try to get my insurance to pay for it with the underinsured/uninsured part of my policy, however, because there is a police report and who knows what sort of papertrail might ensue if I should go through my insurance, I can easily see how doing so might bite me in the ass and it be uncovered I was Ubering at the time and then not only would I be without getting my shit paid for, but I'd be probably dropped and who knows how hard it would be to get car insurance then, which I can't risk because I work 100% freelance in promotions and need my car to get around. I'd be crippled without it. 

I have been holding off doing anything because I was under the impression that I needed to wait for their adjuster and claims department to follow up with me first and I don't want to **** up the process by getting any repair work done prematurely without their instruction to do so. 

I would like to hear if anyone else has gone through the accident claims process to help me through this so I know what to expect here. There are a lot of elements at play with this and all I really want is A) to get my vehicle to the bare minimum of repair (at least the mirror, the rest is not crucial right now) and B) to get my Uber app back ON so that I can get back to driving ASAP. 

When someone has a minor accident, how does that affect their ability to drive? Will Uber suspend my driving priviledges indefiniately? What do I need to do to get them to get it back on? Am I still going to be charged for a device fee for the time frame that my app was not in service? Will I have to submit photos of the repair work or an invoice detailing proof that work was done before they will approve me to start driving again. 

Please someone help. I'm really frustrated by this whole mess, which is exacerbated by the fact that Uber is dragging their damn feet.


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

Well with $1200 in damages you may as well just go ahead and fix it yourself. You will have to pay the First $1000.00 as the deductible. So submit your receipts to Uber and they will pay you $200.00 somewhere down the line. But they certainly won't pay for everything. 

You will need to send in new pics of your car to let them know the damage has been fixed to good as new standards before they will reinstate you. You may also need to sign some release forms absolving them of any liability once they pay you the $200.00. They do not want you coming back for more later. 

Basically if you want to get back to earning quickly you gotta come out of pocket for the damages. Their adjuster is only going to look at the pictures they are not going to send someone out to look at it. They do not have the manpower for that.


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## Sassypants (Oct 22, 2014)

thank you so very much for the response. I do appreciate that. 

If they do not actually have anyone personally validating that the vehicle was fixed, what's to say someone can't just send it older photos of their car to claim the work was done? 

I obviously wouldn't want to be taking any fares without getting the mirror replaced, but the rest is actually minor and more so cosmetic than anything. And I verified with the shop that the integrity of the vehicle or the safety of driving it is not impeded by the bumper damage, the alignment is just fine and I can turn my wheel/tires without issue. 

I didn't realize they had a $1000 deductible and its not like they have their insurance coverage posted plainly on the website. Hell, I didn't even realize I was going to get charged $10 a week for the Iphone they sent me. I applied to be an Uber driver, submitted my photos and such and then BAM, I got an Iphone in the mail. I had to find out from an off duty Uber driver who I happened to pick up (my very first fare, actually) who informed me that I'd be getting $10 a week deducted. 

From the looks of the other thread regarding the Uber driver protests happening, I would say that they can't really afford to be keeping drivers who want to drive off the road at this point.


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

Well good point, I guess someone could send in old photos. But I think the photos along with the invoice from the body shop about what they fixed is enough for them to conclude it was fixed correctly. Remember they really do not care all that much. If they get a complaint that your car has a big ol gash in it they will just deactivate you again anyway. All they care about is getting you back out there earning for them. They really have no care about quality. If they did they would do random checks. But that would cost money to hire someone to do that. They are not going to go that far.

Couple links for you:
http://blog.uber.com/ridesharinginsurancepolicy
http://blog.uber.com/ridesharinginsurance

It's kind of full of double speak and misleading verbiage but that's what Uber is good at.


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

$1200 seems very steep for a mirror and cosmetic bumper work.

I'd say shop around; prices vary a lot. 

A used door mirror from eBay is likely to be 50 bucks or so. If you don't know how to fit it then maybe you know someone who knows someone who could.


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## Sassypants (Oct 22, 2014)

Thank you for the links on the insurance. Mighty helpful. Kind of. Like you said. Double speak and misleading verbiage. 

At the minimum I am going to having to probably pay out of pocket to replace the mirror. The rest like I said doesn't affect the safety of the vehicle, its only cosmetic and for a car that is 7 years old and 111K miles on it, and a blue book value of only about $6K, I'm not really running out quickly to pay out a full $1200 on repairs on it.


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

Ele you have not been to a body shop lately. Getting out of there for less than 1k is impossible these days. Especially a repaint of a bumper. mirrors are upwards of $300.00 from the dealers. Nothing cheap in that world unless you do things on the cheap such as used mirrors, aftermarket stuff etc. Why you think Uber has a 1k deductible! they know what it costs, and they don't want to pay it! LOL


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## Sassypants (Oct 22, 2014)

here, I think its probably best if I just upload some images. The estimate that I got was roughly $500 in parts, $600 in labor (or maybe it was vice versa) and the rest in tax.


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

Walkersm said:


> Ele you have not been to a body shop lately. Getting out of there for less than 1k is impossible these days. Especially a repaint of a bumper. mirrors are upwards of $300.00 from the dealers. Nothing cheap in that world unless you do things on the cheap such as used mirrors, aftermarket stuff etc. Why you think Uber has a 1k deductible! they know what it costs, and they don't want to pay it! LOL


I always use used parts wherever possible.

I dented the front air dam on my car a week after I picked it up brand new. I pulled out the dent, buffed out most of the scratches and got rid of the rest with a touch up pen. Total cost to fix - $9.


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

Sassypants said:


> Thank you for the links on the insurance. Mighty helpful. Kind of. Like you said. Double speak and misleading verbiage.
> 
> At the minimum I am going to having to probably pay out of pocket to replace the mirror. The rest like I said doesn't affect the safety of the vehicle, its only cosmetic and for a car that is 7 years old and 111K miles on it, and a blue book value of only about $6K, I'm not really running out quickly to pay out a full $1200 on repairs on it.


Well then sassy you are just another victim of this whole scheme. There are many like you. One lady posted where a passenger opened up her door into a traffic lane and the door took off the other persons mirror. She ended up just paying out of pocket, afraid to get her insurance involved and getting no where with Uber. And that is exactly how Uber wants it. Make it to difficult for people to get any money out of them and they eventually just stop driving. Then there are 3 people ready to take your place, at a lower cost probably. That ladies story here:

__
https://www.reddit.com/r/uberdrivers/comments/2aseih

What we really need if this is a "sharing" econome is a "sharing " body shop and mechanic that will share thier talents after we get into an accident. As Uber really does not like to "Share" any of that insurance money.


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

Sassypants said:


> here, I think its probably best if I just upload some images. The estimate that I got was roughly $500 in parts, $600 in labor (or maybe it was vice versa) and the rest in tax.
> View attachment 1828
> View attachment 1827


Is your fender turned in? Did they detail a new fender on the bill?


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

I don't think we can blame Uber for this one. Well, for not responding to the OP, yes. But I think it has more to do with the insurance industry as a whole.

I used to work for AIG. Their policy for claims adjusters was to flat deny all claims in the first instance. AIG would then negotiate with claimants who came back and challenged the initial denial.

When I was there they were undergoing a change to this policy. They realized that having to hire lawyers, to counter when claimants sued them for wrongly denying claims, was too expensive and that the cheapest option was in fact for them to play ball with claimants right from the start.

Not all insurers have seen the light, obviously.


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

elelegido said:


> I always use used parts wherever possible.


Just like the Taxi companies. Think they have already been down this road and have figured out this stuff. Makes sense with UberX rates cheaper than taxis soon Uber X cars will look worse than taxis with used parts and touch up paint all over.

Wonder why Sassy could not have a $1000.00 emergency find put away for just this occurrence. Does everyone else have 1k in case of an accident tomorrow?


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## kalo (Jun 28, 2014)

Ahhhh... ONE of the "hidden" costs of being an Uber driver. No sweat until the unfortunate happens. It's funny really. Read and head Uber Driver Fools. Your assets are at risk and Uber benefits BIG TIME!


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

Everything is great, Until it's not.


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

Walkersm said:


> Just like the Taxi companies. Think they have already been down this road and have figured out this stuff. Makes sense with UberX rates cheaper than taxis soon Uber X cars will look worse than taxis with used parts and touchuppaint all over.
> 
> Wonder why Sassy could not have a $1000.00 emergency find put away for just this occurrence. Does everyone else have 1k in case of an accident tomorrow?


It can be done right. I had a small used motorcycle dealership for a few years. Whenever I got a bike in that had damaged bodywork I'd buy good-as-new used parts to fix them. And sell the damaged parts online, which people would buy, believe it or not. Net result, it cost peanuts to restore bikes to as-new condition.


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

One thing that Drivers do these days is go on to crowd funding sites in order to raise the deductible. If you tell a good enough story you may get it. This guy not doing so well: http://www.gofundme.com/luisuber


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## Sassypants (Oct 22, 2014)

Walkersm said:


> Just like the Taxi companies. Think they have already been down this road and have figured out this stuff. Makes sense with UberX rates cheaper than taxis soon Uber X cars will look worse than taxis with used parts and touch up paint all over.
> 
> Wonder why Sassy could not have a $1000.00 emergency find put away for just this occurrence. Does everyone else have 1k in case of an accident tomorrow?


Because its just THAT EASY! If I had $1000 stowed away as emergency money, I wouldn't really be needing to Uber drive to make extra money to pay my bills. I simply love how easy people make it to just set aside all this extra cash! At one point, my husband and I did have some savings for emergency situations, and some built up retirement funds as well. But having the breadwinner of your family lose their job due to downsizing, being unemployed for a whole year, draining every penny you had, borrowing money from your own parents, and then finally having to take new employment $10K a year less than they were making annually before, I would say before one makes such statements, realize that its not wave a magic wand and presto, there is extra cash. Life happens. Appliances break. Pets become fatally ill. Children get sick. People lose their jobs. Etc. Etc. Please obtain some perspective on how life works.

Walker, your comment was a bit patronizing. Many people are living paycheck to paycheck, trying to get their dollars to stretch as much as possible, and barely having money at the end of the day to buy essentials and barely enough to pay their mortgage. Thank goodness my husband and I do not have children and mostly have to work to keep our own head above water. Thank you for the GoFundMe suggestion. I will check that out, however, it seems like more of a waste of time than it is worth. Not to mention, I have friends of mine who are in much worse financial situation than I am in with this, AND have children, and can barely afford to feed them. Putting up a GoFundMe to get strangers to pitch in on my bodyshop bill seems to be extremely overindulgent and unnecessary. If the situation had been bigger, with a lot more damage, and not as easy to fix, perhaps then I might consider it.

But for now, I'll try to scrape up what I can at least to get the mirror replaced and then hold of on the rest until it becomes more of a necessity to do so.

I had only been Uber driving 3 weeks before this happened, taking fares for about 12-15 hours a week, ON TOP of the 32 hours a week I have with my actual JOB. I was hoping to drive as much as possible so that guess what! I COULD have the luxury of actually catching up on some bills and rebuilding that little savings we had to completely drain.

As for fixing my own vehicle. LOL. NO. NO. NO. That's the last thing I need is to go messing around with something I absolutely know zero about and then ****ing my car up worse than it was. I'll shop around to see if I can get a deal better elsewhere. Hate to say it, but some of the little Mexican body shops might give me a better deal than the body shop here in my little completely white suburban neighborhood.

All the information here has been incredibly helpful. Thank you all for participating/posting. Way WAY better information that I could have found on my own and its not like Uber has really been very helpful here.


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## clint1285 (Aug 31, 2014)

sassypants, i got in a hit in run with uber passengers in sept 2014, i contacted uber after i got home, they called me about 8 hours later and emailed me an accident form to fill out and told me to send them pics of the damage, then uber's insurance company called me one week later and said they cant fix my bumper because we can only match your personal insurance with State Farm and you dont have uninsured motorist with them


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

Sassypants said:


> Because its just THAT EASY! If I had $1000 stowed away as emergency money, I wouldn't really be needing to Uber drive to make extra money to pay my bills. I simply love how easy people make it to just set aside all this extra cash! At one point, my husband and I did have some savings for emergency situations, and some built up retirement funds as well. But having the breadwinner of your family lose their job due to downsizing, being unemployed for a whole year, draining every penny you had, borrowing money from your own parents, and then finally having to take new employment $10K a year less than they were making annually before, I would say before one makes such statements, realize that its not wave a magic wand and presto, there is extra cash. Life happens. Appliances break. Pets become fatally ill. Children get sick. People lose their jobs. Etc. Etc. Please obtain some perspective on how life works.
> 
> Walker, your comment was a bit patronizing. Many people are living paycheck to paycheck, trying to get their dollars to stretch as much as possible, and barely having money at the end of the day to buy essentials and barely enough to pay their mortgage. Thank goodness my husband and I do not have children and mostly have to work to keep our own head above water. Thank you for the GoFundMe suggestion. I will check that out, however, it seems like more of a waste of time than it is worth. Not to mention, I have friends of mine who are in much worse financial situation than I am in with this, AND have children, and can barely afford to feed them. Putting up a GoFundMe to get strangers to pitch in on my bodyshop bill seems to be extremely overindulgent and unnecessary. If the situation had been bigger, with a lot more damage, and not as easy to fix, perhaps then I might consider it.
> 
> ...


Sassy I meant it to be patronizing because I guarantee you you are not the only one in this situation. Of course I know times are tough and a proposition like Uber or Lyft is the worse thing a company could foist on people that are not in a financially strong position. Yet they do it every day. If they had an ounce of ethics they would make people prove they were in a financially strong enough situation to take on an important task of transporting other human beings for profit. The fact that they allow anyone to drive while on the surface seems like a way out of financial hardship without the insurance to back it up and a rate that actually makes sense leaves more people in a bad situation than they were before. Like before you were living paycheck to paycheck but at least your car had good brakes and tread on the tires. Now you worked hard driving people around and they cost you all your profits just to get you back to where you were before this all started.

But I guess this is what people want our new economy to be. I guess if you did something like Task Rabbit or some other such service at least all that would be at risk is your health and not your assets. But risking a $20k piece of equipment for rates that cannot even allow you to build up a reserve fund on top of your other regular bills is not a business that is sustainable long term. I think you got out lucky. At least you can still drive your car for your personal needs with a minor repair. Some folks are not that lucky.


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## where's the beef? (Sep 16, 2014)

You were SO LUCKY that the other driver was (probably) uninsured and drove away...
But you messed everything up (sorry about being so blunt) by calling the Cops and filing an accident report...
Now you have boxed yourself into a corner & there's no way out!
Uber is not gonna help you and so is your insurance company...
The minute you called the Cops, your luck ran out...I am sorry...


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

I may have criticised Uber once or twice in the past. But running an Uber vehicle is structured as a business. In business it's caveat venditor.


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

where's the beef? said:


> You were SO LUCKY that the other driver was (probably) uninsured and drove away...
> But you messed everything up (sorry about being so blunt) by calling the Cops and filing an accident report...
> Now you have boxed yourself into a corner & there's no way out!
> Uber is not gonna help you and so is your insurance company...
> The minute you called the Cops, your luck ran out...I am sorry...


Yes you should have been much better at committing insurance fraud.


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## Sassypants (Oct 22, 2014)

@Walkersm Thanks for the clarification. Sarcasm in written form can be difficult to determine at a glance. I agree with everything you stated in your last post. 
"Yes you should have been much better at committing insurance fraud". LOL. Spot on with that.

@where's the beef? By the looks of things, Uber would have never paid for my claim anyway (except for $200 after a $1000 deductible is met) and neither would have my insurance, because I was driving commercially, not personally. So I'm not quite sure I "messed everything up". My filing a police report really in the end of things here, would not have affected the outcome of the situation one way or another. The reality of the situation is that the police report literally probably got filed and nothing done of it to pursue the other driver who took off and claimed to be driving without insurance illegally. The City of Chicago has zero interest in pursuing such things unless there was an actual fatality. A good friend of mine got T-boned BADLY in the rear of his vehicle about 6 yrs ago as he drove past an alley and a car came out speeding out of alley, T-boning him so badly his car did a complete 360, and the other driver literally just took off. My friend even GOT the persons license plate and reported it AND his car was TOTALLED. When he went to followup with the police department he was actually told that because there were no injuries, there was nothing they were going to do for him. In his words "The City of Chicago isn't going to do shit".

I think in reality, I lucked out that the other driver didn't have insurance and was too nervous as hell to stick around because they knew they would get into trouble for it. That worked for me in this situation. Had the other driver been a regular motorist with insurance, even if there was an argument about whose fault it REALLY was, I would be in a worse off situation because the other driver would have certainly stuck around, they would have filed a claim, and most likely since the incident happened right at an intersection, if there was any question about who was to pay whom and for what, the traffic lights would have told a clear enough story to potentially screw me.

I believe I learned some hard lessons in this situation and it could have been much worse. I wasn't hit where my headlights are, so my ability to actually drive my car legally on the road isn't affected. I'm not happy about having to cough up pretty much double the amount of money I've made so far just to fix this shit, but it could be much much worse.


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## ATLrider (Oct 16, 2014)

check ebay, see if you can buy the mirror as a temp fix for now.

also check out www.car-parts.com


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## Worcester Sauce (Aug 20, 2014)

Sassypants said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Sorry, I'm fairly new with Uber, I'm also new to this site (found this site hoping to get some actual help) so please forgive me if the answer to my question is found elsewhere on a thread here. I realize that's irritating when people ask the same questions over and over on a forum. LOL
> 
> ...


Coincidentally, there has been a big discussion about insurance on this forum as recently as last night. I am afraid that neither Uber or your own insurance company will pay for your car. Worse, your insurance company may cancel your policy.


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## TDIDriver (Sep 17, 2014)

Sassypants said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Sorry, I'm fairly new with Uber, I'm also new to this site (found this site hoping to get some actual help) so please forgive me if the answer to my question is found elsewhere on a thread here. I realize that's irritating when people ask the same questions over and over on a forum. LOL
> 
> ...


You're lucky the cop didn't give you a city ticket since you were in violation of the city's ride sharing ordinance(as are all Uber X drivers).


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## UberRey (Sep 1, 2014)

Amiya said:


> Oh ok, I had not known you were female. Yes, it is difficult for a girl to do this stuff, perhaps ask your husband to assist as the mirrors and fender work is really not in the least bit complicated, compared to fixing other things that could go wrong with your car.


LMAO! Yeah, girlz r dum! 

I have never seen that type of chauvinism IRL. Mostly just people kidding around. Wow, dude.


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## where's the beef? (Sep 16, 2014)

He was just acknowledging her statement, Mr. Sexy...
You are not making any sense...


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

where's the beef? said:


> He was just acknowledging her statement, Mr. Sexy...
> You are not making any sense...


She said she wouldn't try to fix her car because she knows nothing about it, not because she is female. I know lots of men who do not know how to repair cars. It's not a gender thing.


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## where's the beef? (Sep 16, 2014)

Read his post...
He was NOT being chauvinistic !!!


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## where's the beef? (Sep 16, 2014)

But I am pissed with him for saying repairing mirror and fender is piece of cake...
I wouldn't know where to begin...


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## Kaz (Sep 16, 2014)

So is UBER just ignoring you or telling you "they're working on it" and leaving you just sit and wait? And the GoFundMe stuff..no!! People are expecting others to foot the bill of an unfortunate situation and it seems that sight is getting abused a bit. People are asking for hand-outs left and right. I do sympathize with you. I was unaware that UBER expects drivers to pay a $1000 deductible, AND it appears this accident may be your fault- who knows but this other woman should be accountable for not stucking around and not having insurance but thats another issue. Youre smart for not filing a claim with your carrier but this entire situation is BS. If I were you, and you decide to stop Ubering, I'd contact a chapter of your local Attorney General or Consumer Advocate's office and explain to them UBER is dragging their feet and not meeting their end of the bargain on repairs, etc. Eventually someone is going to intervene with UBER. This is nuts, sorry.


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

If you turned into a car in your blind spot, he was "established" in his lane, you are at fault. No reason to tell insurance company or Uber.

bite the bullet, pay to have it fixed and move on. Having an "at fault" accident or a possible connection to Uber is lose/lose.


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## where's the beef? (Sep 16, 2014)

UberRey is really a nice guy...
I like him...
Maybe he's drinking something real good today...


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## where's the beef? (Sep 16, 2014)

We gotta laugh...
Driving for Uber is too depressing these days...
We fight, we become friends...
We are all in this mess together, amigo...


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## driveLA (Aug 15, 2014)

Accident is definitely your fault 

you are lucky the other driver didn't have insurance or you would have been ****ed by both her and your own insurance. 

Count your losses and move on


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## KrisThuy (Aug 6, 2014)

d


Sassypants said:


> Thank you for the links on the insurance. Mighty helpful. Kind of. Like you said. Double speak and misleading verbiage.
> 
> At the minimum I am going to having to probably pay out of pocket to replace the mirror. The rest like I said doesn't affect the safety of the vehicle, its only cosmetic and for a car that is 7 years old and 111K miles on it, and a blue book value of only about $6K, I'm not really running out quickly to pay out a full $1200 on repairs on it.


do u have insurance yourself?
full coverage?
you might want to talk to your insurance first if your full coverage


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Yeah, I've kind of figured that drivers would get the ignore feature by Uber in the event of an accident by their drivers. And leaving the scene of an accident usually means the other person is at fault regardless unless the remaining driver said otherwise. I sure would have made that attempt if the other driver took off from the scene. AND if that case had been made there would have been no deductible either, or at least one would think so. Not really sure how Uber's insurance would view a 'driver not at fault' accident with another uninsured/fled the scene driver, if the deductible would apply. Normally, in my state there is no deductible to be paid in such accidents.


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## KrisThuy (Aug 6, 2014)

Amiya said:


> That is certainly not something I'd recommend - her own insurance would drop her in a heartbeat, irrespective of who was a fault, once they find out she was using her vehicle commercially.


he just have to tell them he got hit and run right?


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## Devindl (Oct 2, 2014)

If it's just cosmetic damage, like a slightly dented fender, a bumper cover and the mirror... Like somebody said you can get a used one and save money but painting is still expensive. Around here we have salvage yards where you pull your own parts and if you're lucky you can find a car the same color as yours. Bolt on the new parts, no painting needed and save a ton. May not be a perfect match depending on how the paint faded over time but usually nothing that most people will notice.


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## Sassypants (Oct 22, 2014)

TDIDriver said:


> You're lucky the cop didn't give you a city ticket since you were in violation of the city's ride sharing ordinance(as are all Uber X drivers).


there is no ordinance. That bill was vetoed by Pat Quinn. UberX drivers are not driving in violation of any ordinance. An anti-ride sharing bill was proposed but it got shot down. That's old news.

And the police officer didn't even know WHAT Uber even WAS.


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## Sassypants (Oct 22, 2014)

Ok, thought I would just come in with an update and see what others have had to say since I've been absent a few days. 

As to who would be determined at "fault", according to my friend (and keep in mind, she is not a police officer, an insurance agent or in any relevant field, she's just a friend who knows stuff), technically it doesn't actually MATTER who was "at fault" for the collision, because if one of the parties is driving illegally without insurance, they are by DEFAULT the "at fault" party regardless. 

Now I have NO idea if this is ACTUALLY true, but at this point the issue is essentially moot

After waiting 2 weeks, I finally had to send another support email to Uber kind of saying "uh, hey, what's up here?" and pretty promptly, I was responded to and someone from Uber claims as well as someone from James River Insurance contacted me within 24 hours of my email. But someone informed me of early on in this thread, and was confirmed by the persons from Uber and James River that I spoke to, the deductible is $1000 and that's only if you have Collision coverage on your vehicle that you can go and try to get a claim against Uber for your damages. I have FULL insurance, including collision, so that wasn't the issue. The $1000 deductible was the issue and frankly, I think its a bit distasteful that Uber makes their supposed "awesome insurance" so secret that one has to go digging around online to find the details of it and also that none of my on-boarding stuff explained ANY of this or stated that there was a $1000 deductible. And even if I did go through my own body shop that I've used previously, who quoted me $1200, to get $200 reimbursement and go through all that hassle for a claim for a small amount of money is not worth my time. 

What's a bit irritating is that even though I faxed Uber the their accident claim, photos of my vehicle AND the police report, 2 weeks ago, the woman at James River stated they just got the claim in their office (so it took Uber 2 weeks to forward it to James River? And only after I seemingly put some heat on them? Really?) and she was trying to ask me for details about the accident which are ALL on the police report and they never faxed them that. So WTF. Like why am I needing to repeat myself here. What was the point of faxing it in if it wasn't even sent along? Whatever. Its just irritating.

Fortunately for me, I have a girlfriend of mine who has a bit of a gear head boyfriend and who is in a motorcycle club with a bunch of other gear head grease monkey friends. So at the very least for now, he is replacing the mirror for $200 installed (which will be a black one, not a navy one to match my car, which I don't care about as long as it works) and said that if I wanted to have the tire well damage done and the fender taken off and the dent pounded back out, he could do everythin $500 total and I could pay him in payments. 

I was concerned that in order to get my app activated again, I would need to provide some sort of invoice of services, which since I'm paying cash and having a private person do it, I don't have. But I was told that if I sent in an email stating the car had been repaired, submit photos, that the turn around time for getting my app re-activated should be fairly swift. 

the bare minimum I need to get done is the mirror so that I'm truly save to drive and pick up passengers. The rest is not crucial to the safety of my vehicle and/or is only mostly cosmetic. And since my car is 7 years old, has over 111K miles on it and only a $5K tradein, I'm not really going to be upset over a minor dent in my fender or a mismatched mirror. 

But I will tell you that after all of this, it is going to make me think twice about putting myself and my car out there once weather becomes an issue and any sign of ANY inclement weather, you can be sure I will likely NOT be doing driving at that time. Its just not worth it. I'm considering myself lucky in this situation and its been a huge eye opener. Nor would I advocate that ANY ridesharing driver put themselves out there in heavy rain, sleet, hail, snow or sub zero degree weather. Not with the kind of insurance coverage they have for us as it stands. Not knowing that I could be taking a fare, lose traction on a patch of black ice and in a split second total my car and not have any means to really cover my damages AND knowing that should my own insurance get wind that I was driving commercially, I could be dropped as well? No thanks. 

At this point, I'm just going to get my car fixed enough and soon so that I can get back out there to make enough to recoup the money I lost both in revenue for the 2+ weeks I was unable to drive, and the cost to repair my car and then I'm going to only drive very seldomly, a few hours a week, if that.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Hey Sassypants. Don't forget to tell us what happens when your insurance company sees an unreported accident (to them) when the accidnt report shows up in their system scans.


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## floridog (Aug 31, 2014)

Sassypants said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Sorry, I'm fairly new with Uber, I'm also new to this site (found this site hoping to get some actual help) so please forgive me if the answer to my question is found elsewhere on a thread here. I realize that's irritating when people ask the same questions over and over on a forum. LOL
> 
> ...


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## floridog (Aug 31, 2014)

Your life is over. Uber will say "We are an app and not a transportation company."

You will be sued by everyone. You will pay damages until the day you die because you chose to "work" from an illegal company.

Hire a lawyer and try to sue Uber before they go out of business. God bless.


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## Silens (Nov 2, 2014)

Sassypants said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Sorry, I'm fairly new with Uber, I'm also new to this site (found this site hoping to get some actual help) so please forgive me if the answer to my question is found elsewhere on a thread here. I realize that's irritating when people ask the same questions over and over on a forum. LOL
> 
> ...


1. There is no technicality in discerning fault- the person who violated traffic law, right of way, or operated their vehicle in an unsafe manner is at fault

2. You were distracted while operating your vehicle

3. If ever you miss your turn, the safest option is almost always to precede on and make a route correction later

4. Based solely on your description of events, and the pictures you have posted, this is unlikely. If the other driver was in your blind spot (this fact is irrelevant in any case, which I will touch on momentarily) the damage your vehicle sustained would most likely be located in the driver's side rear quarter panel and, depending on circumstances extending up the side of the vehicle, potentially shearing off the mirror. Your damage is highly localized to the driver's side front quarter panel and the smashed out glass of the mirror. All this would indicate that you were in the other driver's blind spot.

5. Most traffic collisions are caused when someone acts without thinking. The proper process for making a lane change is:

Signal Intent

Check That Target Lane Is Clear

Check That Blind Spot Is Clear

Proceed Smoothly If Safe To Do So

Cancel Turn Signal When In Target Lane

You were apparently maneuvering too quickly to adequately perform these steps.

6. You hit her.

All of this was to point out that you have already incriminated yourself. If this series of events is what was related to Uber, that is probably why your case was/is not a priority.

Silens
Class A licensed driver

P.S. If all you do is repair the mirror, your car will not meet their requirements on condition of vehicle.


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## Bart McCoy (Nov 4, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> Hey Sassypants. Don't forget to tell us what happens when your insurance company sees an unreported accident (to them) when the accidnt report shows up in their system scans.


So what are most people doing here? Telling their insurance company up front they drive for Uber? and commit to playing a much higher premium?


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## troubleinrivercity (Jul 27, 2014)

If I experienced significant loss due to relationship with Uber/Lyft, I’d go to the media and see if I could find a real lawyer to fax Uber some nasty shit, something they’re legally prohibited from ignoring.

This doesn’t really apply to the OP, more to someone whose car was totaled. OP, please don’t drive dangerously.
To everyone else, please don’t wait for an accident to discover that you have been driving carelessly and unpredictably.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Bart McCoy said:


> So what are most people doing here? Telling their insurance company up front they drive for Uber? and commit to playing a much higher premium?


The first reaction seems to be incredulity that Uber would actually LIE to drivers by saying "Most insurance companies cover..." Which is the first lie.
Second, they go into denial. Most reside here. They are too scared to find out the facts and they need the money so they are helpless victims of their own inability.
Third, they actually bother to check and find out the facts from their own personal auto insurance to figure out they are basically screwed.
Fourth, they get pissed.
And after that, they may decide to protect themselves or quit driving altogether because the pay is already shit.
OR they just continue on in willful ignorance, lies, hiding, coverups until they get caught.

I'm sure there is a psychological profile for these various predictable steps as they seem to happen with everyone who is in one stage or another.


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## troubleinrivercity (Jul 27, 2014)

Self-deception was much easier back when pay and treatment of drivers was better. UberX now probably ranks as one of the most undesirable and financially hazardous jobs in the nation. Everyone needs to be making plans, NOW.


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## UberThis (Nov 8, 2014)

Sassypants said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Sorry, I'm fairly new with Uber, I'm also new to this site (found this site hoping to get some actual help) so please forgive me if the answer to my question is found elsewhere on a thread here. I realize that's irritating when people ask the same questions over and over on a forum. LOL
> 
> ...


Seriously, I would delete your posting and not discuss this type of thing, which has legal implications, on a public forum.


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## Kaz (Sep 16, 2014)

Did SASSYPANTS ever post an update to her dilemma? I would like to know if she is still driving for UBER too.


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## DjTim (Oct 18, 2014)

Sassypants was last seen: Oct 31, 2014


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## dsimms (Nov 13, 2014)

DjTim said:


> Sassypants was last seen: Oct 31, 2014


My guess: she was terminated...

1: It was her fault....
2: She is/was a "contractor"
So she is disposable....

think about it! uber is very willing to terminate you over
bs reviews, and not over an accident with a pax in the car,
and it clearly being her fault? That would be a shocker....



> my own insurance get wind that I was driving commercially, I could be dropped as well? No thanks.


You have improper insurance.
I guess you are fine if you have nothing to lose....
I guess you do not mind the risks over premiums....



> As to who would be determined at "fault", according to my friend (and keep in mind, she is not a police officer, an insurance agent or in any relevant field, she's just a friend who knows stuff), technically it doesn't actually MATTER who was "at fault" for the collision, because if one of the parties is driving illegally without insurance, they are by DEFAULT the "at fault" party regardless.


Wrong! The only thing that other driver will be at fault for is
not having valid insurance; If you are found to be at fault, then
you will be the one paying the bill, regardless.


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## drivernotfound (Nov 5, 2014)

Sassypants said:


> For the record, I have NOT contacted my personal insurance about this.
> ...which I can't risk because I work 100% freelance in promotions and need my car to get around.


After reading this whole thread, how in the world did everyone miss this? She claims to only have personal auto insurance, but then she says she's using her car to run around doing her own side business? So, she's been using her car illegally to run her own side business without a commercial policy?


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

drivernotfound said:


> After reading this whole thread, how in the world did everyone miss this? She claims to only have personal auto insurance, but then she says she's using her car to run around doing her own side business? So, she's been using her car illegally to run her own side business without a commercial policy?


Uh, yeah, just like probably 100% of most UberX drivers. Are you new here?


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## drivernotfound (Nov 5, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> Uh, yeah, just like probably 100% of most UberX drivers. Are you new here?


I could still see Uber drivers _think_ that they're somehow covered by Uber's million dollar policy even if they (are/aren't)?
But my point was that, she had a business and was using her personal policy for it (probably prior to Uber?)


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## Kaz (Sep 16, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> The first reaction seems to be incredulity that Uber would actually LIE to drivers by saying "Most insurance companies cover..." Which is the first lie.
> Second, they go into denial. Most reside here. They are too scared to find out the facts and they need the money so they are helpless victims of their own inability.
> Third, they actually bother to check and find out the facts from their own personal auto insurance to figure out they are basically screwed.
> Fourth, they get pissed.
> ...


Scrubscrud, you are a bully and spend ALOT of time on here with scare tactics.and demeaning behavior and you're just an a**hole in general. We all know what you think of UBER and UBERX drivers, (your competition)- we're not all uneducated, ignorant, law-breaking idiots. Some of us are just trying to support our families and want to be legal and it's next to impossible to get a commercial policy for a personal vehicle as I am still trying. UBER is claiming we are on their meter when we're transporting passengers and our insurance companies are not involved- this is what the Phoenix operations people told me AGAIN in person a few nites ago. There are tens of thousands of drivers in our position. I found out LOTS of other 'big wig' female drivers-both UBERX, UBERXL and UBERSUV, who have tens of thousands of miles under their belts, and have made UBER alot of money, are also in violation of their insurance but they don't feel they are. Yes, this argument is going back and forth when I went to a big UBER mixer a few nights ago with some UBER operations personnel there. It has been next to impossible getting a commerical/personal policy- after speaking to about 10 different brokers, I finally got one to send me a 6 pg application which is geared towards me owning a transportation company and not even being a contract driver for UBER... agent still hasnt gotten back with me on some of the questions I need help answering. UBER is too new for most insurance, livery carriers to understand and this is why most of the drivers haven't bothered with it. The gentleman from UBER I spoke to the other night, stated some companies like SAFECO are supposed to be onboard with customers UBERing as long as they have a copy of UBER's insurance policy, etc. I told him I would call Safeco and let him know what they say but I let it out that UBER has a responsibility to help the insurance industry understand what we're doing and we're on their meter. He also mentioned GEICO is supposed to be understanding of this and I said NO they are not- USAA is also telling us we can't UBER, and so is a number of other companies. The guy from UBER said he would send me a list of insurance companies to contact but I guarantee it's the same list I got from Dept of Insurance and half of these companies are not familiar with UBER or LYFT and I'll be going in circles once again. Whether UBER really has our backs on their meter, whether UBER is full of shit on this insurance thing, whether UBER will screw us over if we're involved in an accident-who knows. I think UBER has been deficient on alot of issues and if you're still driving for them, apparently you have some trust in them.

I was emailed a copy of their policy, all of the stipulations, all addendums and we can always call the broker and get questions answered if we are doubtful that we're actually covered. You can also call your local Dept of Insurance and speak to an investigator to have them confirm the coverage. The chances of any of us being involved in a multi-vehicle fatality is low but I see this stuff all of the time at my job- a wrong ful death lawsuit can lead to $10, $15 million dollar lawsuits and both UBER's policy and YOUR policy won't cover a lawsuit savvy 'family' or surviving children. So, you're screwed if you're involved in a fatal accident anyhow. Most accidents settle out of court-that I know. And if something occurs while on UBER's meter, a driver would be wise to go right to an attorney, as I would do. And if you are involved in an accident while UBER-ing, UBER says you're supposed to contact your company first, but they know your insurance will likely deny coverage and then the file goes to their insurance carrier and it gets handled from there. It will take time, yes there's red-tape and the driver will have to unjustly pay a deductible even if they're not at fault, but this is a part of life isn't it. 90% of us citizens don't have alot of assets to touch-me, I have no equity in my home, they cant touch my pension or any Social Security contributions, I can't be expected to pay out especially if I am on UBER's meter and most attorneys will know this. UBER has the big money, its no secret that UBER is worth $7bil, so any lawyer would be foolish to go after an UBER driver. Bankruptcy sadly, also protects people from judgments, as it was explained to me several years ago when I was hit and screwed up by a repeat drunk driver. Is it fair?? No, but that's the US system for you. No criminal charges would be filed against any driver unless police can prove a crime was committed-driving impaired, driving recklessly, hit and run,etc. Ok, vent done. State facts, not scare tactics.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

I might just say that you don't believe simple math and are a poor shopper for commercial livery insurance, *which IS available in 50 out of 50 states.*

Your take on reality presented by me as bullying and what not *is entirely irrelevant, other than the fact that I do feel it an obligation to speak truthfully about facts that ARE horribly uncomfortable. * Yet you want facts to be deemed LIES by my bullying. That is what's called delusion.

I know that that most of you are starving and have no choice but to work for nothing, and will justify and delusionalize to the bitter financial end.

Seen it a thousand times before. (or more)

There are some however who will listen and save themselves some brain damage. Your analysis of matters overall in that last post are just a lame analysis of someone wishing for unicorns to crap gold coins out of it's rear end so you can keep driving for nothing and violating the terms of insurance. Nobody makes anyone be legal. It's all fine til something happens. Unfortunately it's only THEN does reality really hit home, when YOU personally are actually affected by same.

p.s. the notion that every driver is illegal on insurance is not a valid justification either.

*"Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them."* [I. Kant]


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## Kaz (Sep 16, 2014)

I understand commercial insurance is available!!! We all know it's available, but for a commercial policy and a personal auto policy, or covering a personally owned vehicle which also serves as a taxi, is a completely different story. This is new to the industry, and you are in a different neck of the woods than me and you were lucky to find an insurance broker that understands what you do and an underwriter willing to do it. And maybe you make alot more UBERing than some of us and can justify the extra expense; sounds like the planets aligned just right for you but that's not the case in certain parts of the country where UBER is new and these commercial livery insurance companies don't want to touch this. If I had a town car that was used strictly for commercial use (transporting passengers) that is not a difficult policy to get. A policy that covers both your personal vehicle and transporting people is harder to write and involves UBER's insurance carrier, shared risk, meters, it complicates things because no UBER driver here has bothered doing the work or research that I've done to get the ball rolling and get some of these underwriters to get policies for us. Easier said than done, trust me on this.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Kaz said:


> I understand commercial insurance is available!!! We all know it's available, but for a commercial policy and a personal auto policy, or covering a personally owned vehicle which also serves as a taxi, is a completely different story.


Again, poor shopping on your part imho. Most livery insurance co.'s are aware that some miles are not going to be strictly livery related and make allowances for that.



> This is new to the industry, and you are in a different neck of the woods than me and you were lucky to find an insurance broker that understands what you do and an underwriter willing to do it.


I'd suggest that most commercial livery policies are held by specialized companies and brokered throughout the U.S. by GOOD commercial insurance brokers. I'd also suggest that some drivers just aren't really good at digging in for details because they just don't want to deal with the issues.



> And maybe you make alot more UBERing than some of us and can justify the extra expense; sounds like the planets aligned just right for you


You know I drive XL, so yeah, there is a LITTLE bit of extra money available for suitable coverage but the pay still sucks ass. I've given the math justification on my end here prior and yeah, it just barely works with 80-90 hour weeks. And I mean just barely. I just don't have anything better to do currently so it works for me. What doesn't work for me and shouldn't work for any driver is doing it for nothing and riding insurance bareback.

And yeah, I will also fully admit that I'd like to see part timers run out of business in my own best financial interests. But that's kind of a side effort isn't it? The fact of having to incur the 'real costs' of insurance while all you other ****s get to skate by *kind of pisses me off quite frankly.* And I don't think I'm alone in that camp. You can add cabbies and all other drivers who ARE legally insured to my side of the story. Were it up to me you'd be done today.



> but that's not the case in certain parts of the country where UBER is new and these commercial livery insurance companies don't want to touch this.


Maybe rightfully so in the case of part timers out winging it bareback?



> If I had a town car that was used strictly for commercial use (transporting passengers) that is not a difficult policy to get. A policy that covers both your personal vehicle and transporting people is harder to write and involves UBER's insurance carrier, shared risk, meters, it complicates things because no UBER driver here has bothered doing the work or research that I've done to get the ball rolling and get some of these underwriters to get policies for us. Easier said than done, trust me on this.


*
No, it just means you don't care and can't afford it. So why don't you just tell the truth too?*


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## Kaz (Sep 16, 2014)

Hey, if I didn't care I wouldnt be spending literally hours on the phone and emailing insurance agents back and forth and repeating myself over and over what I'm looking for. I've done more than any UBER driver I've met, that I know. And mathematically speaking, I was quoted 'around 3-4K' a year by an agent that hasnt even reviewed my application yet, and income wise, I can afford it but does it make sense for a part-time UBERX driver like me? Probably not. So once I actually get a broker to review my application, know exactly what UBER covers, and makes the effort of helping me, I will know for sure what it will cost and if I need to do just quit UBER or see an attorney to see if I actually need to worry. Rest assured, I will do the right thing, of course you won't like it. Most of these drivers I have met are wise to stay off of boards like this too. Apparently I need to do that.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Kaz said:


> Hey, if I didn't care I wouldnt be spending literally hours on the phone and emailing insurance agents back and forth and repeating myself over and over what I'm looking for. I've done more than any UBER driver I've met, that I know. And mathematically speaking, *I was quoted 'around 3-4K' a year by an agent that hasnt even reviewed my application yet, and income wise, I can afford it but does it make sense for a part-time UBERX driver like me? Probably not.* So once I actually get a broker to review my application, know exactly what UBER covers, and makes the effort of helping me, I will know for sure what it will cost and if I need to do just quit UBER or see an attorney to see if I actually need to worry. Rest assured, I will do the right thing, of course you won't like it.


Yeah, I think we got *the real cat finally out of the bag.*

The most obvious TALE/TAIL in these accounts is that drivers have no personal dignity, net worth or responsibility to society to uphold and to protect themselves with adequate insurance. *They are in short, financial and societal losers.*


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## dsimms (Nov 13, 2014)

*from the desk of State Farm:*

*Q: does state farm provide coverage
for rideshare? ie: uber, lyft, etc...*

*A: If you're talking about insuring your vehicle to use it as a taxi service, unfortunately State Farm and most of the major companies do not cover that. There has been issues arising throughout the industry with different companies and their customers because they have been using their cars for that. *

*and if you are not covered, then you are just spinning the wheel....
no matter how many 1000's of hours you have....
it only takes one accident, and you will be done....

and just so you know, if you can not get covered by state farm,
then chances are you will not get covered by most, and if you
are, then your premiums will be sky-rocket high, never say
never, even taxis are covered by some insurance company....*


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## Sassypants (Oct 22, 2014)

Kaz said:


> Did SASSYPANTS ever post an update to her dilemma? I would like to know if she is still driving for UBER too.


I did post an update, in post #43, which was 10 up from yours.

I had all the repairs done to my vehicle, by a friend of mine who is a overall grease-monkey type to did the minor body work necessary in a few hours and I'm paying him the $500 out of pocket (instead of the $1200 from my body shop I've used in the past).

For whomever made comment regarding me having a "side business", regarding my liquor promotions jobs, that's not a side business. I work 100% freelance, file my taxes accordingly and my deductions accordingly. That IS my "job", 30-40 hours every week. Its not a "side business"; that's my JOB. I make my living doing product promotions, all over the area, which racks on a lot of mileage, with or without me working for Uber. My insurance company is already used to the mileage on my vehicle and my husband commutes 60 miles every day M-F for work, so high mileage on our vehicles is NOT out of the ordinary and our premiums are for sure reflected in that. I have only been doing Uber as supplemental, at most 8 hours a week. Its all I honestly have time for. And once it starts to snow and inclement weather hits, I am not putting my car and myself on the line for Uber in weather like that. No way. If I was driving to one of my jobs and something happened, it would be covered easily by my personal insurance. It looks like Ubers supposed "million dollar insurance policy", with a $1000 deductible, would only be good if my car was totalled, and well, their policy doesn't cover a rental, so I'd also be out of pocket to get a rental car while they take their sweet ass time with my claim, so yah, no, not going there.

I've only skimmed the recent comments enough to gather that there is a little debate regarding the specifics of the insurance. No one who drives for UberX or Lyft has "commercial" insurance. As one poster said (while I had to LOL), "are you new here?" So true. Find me one UberX or Lyft driver (who isn't a converted cab driver), who actually has a commercial insurance policy as well as a personal insurance policy, and I will give you $100 bucks. That person doesn't exist because no one would make enough driving for Uber to where they would be able to AFFORD those kind of premiums.

What I think is interesting is how they are luring people into starting to drive for them, people who don't have vehicles, by offering a financing deal. Well, I wonder just how many people decide to take that deal, finance a vehicle, and then while looking to find insurance for said vehicle, unknowingly open their mouth to the agent about "having just financed a car to drive for Uber" and then are immediately hung up on. I think its more than a bit shady for Uber to be luring people into purchasing and financing vehicles under the guise of "making $1000/week!" knowing that insurance companies will not insure someone with a perosnal policy who claims to be using that vehicle for commercial purposes.

Yes, I am back to driving again, for about a week and a half now without any incident. Although, I am a bit perturbed that with all the app bugs they seem to be having lately, I think there are some fares that were never processed and I have to spend time to get after them to investigate those fares and why they aren't showing up in the ride history on my app and also, even though my app was deactivated for a length of time until I submitted my photos of my repairs on the 31st, they STILL CHARGED ME a "device" fee for 2 weeks ($10 each week), even though my "device" was off and not in use because they temporarily deactivated it.

I didn't file a claim through them to pay for the repairs of my vehicle; I paid $500 out of my own pocket, so basically they got off not having to pay out for anything. So the very least they could do is throw me a bone and credit me back that $20 since I am putting my own vehicle, my personal safety out on the line to drive and make money FOR THEM.

Most of my fares have been shorties, that only end up being a few bucks each because people want to order an Uber for a 1 mile trip down the street. So thats going to be a lot of fares I am going to have to do to be able to make up that money back.

I just want to make my $500 bucks back at this point and then go back to only taking fares maybe 1-2 hours every week. Uber is just not worth it at all.


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## dsimms (Nov 13, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> Yeah, I think we got *the real cat finally out of the bag.*
> 
> The most obvious TALE/TAIL in these accounts is that drivers have no personal dignity, net worth or responsibility to society to uphold and to protect themselves with adequate insurance. *They are in short, financial and societal losers.*


I am not here to call anyone a loser; But the drivers are the losers, uber has already made their
millions, and then some by charging excessive fees, and they will continue to milk the sak until
there is nothing left, and with any business, it will not be their concern or even 2nd thought once
you get into that accident without proper insurance, and at that point, from what I have been
reading, then you will truly know what it feels like to be alone, they will not be there for you, but as
long as there are desperate people looking for any type of hopes for a job, then people will keep signing up....


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## Kaz (Sep 16, 2014)

You are right DSimms- we are all losers driving for UBER. All except Scrud. He apparently is high on the monarchy of UBER drivers as you can see in all of his posts. I am so glad I dont have to do this work full-time, I can see how this eats away at someone and their sanity. And someone has some anger issues big-time.


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## dsimms (Nov 13, 2014)

Uber’s insurance practice the New Year’s Eve death of six year old Sofia Liu, who died after a collision with a car driven by a driver who had been using the Uber app.

On New Year's Eve 2013, picking up fares for the tech company Uber, Muzzafar's car struck young Sofia Liu, her mother, Huan Kuang, and brother, Anthony Liu. Six-year-old Sofia did not survive. Her family filed a wrongful death suit against Uber on Jan. 27, and will be represented by attorney Christopher Dolan.

If uber has any legit insurance at all, then it is to cover their backend...
and I fear many of you uber or other drivers will be left out in the rain....

and if most can not even obtain proper insurance, then I truly have to
question the government on why they have not shut these companies down?


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Maybe when viewing the facts of blatant individual driver irresponsible business practices we can understand HOW ownership of the livery business reverts to the responsible? We in Uber just happen to have an irresponsible overlord who punishes drivers in different ways than previous.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

Kaz said:


> And someone has some anger issues big-time.


Or has issues with lying hiding coverup cheaters? Please try to focus.


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## dsimms (Nov 13, 2014)

> What I think is interesting is how they are luring people into starting to drive for them, people who don't have vehicles, by offering a financing deal. Well, I wonder just how many people decide to take that deal, finance a vehicle, and then while looking to find insurance for said vehicle, unknowingly open their mouth to the agent about "having just financed a car to drive for Uber" and then are immediately hung up on. I think its more than a bit shady for Uber to be luring people into purchasing and financing vehicles under the guise of "making $1000/week!" knowing that insurance companies will not insure someone with a perosnal policy who claims to be using that vehicle for commercial purposes.


yet, you purposely continue to drive knowing that you do not have proper coverage.
You not only put your self at risk for financial damnation, but your family too.....

As for the lease deals, something is afoot for sure; my guess is that your lease or financial
arrangements will be through uber as no legit insurance company would insure you if they
truly knew what the vehicle is being used for, and I have read the thread concerning
financing a vehicle through uber, and I clearly understand why their lease rates are
extremely high, ie: $1000-$1500/mo for a lease is absurd, and uber knows you are
a high risk factor regardless of how good your driving record is.

Before you even sign the lease; your first question should have been;
How can I obtain commercial insurance? and if uber could not answer
that question, then common sense says the deal should have died right there....
as for me, as much as I need work, it is a non-starter for me to risk
my family assets over something I may not be able to insure, and I would
much rather remain unemployed rather then take on such a liability....


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## gman (Jul 28, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> And yeah, I will also fully admit that I'd like to see part timers run out of business in my own best financial interests. But that's kind of a side effort isn't it? The fact of having to incur the 'real costs' of insurance while all you other ****s get to skate by *kind of pisses me off quite frankly.* And I don't think I'm alone in that camp. You can add cabbies and all other drivers who ARE legally insured to my side of the story. Were it up to me you'd be done today.


Aye there's the rub! Talk about a cat being let out of the bag, lol.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

gman said:


> Aye there's the rub! Talk about a cat being let out of the bag, lol.


exchange shoes be pissed


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## PartTimeUberBoston (Sep 30, 2014)

I am so glad I stopped driving... It's not if, but when another major accident happens and uber drivers are caught with their pants down


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## dsimms (Nov 13, 2014)

PartTimeUberBoston said:


> I am so glad I stopped driving... It's not if, but when another major accident happens and uber drivers are caught with their pants down


and that is why I am surprised that the govt allows uber, lyft to operate knowing
that drivers will not be able to get "commercial insurance".... and if they could
get it, then most likely it would not be affordable for a single person to get....

I just switched to state farm not even an hr ago, and what was one of
his questions? Do you operate a commercial vehicle? They ask you this because
your personal auto insurance policy will not cover you......


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## KathyW (May 9, 2015)

I was not lucky and UBER couldn't care less about you! If you have an accident, they will "block you out of the app"! after a month they totaled my car and I have been treated like shit by UBER. STOP driving before you end up in a bigger financial mess.


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## KathyW (May 9, 2015)

PartTimeUberBoston said:


> I am so glad I stopped driving... It's not if, but when another major accident happens and uber drivers are caught with their pants down


Glad to hear you stopped driving. This is a warning to all to STOP driving or you will PAY!


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## KathyW (May 9, 2015)

dsimms said:


> and that is why I am surprised that the govt allows uber, lyft to operate knowing
> that drivers will not be able to get "commercial insurance".... and if they could
> get it, then most likely it would not be affordable for a single person to get....
> 
> ...


That's right. If you have an accident driving for UBER or even have the app open waiting for a ride ping....you are not covered by your insurance company and they can't even help you with the claim or to fight for you with James River Insurance... who will sell you down the river. UBER....they won't help you in anyway. My advice...stop before they total your car like they did t me and now I am carless and have to pay for a rental until I can purchase a new (used) car because the settlement will not help you get a new care. STOP driving for UBER until it's too late.


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## Beur (Apr 14, 2015)

KathyW said:


> Glad to hear you stopped driving. This is a warning to all to STOP driving or you will PAY!


KathyW you're starting to look a little deranged. Take that negative energy and channel it to doing something positive.


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## clint1285 (Aug 31, 2014)

kathy, i got in a hit and run with pax in the car. uber wouldnt cover me because i dont carry uninsured motorist with state farm and they will only match my state farm plan. the money you get for rides is so little now. its not worth. i might do 2 rides a week because i get bored. i dont blame you for stopping driving


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## KathyW (May 9, 2015)

Beur said:


> KathyW you're starting to look a little deranged. Take that negative energy and channel it to doing something positive.


Take your energy and well you can figure that out! You have no idea how stressful and expensive this has been for me , never mind the toll on me. I will be posting my story every where to get people to realize what happens when you get in an accident driving for Uber. Twitter is next.


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## CityGirl (Nov 29, 2014)

If no one has mentioned it yet, you can sue the other driver for damages in small claims. With the plate, should be easy to find. Would be even better to make sure the District Attorney brings her up on hit and run charges. Best to you getting your car fixed, sounds like it's right at the deductible.


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## Silens (Nov 2, 2014)

Okay,
Time to tell my tale.

On 1/30/15 I was involved in a traffic collision. 3Pax were going to a club on a major street in Hollywood, I opted to drop them on one of the side streets so the passenger seated behind me could get out in relative safety (irony incoming) so I pulled over short of the stop sign and the passengers all got out, as the one on the driver side gets out and before he has a chance to close the door a vehicle moving at a reasonable speed rolled up and hits the open door (que irony) and bent it beyond 90 degrees(no injuries). I gave the other driver the Uber insurance policy info, got his, the passenger who opened the door offered his info so as to be a witness. After reporting the incident via the app and using the seat belt to secure the door, as it would no longer latch, I went home, no cops.

Uber contacted me via email and directed me to the incident report, I filled it out and emailed it in to them. A few days later I got a call from James Rivers Insurance and scheduled an appointment for the adjuster to come out and take a look at my car. A few days after that I was contacted by J.R. Ins. and told the amount the adjuster came up with, had them mail me a check as I had not picked which shop I wanted to do the work (I had estimates made up before the adjuster came out). My car was in the shop for only three days, I paid them cash as I had not yet received the check. A couple weeks later I got a call from another company sating that Uber decided to cover $750 of the deductible, I got the check a couple weeks after that.

Total out of pocket to replace my door: $150

Make of it what you will
Silens


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

clint1285 said:


> kathy, i got in a hit and run with pax in the car. uber wouldnt cover me because i dont carry uninsured motorist with state farm and they will only match my state farm plan. the money you get for rides is so little now. its not worth. i might do 2 rides a week because i get bored. i dont blame you for stopping driving


Is that true Clint Uninsured motorist is contingent coverage? I have never heard of that before? What market are you in?


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## Walkersm (Apr 15, 2014)

Silens said:


> Okay,
> Time to tell my tale.
> 
> On 1/30/15 I was involved in a traffic collision. 3Pax were going to a club on a major street in Hollywood, I opted to drop them on one of the side streets so the passenger seated behind me could get out in relative safety (irony incoming) so I pulled over short of the stop sign and the passengers all got out, as the one on the driver side gets out and before he has a chance to close the door a vehicle moving at a reasonable speed rolled up and hits the open door (que irony) and bent it beyond 90 degrees(no injuries). I gave the other driver the Uber insurance policy info, got his, the passenger who opened the door offered his info so as to be a witness. After reporting the incident via the app and using the seat belt to secure the door, as it would no longer latch, I went home, no cops.
> ...


Cool thanks for sharing Silens . I wonder if in your situation they were able to collect on the other guys insurance and were able to pass the lower deductible on to you because they got it from the other guys insurance. If so that is a promising trend and a stand up thing for them to do.


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## ReviTULize (Sep 29, 2014)

Walkersm said:


> Cool thanks for sharing Silens . I wonder if in your situation they were able to collect on the other guys insurance and were able to pass the lower deductible on to you because they got it from the other guys insurance. If so that is a promising trend and a stand up thing for them to do.


My guess is that they'll pay these small claims to gain credibility. We shouldn't need to pay a deductible in the first place, IMHO


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## Silens (Nov 2, 2014)

Walkersm said:


> Cool thanks for sharing Silens . I wonder if in your situation they were able to collect on the other guys insurance and were able to pass the lower deductible on to you because they got it from the other guys insurance. If so that is a promising trend and a stand up thing for them to do.


I can't say for sure but I doubt that is the case, because from a legal aspect I was at fault because my door was opened into traffic, as it was '"my" responsibility to make sure they way was clear before opening the door. Therefore the other driver's insurance would not have been responsible for any of the repairs.

I think most likely someone at Uber, probably a lawyer, looked at the situation and said: "Because we provided the lead, and the rider opened the door when it was not safe, we are 75% responsible for the incident. Cut him a check for $750."

Silens


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## JLA (Mar 26, 2015)

Beur said:


> KathyW you're starting to look a little deranged. Take that negative energy and channel it to doing something positive.


What part of what Kathy said is "deranged"? This is a person who's been to the other side and it sounds like you're just shooting the messenger.


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## VIncent (Mar 16, 2015)

MY FYI: Never turn off the app... let it run and explain to pax you will notify uber to NOT charge them the whole amount. Insurance only covers PAX when that app is running. if a Drunk rills up behind ya and plows into the back of your car was you waited for police you would be SOL..


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## Oscar Levant (Aug 15, 2014)

This insurance thing is the big reason I stopped driving for UberX and went and leased an UberSUV ( i.e., no longer driving my car for Uber and I'm covered with livery insurance, 24/7 as well as worker's comp ).


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## MikeB (Dec 2, 2014)

Uber is a lie and deception. Their insurance company James River is a bigger joke. 
People like the OP and others who drive for Uber are desperate and deceived. Most of Uber drivers have no idea what they are in from an insurance point of view. 
Uber takes advantage of poor folks and ****s them up if they get into accidents. Every single anecdote proves that but our government knowingly turns away from this problem.


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## UberThis (Nov 8, 2014)

Silens said:


> I can't say for sure but I doubt that is the case, because from a legal aspect I was at fault because my door was opened into traffic, as it was '"my" responsibility to make sure they way was clear before opening the door. Therefore the other driver's insurance would not have been responsible for any of the repairs.
> 
> I think most likely someone at Uber, probably a lawyer, looked at the situation and said: "Because we provided the lead, and the rider opened the door when it was not safe, we are 75% responsible for the incident. Cut him a check for $750."
> 
> Silens


I think the fault would still lie with the driver who caused the damage.

Let's say I'm legally parallel parked. There is no traffic. I open my door and then someone turns the corner and knocks my door off its hinges, my automatic go to answer wouldn't be "I should have anticipated that that driver would not be watching the road in front of him or herself therefore I need to never open the driver's door when I parallel park and instead climb out the front passenger's door."

Unless your passenger looked out the window, saw a car and decided that he/she wanted to play chicken with your door and opened it just in time for the other driver to hit it, I don't see how it can be anyone's fault other than the other driver. The driver/driver's insurance should have taken responsibility and it appears that is what occurred.

I'm really glad everything worked out for you. Each time one of these situations plays out fairly and responsibly sets a precedent which hopefully helps shape the outcome of each incident following it.

Thanks for sharing this. It's important drivers know about positive outcomes as well as less desirable ones.


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## UberThis (Nov 8, 2014)

Walkersm said:


> Cool thanks for sharing Silens . I wonder if in your situation they were able to collect on the other guys insurance and were able to pass the lower deductible on to you because they got it from the other guys insurance. If so that is a promising trend and a stand up thing for them to do.


I would venture to say this is the likely explanation for the additional $750 you received. Uber can't keep it, the damage was done to your car.

As well as things turned out, it's likely Uber's insurance or attorney negotiated the claim such that the whole thing came out of the other driver's insurance.

I don't think Uber is going to set a precedent in accepting responsibility for the accident itself. Just imagine the repercussions of doing so.


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## Lidman (Nov 13, 2014)

One that always gets brought up in forums, is how adequate a drivers car insurance is. There still seems to be some grey areas on that subject.


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## UberThis (Nov 8, 2014)

Heather J. Esq. said:


> Thanks Lidman. I've been talking to some drivers who are building an app and working with an insurance company to fix some of those gaps/grey areas -- we're partnering with them when they launch, I agree what they're doing is definitely needed. What about help with fighting tickets that carry points? My understanding is that Uber and Lyft don't help with these at all even if you were driving for them at the time. It would be great to have Uber/Lyft give drivers a bit more support when they run into these issues, we'd like to try to negotiate that with them -- maybe that's pie in the sky thinking though!


I've received two speeding tickets in the many years of driving prior to driving for Uber.

I've received two different moving violations within a three month period driving in San Francisco for Uber, both with a point each. I completely forgot to complete the traffic school for the first one.

What recourse do I have at this point?


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## Heather J. Esq. (May 18, 2015)

Hi UberThis -- Has the court appearance date already passed for the second ticket?


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## kalo (Jun 28, 2014)

Beur said:


> KathyW you're starting to look a little deranged. Take that negative energy and channel it to doing something positive.


Deranged for giving good advice? hmmm


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