Involved in a three-car accident, does the driver's insurance limits enough to cover ...

[oldyoungguy]

A left-turn Uber car caused an accident last Friday, 6 days ago. The left-turn car hit a fast-lane car and push it to the slow lane on which I was driving. My car was damaged and towed in this accident. The left-turn car was insured by 2 insurance companies: Geigo (G) for personal use, and LibertyMutual (L) for Uber driving. At the accident, he is driving with a Uber customer. Luckily, there is no serious injury. Only the Uber car's airbags were deployed and no injury from this car. Three cars were towed. Uber car is a Volkswagen, my car is a 2011 Toyota Camry, and the fast-lane car is a Toyota SUV. All cars look similar in age.

Uber's insurance policy is this:
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En route to pick up riders and during trips
Uber maintains the following auto insurance on your behalf in case of a covered accident:

• $1,000,000 third-party liability
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist bodily injury and/or first-party injury insurance²
• Contingent comprehensive and collision³
  • Up to actual cash value of car with a $2,500 deductible

------------------

Somehow L is still not sending me a rental request but I really need a car. We have three working people here. We only have one car now. L agrees allowing me to rent a car by myself now and reimburse me later if they take the liability. Some advice tells me to be careful to rent personally because the rate is different, the cost will be high, and there are three cars involved. In the end, Uber's insurance limit may not be enough to cover all expenses. Based on the above insurance policy and the information about this accident, do you think the $1M is enough or not? My car total maybe $13K. Fast-lane car total maybe $20K. The Uber car's total maybe $25K. Plus rental car cost and other costs. It should be enough, right? How many can be used as damage compensation, and rental car fees from the $1M?

Another question: If the car is used as Uber at the moment of the accident, G will never pay anything doesn't matter if L's limit can cover the cost or not?

 

[adjusterjack]

The GEICO policy has an exclusion for "public livery" use so GEICO isn't likely to pay you anything.

Liberty Mutual's Uber policy covers damages for which the Uber driver is legally liable. That includes a temporary substitute vehicle and any other expenses caused directly by the Uber driver's negligence.

However, while it's often customary for a liability carrier to pay for a rental car while the claim is pending, it has no obligation to do so until liability is firmly established.

So, if you need a rental, get one and submit the receipts when the claim is settled. Understand that the negligent driver is only liable for the pure cost of the rental, not the optional coverages offered by the rental car company. So get the lowest priced box on wheels that you can find.

If you are not happy with how the claim is proceeding and you have collision and rental reimbursement on your own insurance you can speed things up by making the claim on your own policy.

The million dollar liability limit has nothing to do with the damage to the Uber driver's own car.

It is more than enough to cover the damage and expenses of the other two victims.

Some advice tells me to be careful to rent personally because the rate is different,

I'm not sure what you mean by that but if you rent a car for personal use and you use it for business you may be in breach of the rental car contract and end up buying the rental company a car if something happens to it. Make sure your read the rental contract carefully. If you have to pay more for business use then that's what the Uber driver is liable for.

 

[fed up]

I think you might be referring to a "negotiated rate" when speaking of a carrier paying for a rental vs you paying for the rental. The largest pitfall made by people when they rent to cover a period while a car is being repaired is renting a different class of vehicle. You have a Camry, don't rent an SUV, rent a Camry.

 

[WinoBlues]

However, while it's often customary for a liability carrier to pay for a rental car while the claim is pending, it has no obligation to do so until liability is firmly established.

Like and kind - If I drive a sedan, SUV or pickup and not at fault. Am I owed the same class vehicle? Regardless of the at fault driver's limits?

Thanks

 

[adjusterjack]

Like and kind - If I drive a sedan, SUV or pickup and not at fault. Am I owed the same class vehicle? Regardless of the at fault driver's limits?

Not necessarily.

There is an enforceable legal doctrine in US law that requires the victim of negligence to mitigate damages. Every person has a duty to use reasonable care to minimize property damage. If a victim can make reasonable efforts to reduce the total amount of harm caused by a defendant, the victim is obligated to do so. A defendant may not be held liable for a victim's failure to mitigate.

If you rent an SUV for $100 per day the defendant is entitled to argue that you could get by temporarily with an economy car for $50 per day. You, of course, would be entitled to argue that you had sufficient need for the SUV.

Here's a more extreme example. If the Uber driver wrecked your Lamborghini Countach and you rented a Lamborghini Countach for $500 per day, you can forget about getting paid for it beyond the cost of an economy car (unless there was a provable need for it).

Keep in mind that, in a negligence claim, the injured person has the burden of proving damages and the negligent person need only pay that which he is "legally liable" to pay. He is entitled to dispute and/or defend against the amount of damages claimed.