Uber & Lyft Accident Lawyer in Miami

Uber and Lyft are everywhere in Miami — from the South Beach nightlife scene to Brickell business commutes to MIA airport runs. They are convenient, and they are also responsible for thousands of crashes every year across South Florida. Rideshare crashes raise insurance and legal questions that ordinary auto cases do not, because the coverage that responds to your injuries depends entirely on what the driver was doing at the exact moment of the crash. A Miami rideshare accident lawyer who understands the layered Uber and Lyft insurance scheme — and Florida's Transportation Network Company (TNC) statute — can make sure the right insurance carrier pays the right amount.

Florida's TNC Insurance Statute

Florida Statute § 627.748 requires every Transportation Network Company (Uber, Lyft, and similar) to maintain specific minimum levels of insurance for its drivers, with coverage that varies by the driver's "period":

Period 0 — App off. The driver is not logged into the rideshare app. Only the driver's personal auto policy applies.
Period 1 — App on, no ride accepted. The TNC must provide at least $50,000 per person / $100,000 per accident in bodily injury liability and $25,000 in property damage.
Period 2 — Ride accepted, en route to pick up. The TNC must provide at least $1 million in combined bodily injury, property damage, and uninsured motorist coverage.
Period 3 — Passenger in vehicle. The same $1 million limit applies.

The "which period was the driver in" question often controls how much insurance is available — and Uber and Lyft both fight aggressively to characterize a driver as being in Period 0 or Period 1 rather than Period 2 or 3. Trip data, GPS logs, and dispatch records from the rideshare company are essential evidence, and we obtain them through formal preservation demands and (if necessary) subpoenas in litigation.

Common Miami Rideshare Crash Scenarios

You were a rideshare passenger when your Uber or Lyft was struck by another vehicle
You were a rideshare passenger when your Uber or Lyft driver caused the crash
You were the driver of another vehicle struck by an Uber or Lyft
You were a pedestrian or cyclist struck by a rideshare vehicle
You were the rideshare driver hurt in a crash caused by another driver — your own claim against Uber/Lyft's UM coverage may apply

Why Rideshare Cases Are Different From Ordinary Crashes

In addition to the layered TNC insurance scheme, rideshare cases involve:

Multiple potential defendants and insurers. The driver's personal carrier, the TNC's contingent or primary policy, the at-fault third-party driver's carrier, and your own UM carrier may all be involved.
Aggressive denial-of-coverage strategies. Uber and Lyft are skilled at arguing that the driver was off-duty or in a less-coverage period.
Independent-contractor defenses. Both companies classify drivers as independent contractors and use that classification to limit corporate liability beyond the statutory insurance minimums.
Trip data battles. The exact second the driver swiped to "accept" or "complete" a ride often determines coverage, and that data is in the rideshare company's exclusive control.

Florida No-Fault PIP and Rideshare

If you were a passenger in an Uber or Lyft when the crash happened, your own auto PIP policy (or that of a resident relative) is the first source of medical-bill coverage, up to its $10,000 limit and subject to the 14-day medical-treatment requirement. If you do not have your own PIP coverage, the rideshare company's commercial policy will respond. Your serious injury — almost any rideshare case involving real injury crosses Florida's "serious injury" threshold under § 627.737 — opens the door to a full liability claim against whichever driver caused the crash.

What to Do After a Miami Rideshare Crash

Call 911 — make sure a Florida Traffic Crash Report is generated
Take a screenshot of your trip in the Uber or Lyft app showing the date, time, route, and driver's name and license plate before the trip disappears from your history
Photograph the vehicles, the scene, and any visible injuries
Get witness names and contact information
Seek medical evaluation within 14 days to preserve PIP benefits
Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance company without speaking to a lawyer first

The Medical-Bill Payment Cascade

The order in which medical bills get paid in a Miami rideshare crash matters more than most clients realize. The typical cascade for a passenger:

PIP first. Your own auto PIP, or a resident relative's PIP, pays 80% of medical bills and 60% of wage loss up to the $10,000 limit under § 627.736. If no household PIP exists, the rideshare's commercial policy fills the role.
MedPay or BI second. Any MedPay coverage on your or the at-fault driver's policy.
Health insurance third. Your private health insurer, Medicare, or Medicaid pays — and asserts a subrogation lien on your liability recovery.
Provider liens last. Hospitals operating under a Letter of Protection accumulate liens that must be negotiated at settlement.

Mismanaging this cascade — for example, billing health insurance before PIP is exhausted, or letting providers stack inflated LOP charges — costs real money at settlement. We coordinate the billing flow from the first week.

Period Determination and Trip Data

Whether the driver was in Period 0, 1, 2, or 3 at the exact moment of impact is the single most valuable factual question in many rideshare cases. The $50k vs. $1M coverage gap turns on it. Uber and Lyft have ride-state data at the second-level — accept time, en-route start, pickup, drop-off, post-trip — but that data is in their exclusive control. We send written preservation demands to Uber Technologies (P.O. Box, San Francisco) and Lyft, Inc. within days, demanding preservation of trip log, GPS breadcrumbs, driver app status history, push-notification logs, and any communication between rider and driver. In litigation, we issue Rule 45 subpoenas and (where necessary) move to compel against the legal-process departments.

Driver Classification and Corporate Liability

Uber and Lyft classify drivers as independent contractors and not employees, which limits corporate vicarious liability beyond the TNC's statutory insurance. That classification has been challenged in California (AB5, Prop 22) and elsewhere; in Florida, § 627.748 currently codifies the independent-contractor status for TNC drivers. But corporate liability beyond the policy can still exist for negligent hiring, retention, and supervision — particularly when a driver had a prior history of unsafe driving, complaints, or assault allegations that should have led to deactivation. We pull driver background-check results, prior rider complaints, and deactivation history through discovery in serious cases.

Damages

Past and future medical expenses, including surgery and rehabilitation
Past and future lost wages and earning capacity
Pain, suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life
Permanent impairment and scarring
Loss of consortium for spouses
Property damage and rental-vehicle costs
Wrongful-death damages under § 768.16 et seq.

Evidence to Preserve

Screenshots of the trip in the rideshare app — request a copy of the receipt and route map immediately
The driver's TNC profile photo and license plate before they disappear from your account
Trip GPS log and driver-app status data (preservation letter to Uber/Lyft)
The Florida Traffic Crash Report (long form)
Vehicle EDR / black box and any dashcam footage (many rideshare drivers run dashcams)
Traffic-camera footage from FDOT, City of Miami, and Miami Beach
Witness names and contact information
The driver's personal auto policy declarations page (separate from the TNC's policy)

Common Defense Tactics

"Driver was in Period 0/1." Pushed to limit available coverage. Trip data defeats this when contemporaneous.
Independent-contractor shield. Asserted to cap corporate exposure at the statutory minimums.
Pre-existing injury. The defense subpoenas every prior MRI and chiropractic record. Treating-physician acute-vs.-degenerative testimony matters.
Low-impact / minor damage. The "no crash, no cash" defense is standard when vehicle damage looks minor on paper. Biomechanical and medical expert testimony pushes through it.
Failure to mitigate. Gaps in treatment are used to argue the plaintiff made the injury worse. We coordinate continuous care.

Miami Hot Spots for Rideshare Crashes

The MIA airport rideshare staging lot and the surface streets leading to and from the terminals see disproportionate crash volume — including rear-end and lane-change crashes on LeJeune Road, NW 25th Street, and the Dolphin Expressway approach. South Beach (Washington Avenue, Collins, Ocean Drive) at 2 a.m. closing-time produces a steady stream of late-night Uber and Lyft incidents involving intoxicated third-party drivers. Brickell pickups and drop-offs frequently produce side-swipes and dooring incidents in the right lane. We have handled crashes in every one of these corridors.

Frequently Asked Questions

I was a rideshare passenger. Whose insurance pays?

Your own PIP (or a resident relative's) is first. Then the at-fault party's BI, which may be the rideshare driver (covered by the $1M TNC policy while in Period 2/3) or a third-party driver (covered by their own auto policy). We then look at UM stacking.

What if my Uber driver was off-duty when they crashed?

Only the driver's personal auto policy applies in Period 0. Personal policies often have rideshare exclusions, so coverage disputes are common. Your own UM is critical.

Can I sue Uber or Lyft directly?

Generally only for the statutory TNC insurance coverage and (in narrow circumstances) for negligent hiring, retention, or supervision. The independent-contractor classification limits direct corporate liability.

What if I was assaulted by a rideshare driver?

Negligent-hiring and negligent-retention claims may apply, particularly if there were prior complaints. The TNC's commercial general liability coverage may respond.

How long do I have to file?

Two years from the date of the crash for crashes on or after March 24, 2023, under § 95.11.

If you have been hurt in an Uber or Lyft crash anywhere in Miami-Dade or Broward County, the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin can help. Call 786-522-1411 or email [email protected] for a free consultation.