New Jersey Law Requires Rideshare Companies to Carry Adequate Insurance
Under New Jersey’s “no-fault” approach to motor vehicle insurance, when you’re injured in a motor vehicle accident, whether as a driver or passenger, you usually must pursue benefits first through your own personal injury protection (PIP) policy. If your losses exceed the policy limits of your PIP coverage, you may be able to recover more than the policy limit, based on the type of policy you have. Some policies have “no limitation on lawsuit” and generally cover all injuries sustained in an accident. Others have a “verbal threshold,” which allows you to recover losses above your PIP policy limits, but only if you can show:
- Permanent injuries or fractures,
- Loss of a body part,
- Significant scarring or disfigurement,
- Loss of a fetus, or
- Death.
Those rules apply equally to rideshare accidents. Passengers involved must first seek benefits under their own PIP policies. Until 2017, though, there was little benefit in pursuing any claim against a rideshare company for losses that exceeded your PIP coverage, as most rideshare companies carried basic insurance coverage on drivers only. As of 2017, however, New Jersey law requires Uber, Lyft, and other rideshare companies to secure insurance coverage for passengers injured in situations where the rideshare driver is at fault or the rideshare driver does not have insurance to cover all the injured passenger’s losses. Those policies must have a minimum policy limit of $1.5 million.
Contact Howard D. Popper, P.C.
At Howard D. Popper, P.C., we can help protect your rights. For a free initial consultation to discuss your options after any type of motor vehicle accident, contact our office online or call 973-993-8787 to set up an appointment. We have offices in Morristown and Newton.
We handle all car accident claims on a contingent-fee basis. You won’t pay any attorney fees unless we recover damages for your losses.