Car Accidents Involving Zipcar and Other Ride Sharing Services

Lots of people in the United States are beginning to hear more and more about rideshare services such as Zipcar and Car2Go, but what many are not aware of is how they are exposed to heavy financial liability if they are involved in a major car accident. The company is appealing to investors in the business world, thanks in part to the fact that members of these rideshare companies are afforded such minimal insurance coverage should they be involved in a collision.

Most states – at least those that require anyone operating a motor vehicle to carry car insurance – set minimums for the amount of financial responsibility a driver is required to carry with them. Unfortunately, those with minimum coverage are exposed to the possibility that a car accident could cause more damage than the limit of the insurance policy, leaving them subject to pay for the difference.

Often enough, Seattle car accident attorneys who represent injured victims may treat the insurance policy limit as all the recoverable compensation that is available in pursuing a lawsuit. But at the end of the day, a driver can still be held financially responsible for the difference between the insurance coverage limit and the overall value of the damages that resulted from an accident.

This is precisely why drivers are cautioned about using ridesharing services such as Zipcar and Car2Go. The reason these companies are so profitable is because they keep their costs down, which in the case of a ride-sharing service, can only be through insurance costs.

Unfortunately, skimping out on insurance coverage – a New York Times article says Zipcar provides $300,000 in liability insurance coverage per incident – does a bit of a disservice to members, should they be involved in a serious car accident involving Zipcar. And according to the New York Times article, some of the company’s competitors offer even lower insurance coverage.

So what should members of some of these ridesharing do in order to protect themselves from financial disaster if the insurance policy doesn’t cover all of the damages? Since federal law protects the actual rental car companies from liability should they be named in a lawsuit, experts say the best option is just to buy your own additional coverage.

For those who don’t own a car but are regular customers with rideshare companies like Zipcar, a non-owner’s auto policy is probably the best way to go. Policies for this type of coverage stand at around $200 on average for an additional $500,000 in liability coverage on top of whatever the rideshare service offers. Non-owners auto insurance policies are significantly cheaper than a typical car insurance policy because it is designed for someone who doesn’t drive very often.

According to Zipcar, 93 percent of all accidents since the company started have resulted in claims lower than $10,000 and 99.3 percent have been less than $50,000. This is a shocking statistic, because it means that nearly every single accident has been well within the range of insurance coverage.

Rideshare drivers use these services because it’s an alternative to owning a vehicle; typically, the drivers don’t require a vehicle often enough to justify buying one, but every once in a while they benefit from an easy-to-rent Zipcar. The problem with this is that a majority of all Zipcar drivers are not regular drivers, and therefore their driving skills may not be as refined as someone who drives on a daily basis. This, in addition to a number of other factors, suggests that it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing more serious car accidents involving Zipcars and other ridesharing services.