McKinney Rideshare
Accident Lawyer

After an Uber or Lyft crash in McKinney, the insurance policy pays for your injuries, depending on what the rideshare driver was doing on the app at the moment of the collision. A McKinney rideshare accident lawyer at Tate Law Offices sorts out that coverage and works on a contingency fee basis, so you pay no attorney fee unless we win money for you. Call (903) 892-4440 any time, day or night, for a free consultation.

Rideshare crashes look like ordinary car wrecks until you try to figure out who pays. A driver heading to a bar district off the US-75 corridor, a passenger riding home, another motorist hit at the US-380 interchange: each may be covered by a completely different policy, or told no policy applies at all. 

Uber and Lyft carry large commercial coverage at some moments and almost none at others, and they classify their drivers as independent contractors to keep the companies at arm’s length. As a family firm rooted in Collin County, Tate Law Offices cuts through that confusion and makes sure the right coverage answers for your injuries.

Why Choose Tate Law Offices as Your McKinney Rideshare Accident Lawyer

You get a real attorney untangling the coverage, not a file passed around a volume shop. Tim Tate, Chris Rehmet, and Claire Tate-Rehmet built this firm around serious injury work, and rideshare cases reward that attention because the money hinges on details the insurer would rather you not notice.

• No fee unless you recover. We advance the cost of the investigation, the experts, and the litigation. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee.
• A firm that answers. Call (903) 892-4440 at any hour and a person picks up.
• Straight talk. We tell you what your case is worth and what it is not, without inflating a promise to sign you up.

Behind all three is one goal: to identify every policy that could pay and hold each one to its limit. That is how a family firm protects the people it stands behind.

Why Are Rideshare Accident Claims So Complicated?

Because the available insurance changes depending on the driver’s status on the app, and the companies are built to limit their own exposure. A single crash can involve a personal policy, a corporate policy, and a dispute over which one applies.

• Shifting coverage, where the policy in play depends on whether the driver was off the app, waiting, or carrying a passenger.
• Independent contractor classification, which the companies use to distance themselves from the driver’s conduct.
• Multiple insurers pointing at each other, each arguing the other is responsible.
• Multiple injured parties, since a passenger, another driver, and a pedestrian can all have claims from the same wreck.

Sorting this out takes someone who knows how these cases are structured. An Uber accident lawyer in McKinney starts by pinning down the driver’s app status, because that single fact often decides which policy pays.

Whose Insurance Pays After an Uber or Lyft Crash?

It depends on what the driver was doing on the app when the crash happened, and Texas law sets minimum coverage for each phase. The table below breaks down which policy applies at each stage.

These requirements come from the Texas rules for transportation network companies in Occupations Code Chapter 2402. Knowing exactly which phase applied to your crash is the first step toward the coverage that will actually pay your bills.

Can You File a Claim If You Were the Passenger?

Yes, and passengers are in one of the strongest positions of anyone in a rideshare crash. A passenger is almost never at fault, and while the driver is carrying a rider, the company’s commercial coverage of up to $1,000,000 is in force.

• Rideshare passengers, covered by the company’s commercial policy during the trip.
• Other drivers and their passengers, hit by a rideshare driver who was at fault.
• Pedestrians and cyclists, struck by a driver logged into the app.
• The rideshare driver, injured by another at-fault motorist.

Whichever of these describes you, the path to recovery runs through identifying the right policy and the party at fault.

A Lyft accident attorney in McKinney, TX makes sure your claim is filed against the coverage that actually applies, not the one the insurer would prefer.

What Texas Law Applies to Your Claim?

Texas is a fault-based state, so the at-fault driver and the insurer on the hook are responsible for your damages, and two rules shape nearly every rideshare claim. Both are worth understanding before you deal with an insurer.

How Long Do You Have to File a Rideshare Accident Claim in Texas?

Two years from the date of the crash, under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003.

Miss that deadline and the court will almost certainly dismiss your case no matter how clear the fault was. 

Rideshare claims often involve more than one insurer, so building the case early leaves time to sort out coverage before the clock runs out. The federal government’s traffic safety data reflects how common these collisions have become as rideshare traffic grows.

Can You Recover If You Were Partly at Fault?

Yes, as long as your share of the blame is 50 percent or less. Texas reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault and bars it only if that share tops half, which is why insurers work to shift blame, especially in multi-party rideshare wrecks. Clear evidence of who caused the crash is what protects your recovery.

Together, the deadline and the fault rule reward fast, well-documented action. Waiting or negotiating alone is what lets an insurer use the law and the coverage maze against you.