It was my last trip of the day. I was on St. Pete beach and I accepted a request to pick up a passenger from my Favorite hotel on this beach. Hotel Zamora. I love this place because it is very easy to pick up passengers from and then leave. Also, the rooftop bar they have here is pretty awesome too. I don’t drink alcohol anymore but if I did, I would certainly do it here. That bar has AstroTurf on the floor, nice couches all around and glass, I think to keep people from falling off when they see the breathtaking views. So I arrived, and it was a couple I was picking up not just a single person and they were ready to go which is always cool). I was taking them to another hotel in Tampa, FL about a 35-minute ride. I think they were going to the Hilton in downtown Tampa (very popular hotel which I have been to many times before.) So I drove them North on 275 like I always do and then over the Howard Frankland Bridge. It was around 3:30 PM so traffic was kind of light. When I get to Tampa I used to always just take exit 44 and just keep heading east until I get to the destination. But about 6 months ago there was an accident there and I was routed to take that exit but headed toward Scott Street and I noticed that if you take an immediate right as you get off on that exit, that is Ashley Drive and it takes you to the exact same street that the regular way does. But if you take the regular way, there is traffic coming from that direction and you need to merge into it, then if you take Tampa Street into DownTown Tampa, you have to take another right and then merge into oncoming traffic again and that is where the arena is and a lot of other fun stuff and people go there a lot! So after I saw there was a way to negate the most dangerous exit on I275, I just started going that way all the time. So when I was bringing these people there, I just continued on to Scott street and then took an immediate right on Ashley and headed toward downtown Tampa. I pulled up to a stop sign and I was completely stopped, so I thought I was safe. Then I heard the passenger say “Ooh” and I looked up and a purple car crashed into me. I checked and everyone was okay. So I used the Uber button to call the cops and the Tampa Police Department responded to the scene. That lady hit my car while I was completely stopped. If you look at the video, it looks like she was trying to hit me or something. Anyway, the cops came, and since everyone was okay and there were no injuries, and no lights that were needed out (it was still daylight) everyone was eventually allowed to leave. The passengers in my car had luggage but it had wheels and they both elected to walk the rest of the way. I told them they would make it for certain, but that it would suck and to just request an Uber. They elected to walk anyway. The cop that first responded was leaving for the day, so I guess he handed the accident off to a female officer. The person who hit my vehicle got nothing. She was not cited at all, she was not given a citation for anything, not for hitting me, not for her window tint being way too dark, and not for having no proof of insurance, all of which I have received tickets for in Tampa too. I did not really care that she didn’t get in trouble, they did place her at fault in the accident and that is all that really mattered to me, that it was known by everyone that I was not at fault here. So both vehicles were able to leave the scene without the need for a tow truck. The person that hit me was a woman and she told me, and the officers at the scene that she in fact did have insurance, I was like cool she has insurance and it wasn’t my fault. I later found that she in fact had none (Problem # 1). Also, she had “The general” insurance which I found out only sells bare-bones insurance to get a vehicle on the road and nothing more. If she even had that it would have been okay I think because I would have at least received my deductible back. Which I could use right now, but even 1 year later I still have not received anything from her. This is the worst part. Because there were two Uber passengers in my car the Uber insurance takes over and there is no choice in the matter at all. There are some very bad things about the Uber policy that I did not know until this accident occurred. The Uber policy has no uninsured motorist coverage at all. That is a huge problem. Uber could not care any less about drivers. As far as they are concerned drivers are their biggest expense, and when driverless cars are allowed on these roads (which will be very soon) the need for drivers will go away and Uber and Lyft will stop onboarding drivers to their platforms. The Uber insurance policy taking over is a huge problem. In Florida progressive holds the Uber policy and they also insure me personally. Now the Uber policy has a $2500.00 deductible which I wanted no part of. If I did, I would have ended up paying that deductible AND my own $1000.00 deductible because I needed a rental car while they repaired my car. So, I worked with Progressive and because there were no injuries at the scene they allowed me to go with my personal insurance only. I was like that is cool because I did not want any part of that crazy deductible. I don’t even know how Uber has a deductible so high, I can’t even opt for a progressive deductible any higher than $1000.00 anyway, and Uber is constantly lowering the pay that goes to drivers, what Uber driver has $2500.00 just laying around, well I don’t lol. I was lucky to be able to borrow 1K to get my car fixed. So I was working with Progressive while I was getting my car repaired at Maher Chevrolet in St. Petersburg, FL. (Who is awesome BTW) And I learned that Uber no longer has Uninsured motorist coverage on top of their $2500.00 deductible. So I was like no problem, I got 50K of uninsured motorist coverage on my personal policy. Progressive denied that claim (huge problem). They told me that my coverage completely ended and the Uber policy had taken over each and every time an Uber passenger got into my car. When I got in an accident in 2019 I had a commercial insurance policy with Geico dropped me because I exceeded the number of miles limit and they never ever told me about it, even after they dropped me and I went with Progressive, Geico will still not tell me their mileage limit. Anyway, when I got in an accident in 2019 because someone rear-ended me also with an Uber passenger in my car. Uber had $250,000.00 in UM coverage at that time and I had $100,000.00 on my policy, but other than my deductible which was repaid, there was no need for UM coverage because the person who hit me had insurance. Okay, so Uber insurance has no coverage for me and Progressive denied my Uninsured Motorist claim after of course, I was going to doctor visits thinking that I was covered. I did have the Uber “driver only” coverage to lean on which I thought at the time was a good thing. So I contacted them and this was a Saturday and their office is completely closed over the weekends so a claim number is not issued at all until Monday morning. So I got a claim number from them. This is in March of 2023 and Uber has been deducting 4 cents a mile for every trip ever since July of 2021. I got it only because I am a full-time driver and may need it someday. Well, this was the day. So I gave that number to all the doctors that I had seen for this accident, so they could get paid and not have to see it on my credit report. Atlantic casualty or intact insurance A.K.A. Uber “driver only” insurance is the absolute worst company I have ever worked with in my entire life. Uber contracts with them, I do not know this for certain but I think that whatever Uber takes out of every mile that I drive Uber holds back a little for themselves and then gives the rest to Intact. This is what they do, they make you submit all kinds of paperwork to them to start the claim. It is a good thing I was able to function because if I was not, no one would have gotten paid. When they talk to the providers, they tell them “Your invoices have been approved for payment” When you are dealing with Intact that means pretty much nothing. These providers told me after a month had gone by that they were told they had been “approved” for payment, but they have not received a single penny from them. So I would email the adjuster his name is Chris Balentine. I was like Chris these people have not been paid but you told them their payments were approved. He says that is correct. They are approved and we have what we need from them. I was like they said they have not seen a single Penny from you since you said that over a month ago.
That is out of his control lol. Then I started to get text messages from the health care place from around the corner about their bill. So I sent an email to Chris and he contacted them and after a few weeks they finally stopped texting me. So then he said to me “if I sign this document intact will “settle” (that was his terminology) out with me for 5K”. He sent me this contract and on the very top of that contract, it said something about the release of ALL claims and responsibility. He also sent me an email that said he would be gone for the next week on vacation and he would email me when he got back. So I had the contract and I read it. I am not a lawyer, but I can read and that was in BOLD print. So since this accident, I have been having some problems with my speech and I first noticed it at the scene when I was talking to the cops. I thought it was just because I tend to get nervous talking to cops, but then I noticed it several more times when talking with passengers. So before I executed and returned that document to intact in exchange for 5K. I went to the Dr. right around the corner, which I went to right after this accident to get checked out. So I filled out their paperwork, and I gave them the claim number from Intact insurance, and was at their front desk and they told me to hold, they had to make a quick call. So they made that call and I listened to both sides of that conversation, and the lady at the desk in front of me said “The computer says to call you before I admit him so that is why I am calling” The lady on the other end of the phone said “that I was now good and to go ahead and admit me.” This was several months after the original accident. So I went in and told the doctor about my speech problem and he did not do anything at all and he told me I need to go see an ear nose and throat specialist because he thought the problem was with my larynx. He also told me he could not write me a prescription and to just go to one. I told him I didn’t think that was what the problem was at all. So I left there and went to Manatee Memorial hospital emergency room. All I wanted was a scan of my brain and a doctor to look at it and tell me it looks okay so I could sign this document and send it to Chris. So they admitted me right away, it was about 3PM. They put me in this room kind of thing and this lady came in to find out how I was paying. I gave them the claim number that I got from intact insurance. The doctor came by about an hour later and asked me why I was there. So I told him. Then I waited and waited and about 700PM this dude that I have been looking at for the past 4 hours came over to me and took my blood. Then this other person comes and gets me and takes me like 50 feet over to this room and someone then leaves that room in a wheelchair. Then a lady comes out and pushes my wheelchair into that room. It was dark in there and she gave me instructions, I followed them and she was the cat scan lady. So that took about 10 minutes or so. Then she wheeled me back to the makeshift room where I was waiting for hours. It was about 715 PM or so then. She told me to wait to talk with the doctor. So I waited and waited again and around 8:15 PM or so I was thinking. I don’t need him to go over the scans with me, I will have my Dr. in Pinellas County do that. All I really needed was the scan. I could ask my regular doctor to go over the results with me. I almost never have to wait to see him, and he is a surgeon and he would be better at reading these results anyway. So at about 8:30PM I left Manatee Memorial Hospital “against medical advice” so I called my Doctor in Pinellas and asked if they could get the results from Manatee Memorial Hospital and go over them with me, they were like sure no problem, but just FYI this doesn’t change anything we can still see you, but we haven’t received complete payment for your prior office visits. I was like huh? We are now in early July 2023. The lady told me they have sent us payment for some of your visits but not all of them. I was like okay I will call you back. Chris was still out of the office. Then I received an invoice in the mail from Manatee Memorial for over 30,000.00. I scanned it in, then I typed out a letter and sent it back to them with the claim number and advised that this must be a mistake because I gave Manatee Memorial this claim number at the point of service. I started getting calls from this place (first choice) that would have paid for it. I was thinking it was just a clerical error. So when Chris got back in the office the following Monday, I emailed him that bill. Now it is like mid July after a week goes by he told me to fill out this paperwork so that they could retrieve my hospital records from Manatee Memorial. I was like that is strange, but at least they are working on that invoice (Chris told me they have contracted rates for these hospital bills) so I emailed him about that bill every week and asked him if it had been settled yet, it had not. Then one day in September 2023 he sent me an email that said Intact would not be paying that bill because I had never had a condition like that before or some mumbo jumbo. I was like fine . I picked up the phone and called First Choice and they told me that I did not respond to them in a timely manner so they could not help me. So I took the invoice from Manatee Memorial and typed out a letter and sent it to Uber headquarters in California and then I copied that letter and submitted it to them somehow electronically and they never responded to it at all. So here is the moral of the story. I made a mistake, I thought I had plenty of insurance coverage. I told the people at Progressive Insurance that I even have a rider on my insurance for rideshare driving. They advised me that what that does is cover me AFTER I drop off a passenger at their destination. I did get my car fixed, and I did get a rental for a month and I did only have to pay a $1k deductible. So I did not have to pay the crazy Uber deductible. I was also denied any PIP (personal injury protection) insurance at all.
In conclusion:
This is what I learned from that accident: If you want to be covered for an accident during an Uber trip, have a commercial insurance policy. If I had a commercial policy my UM coverage from that policy would have carried over with no problem. The Uber policy in Florida anyway is for the protection of the rider(s)/passengers and NOT the driver at all. The Uber insurance Policy Carries a very high deductible and that policy will allow the driver to die. Also, they will only pay cash value of any property damage to the car owned by the driver. This accident happened the day after my car rolled over 500K miles. So what do you think the cash value of my car is? I checked it and Kelly Blue Book says it’s worth 3K? Everything works in it like new and it may be worth that much to me, but if I was buying a car I wouldn’t pay more than a grand for it. Also, the Uber policy does NOT protect the driver at all. Let’s speculate and say that an Uber driver picked up 2 passengers and then on the way to their destination that Uber driver drove off a cliff with them in the car and then landed on a person but didn’t kill them and everyone goes to the hospital. The only policy is the Uber insurance policy and this make-believe accident happened in Florida. Everyone would be covered by the Uber policy except for the driver. The driver will get cash value for their vehicle minus the $2500.00 deductible. Uber is a $130 Billion dollar company and they are going to always do whatever they can to keep more for Uber. That means Uber driver’s will continue to get the same thing they have been getting for a long time now, the short end of the stick.
The 2 Uber passengers in my car during this accident were very good people (they often are, just like you, and me.) Uber gave them their money back for that trip and they transferred it to me via VENMO which really helped me out a lot!
