After being involved in an accident with a DoorDash delivery driver, you will likely be forced to file an injury claim against the driver’s personal auto insurance policy before you can seek compensation from DoorDash. When a DoorDash delivery driver is at fault for an accident, you must follow the proper insurance claims process in order to receive the highest settlement amount.
DoorDash Accident Dangers in Southern California
A trip out from your Los Angeles home to anywhere can leave you vulnerable to many traffic hazards along Southern California interstates and boulevards. You’ll face commuters and parents all trying to get to work, school, or an activity. You may not realize that the rush of traffic is also made up of workers for many companies who all use local roads to make their profits, including food delivery services drivers.
A food delivery services company like DoorDash makes having fast food and groceries dropped at your doorstep incredibly easy and convenient. That convenience can come at a price, however. When you take to the streets, you’ll probably notice DoorDash delivery drivers traveling in the lanes beside you. But unfortunately for you and all the other drivers surrounding you, these DoorDash drivers might be looking at their phones instead of other cars on the road or paying attention to their surroundings.
DoorDash Drivers Are Dependent on Their Mobile Phones to Do Their Jobs
DoorDash delivery drivers have the same temptations for inattention as any other driver on the road, but the nature of their jobs adds yet another level of distraction compared to other motorists. Their cell phones are how they take in orders, locate restaurants and grocery stores, and get paid. However, one glance at an order or any text can make their DoorDash vehicles dangerous to all other motorists. 
Common DoorDash Accident Injuries in Los Angeles
A DoorDash delivery driver may check out directions to an unfamiliar restaurant and miss seeing the light turn red and hit you from behind. They can be distracted by a fast-food bag that’s about to tip over and fail to monitor a crosswalk only to strike you while you’re on foot.
A skilled Los Angeles DoorDash Accident Lawyer helps to hold both the DoorDash worker and DoorDash itself liable for the injuries you suffer as a result of a DoorDash accident. Sometimes your lawyer will work to force insurance providers for both parties to provide injury support for you. This duty is an important one, especially when you examine the potentially serious consequences resulting from any vehicle collision.
Types of Injuries You Could Suffer in a DoorDash Accident
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Back and Spine injuries
- Whiplash
- Fractured Bones
- Amputation
- Permanent Disability
- Death
If you receive only minor cuts and bruises when a DoorDash driver crashed into you, you might not need a DoorDash accident lawyer to safeguard your case. Getting reimbursement for treatment for a minor injury and your vehicle damage should be fairly straightforward.
As medical bills skyrocket, insurance companies for at-fault drivers can fight hard to limit what compensation you receive. You can sue DoorDash after an accident and you’ll need a DoorDash accident attorney to stand up for your rights and to secure everything necessary for your recovery.
What Happens if a DoorDash Driver Hits You?
After getting struck by a DoorDash driver, you’ll need to attend to everyone’s safety first. If you are okay, check on the passengers in your vehicle and other vehicles.
Call 911 no matter how minor you feel the accident is. Get examined by paramedics and give police or the California Highway Patrol a full account of what you observed before the collision. Make sure they know the other driver works for a food delivery service. Officers will create a collision report that will help you prove your case.
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Must Dos at the Accident Scene
There are some other things you can attend to on the scene that will help you hold an auto insurance company fully responsible after a Los Angeles DoorDash Accident:
- Take photos of the accident. Show the damage to both vehicles. Take pictures of your visible injuries and clothing damage. Take photos of any signage or logos that identify the DoorDash vehicle or driver. If you must leave the scene to go to the emergency room, ask someone with you or a helpful car accident witness to gather details for you.
- Get the DoorDash driver’s insurance coverage information and share your insurance information with them. Try to get an employee number.
- Collect contact information from witnesses. Your L.A. Car Accident Attorney will reach out to witnesses later to secure testimony.
- Contact your insurance company. After you are safely away from the accident scene, call your insurance as soon as possible. Alert them to what happened. You don’t want your insurer unaware when a DoorDash driver tries to call them, saying that you caused the crash.
- Fill out a DoorDash Accident Report Form. DoorDash wants to steer you towards using their employees’, also known as Dashers, personal car insurance coverage. Fill out this form with DoorDash in case the Dasher’s personal insurance rejects your claim.
- Call a skilled Los Angeles Car Accident Attorney. Figuring out who you’ll need to file a claim against will be hard enough. DoorDash corporate lawyers could also play a role in limiting what you receive after an accident. Make sure you have an experienced lawyer on your side who doesn’t back down when confronting billion-dollar businesses. Having faith in your attorney and building a strong attorney client relationship is often the key to success in your DoorDash claim.
For additional information on DoorDash accidents and what to do after you’ve been in an accident with a DoorDash driver, visit our complete Guide to Los Angeles Car Accidents.
How Do I File an Injury Claim After a Collision with a DoorDash Driver
Your DoorDash accident claim may send you in several different directions as you seek financial help to pay for your medical bills.
DoorDash maintains a one-million-dollar insurance policy to cover damages from accidents their food delivery drivers cause. But you won’t usually start by filing a claim against DoorDash. Since their employees are considered contract workers, their drivers must have their own car insurance policy. You are forced to file against the individual driver’s personal auto insurance policy first.
This initial claim often fails because car insurance representatives often reject claims when they find out their policyholder is working from behind the wheel. Bare-minimum insurance coverage also might only award you enough to pay for half, or even less, of your recovery costs.
If the DoorDash driver’s car insurance rejects your claim or doesn’t provide enough support, you’ll file a claim against DoorDash itself. DoorDash offers more potential support, but their lawyers will also fight harder to question the blame in an accident. If they get you to accept any liability, they’ll save DoorDash a lot of money.
The Process is Designed to Be Difficult
If this sounds confusing and frustrating, that’s because the injury claims process often is. You may need an experienced Los Angeles delivery driver accident lawyer to ensure you earn the compensation you need to recover fully. For more help in deciding whether you need the services of a Southern California Car Accident Lawyer, visit our informational page here.
What Can I Include in My Settlement After a DoorDash Accident in California?
No matter what insurance policy you must target in a Los Angeles DoorDash car accident claim, you’ll want to clearly lay out every hardship you’ve endured. You’ll likely have gone through far more than just what’s seen on a medical invoice.
Everything you don’t include in your claim may have to come out of your own savings. It’s important to work with your Southern California DoorDash crash injury lawyer to form a complete list that contains every difficulty you and your family have faced.
These are just a few of the things that factor into the total on your settlement check:
- Medical bills and estimates for necessary care in the future.
- Pain and suffering. This includes the physical pain caused by your injury. It also factors in the emotional toll an accident and difficult recovery may take on your wellbeing as well as those of your loved ones or who are dependent upon you for financial support.
- Recovering lost income after the accident as you miss work as well as any future loss of earnings.
- Damaged Property, such as your vehicle, if the DoorDash delivery driver damaged or totaled your car in the accident.
Time Constraints on Filing Your DoorDash Accident Claim
California allows car accident victims up to two years to file a lawsuit over injuries. This seems like a lot of time, but you shouldn’t delay after you’ve been injured in a DoorDash accident.
The sooner you inform a Los Angeles DoorDash Auto Accident Lawyer about what happened, the sooner the investigation into your claim against DoorDash begins. Your experienced DoorDash accident lawyer will thoroughly document your accident and build a strong case with evidence and testimony. This proof of what happened is easier to secure in the early stages of a case. However, if you wait too long to take action, evidence can disappear, and witnesses may become harder to locate.
You’ll partner with your attorney to present the most complete and airtight case possible, showing that you were the victim of a delivery driver’s negligence. This attorney client relationship is an important component of any successful delivery driver accident lawsuit.
Contact a Los Angeles DoorDash Car Accident Lawyer
A frightening accident involving a DoorDash vehicle might leave you depending on a giant corporation for support. DoorDash is focused on turning a profit and not about supporting the victims of their business model. It’s why you will require a skilled legal representative to safeguard your rights and secure fair benefits after you’ve been injured and why retaining an attorney and forming that attorney client relationship with a skilled personal injury attorney as soon as possible after your accident is so important.
Contact The Law Offices of Steers & Associates for a free consultation for all DoorDash auto accident victims in Southern California. It’s a no-risk opportunity to determine what you should expect from DoorDash drivers and their employer after a collision.
If you decide you’d like us to represent your DoorDash accident case, we don’t require any money upfront. We don’t earn any attorney fees unless we win your case.
Allen Vaysberg practices personal injury law and works tirelessly to defeat the tactics of insurance companies and large corporations who try to deny justice and fair compensation to injured people.
