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You booked the ride because you didn’t want to drive after dinner, and now you’re sitting on the curb watching the driver argue with the other car’s occupant about who had the light. Your phone still has the trip open, fare and all, like the app doesn’t know anything happened. You don’t know if you’re supposed to report this through the app, call the police, or wait for your driver to sort it out. Nobody around you seems to know either.
New York Auto Law understands how confusing it is to figure out whose insurance even covers a rideshare crash, and we step in to help you sort out who’s responsible and what happens next.
What Is the First Thing to Do After an Uber Accident in Buffalo?
What to do after an Uber accident comes down to four priorities, in this order: get medical help, get the crash on record, protect the details your claim needs, and figure out which insurance policy pays. Rideshare crashes typically involve two or three insurance policies, more than a typical two-car crash.
What Are the Right Uber Accident Steps to Take at the Scene?
The first few minutes after a crash matter for your health and for any claim that follows, including:
- Call 911 first. Report the crash and ask for medical help if needed.
- Move out of traffic. If you can move, let the other driver know where you are moving to and ask them to follow.
- Take photos. Capture both vehicles (preferably before you move them), the road, and anything else that shows how the crash happened.
- Get names and insurance details. Write down what the other driver and your Uber or Lyft driver provide.
- Save your trip screen. Take a screenshot of the ride details in the app for your records.
- Get witness contact information. Witness information can help if you decide to pursue your claim further later.
- Note the exact location. Cross streets or a nearby address, along with the direction of travel, will help when you are trying to describe the accident later to the insurance company or a lawyer.
New York law places the duty to stop and exchange license and insurance information on the drivers of both vehicles, not the passengers.
How Do You Report an Uber or Lyft Accident?
What the In-App Report Actually Does
Reporting the crash is one of the Uber accident steps people skip most often, since it is easy to assume someone else will handle it. Both apps let you file a report right from the trip screen, which reaches the company’s safety team, creates a timestamped record, and can prompt a check-in about medical needs. It does not replace calling 911 or count as an official accident report.
Does a Police Report Satisfy New York’s Filing Requirement?
No. New York separately requires each driver to file a written report within 10 days when a crash causes injury, death, or more than $1,000 in property damage. That duty applies even when a police officer also investigates the crash. As a passenger, you cannot file that report, and you do not need to track down whether the drivers did. If police respond to the scene, ask for the report or incident number before you leave, since we can pull that record later without needing anyone else’s reports.
Which Insurance Coverage Applies to Your Uber or Lyft Accident?
Once your driver accepts your ride request and picks you up, New York requires the coverage on that vehicle to be $1,250,000 for injury, death, or property damage combined. After a Lyft accident, what to do follows the same script, since New York treats both companies under the same insurance structure.
What Should You Avoid Saying to an Insurance Adjuster Right Away?
An adjuster from one of those policies may call within days of the crash, sometimes before your first follow-up visit. Be sure to:
- Stick to the basic facts. Only share the date, the location, and that you were a passenger in a rideshare vehicle.
- Skip guesses about fault or injuries. What you say in a recorded statement is hard to walk back once your condition becomes clearer.
- Say no to a quick settlement. Nothing requires you to accept an offer on that first call or even the fifth.
- Get a name, a direct line, and a claim number. You will want to keep this on hand for months to come if you are injured.
- Keep your follow-up medical appointments. Insurers often cite missed appointments to argue that an injury was not serious.
That adjuster does not represent your interests, even when the call feels friendly, so treat every question carefully.
How Do You File for New York’s No-Fault Benefits?
No-fault benefits are not automatic. You must file a claim with whoever insures the vehicle you were riding in. You will need to provide the following information:
- Written notice of the crash. Within 30 days, given on New York’s Application for Motor Vehicle No-Fault Benefits, Form NF-2.
- Proof of claim for medical bills. Your medical providers bill the insurer directly once you sign a records authorization within 45 days of treatment.
- Proof of claim for lost wages. Your employer verifies your missed work and pay on the insurer’s form, or, if you are self-employed, you file it yourself within 90 days.
These forms sit on the same state no-fault forms page as downloadable PDFs, printed or completed and mailed in rather than filed online. Once the insurer receives a proof of claim, it has 30 days to pay it, deny it, or pay the undisputed part while denying the rest. Missing any of the three deadlines above is what most often stands between an injured passenger and the up to $50,000 in medical and wage benefits New York pays out, no matter who caused the crash.
Can You Sue the Driver Who Caused Your Crash?
Beyond what no-fault pays, New York splits what you can recover from the driver who caused the crash into two paths, and only one has a high bar to clear. The driver’s insurer covers medical bills or lost wages beyond the $50,000 no-fault cap. Pain and suffering work differently. New York will not let that part of a claim go forward unless your injury meets one of eight specific legal categories:
- Death;
- Dismemberment;
- Significant disfigurement;
- A fracture;
- Loss of a fetus;
- Permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function, or system;
- Permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member; and
- Significant limitation of the use of a body function or system.
A doctor’s diagnosis determines whether you meet one of these categories, not how you feel right after the crash, and it has no bearing on the medical bills and lost wages that no-fault did not cover.
Part of what to do after an Uber accident is recognizing when the pieces above, the right insurer, strict deadlines, and a serious injury threshold, are worth handing to someone who deals with them daily. The right time to contact a lawyer is when:
- You are not sure which insurance company covers your driver’s vehicle,
- The deadlines above keep running whether or not you feel ready,
- You are not sure your injuries meet the threshold to go beyond no-fault,
- The driver who hit you turns out to be uninsured or underinsured, or
- The insurer is slow to pay or denies your claim.
None of this requires you to have every answer before you call, only that you call while your options are still open.
What to Do After an Uber Accident? Call New York Auto Law.
New York Auto Law opened its doors in Western New York in 2026, but our team has decades of experience handling car accident cases. The practice handles only car, truck, and motorcycle crashes, so a rideshare claim never competes for attention with another unrelated case using other New York laws.
Clients get a direct line to whoever is handling their claim, not a rotating cast of case managers, plus real updates without having to call and ask. That includes the no-fault side of a claim, too, the notices, proof of claim forms, and adjuster calls that would otherwise land on an injured person’s lap while they focus on healing from a crash they did not cause.
Let New York Auto Law Handle What Comes Next
You already have enough to manage after a crash that was not your fault. Reach out to New York Auto Law for a free consultation, and let us sort out the insurance questions while you focus on getting better. The sooner we hear from you, the sooner we can protect the deadlines and evidence your claim depends on.
Legal References Used to Inform This Page
To ensure the accuracy and clarity of this page, we referenced official legal and other resources during the content development process:
- Leaving scene of an incident without reporting, N.Y. Veh. & Traf. Law § 600 (2022).
- Report required upon accident, N.Y. Veh. & Traf. Law § 605 (2025).
- Financial responsibility of transportation network companies, N.Y. Veh. & Traf. Law § 1693 (2017).
- Sources of mandatory personal injury protection benefits, 11 N.Y.C.R.R. § 65-3.12 (2023).
- Requirements for minimum benefit insurance policies for personal injuries, 11 N.Y.C.R.R. § 65-1.1 (2023).
- New York Department of Financial Services, No-Fault Forms.
- Payment or denial of claim, 11 N.Y.C.R.R. § 65-3.8 (2023).
- Definitions, N.Y. Ins. Law § 5102 (2026).
- Causes of action for personal injury, N.Y. Ins. Law § 5104 (2026).
Michael Greenspan has been deeply involved in the affairs of his community for his entire professional career. Mike has been a certified high school track and field official since 1992 and has officiated at prestigious invitational meets as well as the New York State Championships. Additionally, Mike has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Glenn D. Loucks Games at his alma mater, White Plains High School since 1991 and as a member of the Board of Directors of the JCC-Rockland.