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Homestead Uber and Lyft accident lawyer

Why what the app was doing decides how much coverage exists

A rideshare crash in Homestead, Florida City or the Redland is decided by one fact: what the app was doing at the moment of impact. Fla. Stat. § 627.748(7) sets two tiers. A driver logged on and waiting for a request must carry primary liability of at least $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident and $25,000 property damage. A driver engaged in a prearranged ride must carry at least $1 million. Below both sits the driver’s personal policy, which usually excludes commercial use altogether — so a driver who was logged off is an ordinary driver with ordinary limits. In South Dade the trips are long, which means a working driver is on a prearranged ride most of the time, and the million-dollar tier applies more often here than in a dense part of the county. The two tiers and the proof of app status are explained in full on the Florida rideshare accident page. What follows is the South Dade part.

Free case review Homestead (786) 900-0184
Miami-Dade County crashes, 2024
60,000Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
People injured
29,359In Miami-Dade County alone, in one year
People killed
272Down from 325 the year before
Coverage during a ride
$1 millionPrimary liability while engaged in a prearranged ride. § 627.748(7)(c)

Quick answers about Homestead Uber and Lyft accident claims

How much coverage is there?
It depends entirely on the app. At least $1 million while the driver was engaged in a prearranged ride, and at least $50,000 per person while they were logged on but waiting. Fla. Stat. § 627.748(7).
What if the driver was logged off?
Then the rideshare policy is not in play and it is an ordinary crash against the driver’s personal policy — which frequently excludes commercial use, so the limits may be minimal.
I was the passenger. What covers me?
If the trip was underway, the $1 million tier. You also have PIP from your own household policy, and the trip record in the app establishes the tier without argument.
How is the app status proved?
From the trip record held by the company. That record is the single most important document in the case, and the written request for it should go out early.
Do I still have a fourteen-day deadline?
Yes. Section 627.736 requires initial treatment within fourteen days for PIP to pay anything, and § 627.748(7) requires the rideshare policy to include PIP as well.
Why does this matter more out here?
Because the trips are long. An airport run from Homestead is forty minutes each way, so a working driver spends most of their time on a prearranged ride rather than waiting.
How long do I have?
Two years for a negligence claim arising on or after March 24, 2023, under § 95.11. The trip record and any dashcam footage are gone long before that.

01 The law, once

Which Florida laws apply to a Homestead Uber and Lyft accident claim

The rules are the same across Florida, so they are written out in full on one page rather than repeated here. They are explained on the statewide Uber and Lyft accident page, with the statute text linked.

The short version, and it is the whole case: what the app was doing decides how much coverage exists. Fla. Stat. § 627.748(7) sets two tiers. A driver logged on and available but not engaged in a prearranged ride must carry primary liability of at least $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident and $25,000 property damage. A driver engaged in a prearranged ride must carry primary liability of at least $1 million.

Both tiers also require personal injury protection and uninsured and underinsured vehicle coverage. Below both of them sits the driver’s personal policy, which frequently excludes commercial use entirely — so a driver who was logged off is an ordinary driver with ordinary limits. Fault is apportioned under § 768.81 and barred above 50%, and the deadline is two years.

What follows is the part that is specific to Miami-Dade County — where these claims arise, where you will be treated, which courthouse the case goes to, and how the records are obtained.

02 Where the coverage comes from

Where Uber and Lyft accident claims arise in Miami-Dade County

A rideshare trip in South Dade is long. The airport is forty minutes north, the Keys are an hour south, and almost nothing here is a five-minute hop. A long trip means the driver is on a prearranged ride for most of the time they are working — which is the tier where the coverage is a million dollars rather than fifty thousand.

  • Engaged in a prearranged rideAt least $1 million in primary liability. § 627.748(7)(c). The tier that applies to most working time on a long South Dade trip.
  • Logged on and waitingAt least $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident, $25,000 property damage. § 627.748(7)(b).
  • Logged off entirelyThe rideshare policy does not apply. An ordinary claim against a personal policy that may exclude commercial use.
  • PIP, in every tierSection 627.748(7) requires the rideshare policy to include PIP, and your own household PIP may also apply. Fourteen days either way.
  • Uninsured and underinsured coverageAlso required in both active tiers, which matters when a third driver caused the crash and had nothing.
  • The trip recordHeld by the company, and the document that establishes which tier applies. The first thing to request in writing.
  • The airport run up US-1 and the TurnpikeForty minutes each way. The longest and fastest-moving part of most South Dade trips.
  • The Keys trip south of Florida CityTwo lanes, heavy seasonal traffic, and a driver who may not know the road.

03 The two tiers

One fact decides whether this is fifty thousand or a million

Rideshare claims look complicated and they are not. They turn on a single fact. Section 627.748(7) divides a driver’s working time into two states, and the coverage required in each is twenty times apart.

Engaged in a prearranged ride means at least $1 million of primary liability. That period begins when the driver accepts a request and continues until the last passenger leaves the vehicle. Logged on and available but not yet matched means at least $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident and $25,000 of property damage.

Logged off means no rideshare coverage at all. The claim falls to the driver’s personal automobile policy, and a personal policy commonly excludes commercial use — which can leave a working driver with Florida’s bare minimums behind them.

So the entire investigation starts with the app. Not with the police report, not with the damage, and not with fault. Fault matters, but what fault is worth is set by which tier was in effect, and that is a fact held in a record the company keeps.

04 Long trips

Why the million-dollar tier applies more often here

South Dade is not a place where rideshare trips are short. Miami International is roughly forty minutes north up US-1 or the Turnpike. Key Largo is an hour south. A trip from Homestead to Kendall is half an hour. There is very little of the five-minute downtown hop that makes up so much of the work in central Miami.

Which changes the probability of each tier. A driver working a long-trip market spends most of their shift engaged in a prearranged ride rather than circling and waiting, so the crash that happens while they are working is more likely to be inside the million-dollar tier than outside it.

It also means more highway miles at higher speeds. The Turnpike and US-1 carry these trips, and the injuries from a crash at those speeds are worse than the injuries from a low-speed urban collision — which is exactly the combination where the available limit decides the outcome.

And it changes who the passenger is. Many of these trips are visitors coming from the airport on their way to the Keys, in an unfamiliar area, who will be out of state within days. A passenger who is injured and leaves has a claim and no easy way to pursue it, and the trip record is what anchors it.

05 The trip record

The document that decides the case

The app status is not a matter of the driver’s recollection and not something the police report establishes. It is a record held by the rideshare company — when the request was accepted, when the passenger was picked up, the route, the timestamps and the trip identifier.

Which makes the written request for it the first real step. A verbal account at the scene is not enough, and a driver who says they were off the clock has an obvious reason to say so. The record settles it.

Preserve everything on the passenger side too. The ride receipt, the trip summary email, the screenshot of the trip in progress, and the driver’s name and vehicle as the app showed them. A passenger usually has all of this on their phone and deletes it without thinking.

And ask about a dashcam. A meaningful share of rideshare vehicles have one, and that footage is overwritten on a loop — frequently within days. It is worth asking at the scene and demanding in writing immediately afterward.

06 Who the defendants are

More parties than one crash normally has

A rideshare crash routinely has more than two sides. The rideshare driver, the rideshare company’s insurer, another driver who may have caused it, that driver’s insurer, and sometimes a commercial vehicle with an employer behind it.

Where a third driver caused the crash and had nothing, the active tiers help. Section 627.748(7) requires uninsured and underinsured vehicle coverage in both active periods, so a passenger hurt by an uninsured third driver is not left with only PIP.

Comparative fault runs through all of it. Under § 768.81 fault is apportioned among everyone responsible and bars recovery above 50%, which means an apportionment argument between two drivers is really an argument about which insurer pays what share.

A passenger is almost never apportioned any fault. Which makes a passenger claim structurally the cleanest of these cases, and the one where the tier question is the only real question.

07 The medical record

Homestead Hospital, and the passenger who goes home to another state

A crash in this area is first treated at Homestead Hospital, at 975 Baptist Way, with serious trauma transferred north to Ryder at Jackson Memorial. Both files are needed when that happens.

The fourteen-day rule applies and it is easy to lose. Section 627.748(7) requires the rideshare policy to include PIP, and § 627.736 pays nothing unless initial treatment began within fourteen days — which catches a passenger who was shaken but walked away.

A visiting passenger has a particular problem. Someone treated at Homestead Hospital and then flying home continues treatment somewhere else entirely, which splits the record across states and makes the connection between the crash and the diagnosis harder to show. It is worth asking the out-of-state provider to reference the crash by date in the first note.

And a driver who makes a living in the car has a wage claim that needs documenting. Trip history from the app establishes earnings far better than a recollection does, and it is available for the period before the crash as well as after it.

08 Examples of situations

Situations this office sees in Miami-Dade County

The following are examples of the kinds of situations that arise in this county. They are illustrations of how the rules apply, not descriptions of past cases, and they do not predict any outcome. Every claim turns on its own facts, its own coverage and its own medical record.

  • The airport run on the Turnpike

    A passenger on the way to Miami International is hurt in a highway-speed crash. The trip was underway, so the million-dollar tier applies, and the passenger has no apportioned fault to argue about.

  • The driver waiting in Florida City

    A driver logged on and waiting for a request is struck at Palm Drive. The fifty-thousand tier applies rather than the million, and the difference is the whole value of the claim.

  • The driver who was logged off

    A crash on the way home after a shift ends. No rideshare coverage, and a personal policy that may exclude commercial use entirely — so the first question is what that policy actually says.

  • The visitor headed to Key Largo

    A passenger from out of state is injured on US-1 south of Florida City, treated at Homestead Hospital, and flies home four days later. The record splits across two states and the trip receipt is what holds the claim together.

09 The evidence

Evidence that exists here and often goes uncollected

Almost every camera that saw the crash overwrites itself within days or weeks. The difference between a disputed liability case and a straightforward one is usually whether someone asked for the footage while it still existed.

  • The trip screenshot and the receipt

    The trip in progress, the driver and vehicle as the app showed them, and the emailed summary. This establishes the tier, and it is deleted without thinking.

  • A written request for the trip record

    To the company, early. The timestamps and the trip identifier are what prove the app status rather than anybody’s account of it.

  • Dashcam footage, demanded immediately

    Many rideshare vehicles have one and all of them record on a loop. Days, not weeks.

  • Both drivers’ insurance information

    The rideshare policy and the personal policy are different documents with different limits, and which applies depends on the tier.

  • Treatment inside fourteen days

    The PIP deadline applies to a rideshare crash the same as any other, and a passenger who walked away is exactly who loses it.

  • App earnings history, for a driver

    Trip history before and after the crash proves a wage loss far better than a recollection of a typical week.

10 The report

What to collect after a rideshare crash in South Dade

Screenshot the trip before anything else. The trip in progress, the driver’s name and vehicle, and the receipt once it arrives. This is what establishes the tier, and it is the thing people delete.

Get the agency and the report number. Homestead Police inside the city, Florida City Police in Florida City, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office in the unincorporated areas, and the Florida Highway Patrol on the Turnpike and the open stretches of US-1.

Reports come through the FLHSMV crash portal, usually within about ten days. Under § 316.066(2)(a) a report revealing personal information is confidential for 60 days, and § 316.066(2)(b) lets the parties and their legal representatives obtain it immediately.

Ask about a dashcam, and get the demand out in writing. Rideshare dashcams record on a loop and overwrite within days. So do the cameras on the US-1 retail strip, and both are gone before an insurer has finished opening a file.

11 The office

Where the Homestead office is, and how to get there

DAPENALAW is at 100 NE 15th Street, Suite 210, Homestead, FL 33030, open Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 17:00. The direct number is (786) 900-0184.

The office is at 100 NE 15th Street in downtown Homestead, a short drive from the Florida Turnpike and from US-1, and minutes from the South Dade Justice Center where many of these cases are heard. It is the closest office for Florida City, the Redland, Leisure City and Naranja.

You do not have to come in. The first conversation can be by phone or video, documents are handled electronically, and where an injury makes travel difficult the meeting happens where you are. The Homestead office is the closest one for Homestead, Florida City, Leisure City, Naranja, Princeton, Goulds, the Redland, Silver Palm and the area around Homestead Air Reserve Base. The Sunset Drive office in South Miami is usually the shorter drive from Kendall, Cutler Bay and the rest of the county.

More about the Homestead office · All three offices

Homestead Uber and Lyft accident questions, answered

Do I need a lawyer for an Uber and Lyft accident in Homestead?

Where nobody was hurt, no. The property damage side of these is ordinary.

Where there is an injury, the thing that decides the value is a fact held by a company rather than by anybody at the scene — which tier was in effect. Getting that record, and the dashcam footage before it overwrites, is the part that is hard to do alone.

How much insurance is actually there?

At least $1 million in primary liability while the driver was engaged in a prearranged ride, and at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident while logged on and waiting. Fla. Stat. § 627.748(7).

Both active tiers also require PIP and uninsured and underinsured vehicle coverage. If the driver was logged off, the rideshare policy does not apply at all and the claim falls to a personal policy that may exclude commercial use.

I was the passenger. Is my claim simpler?

Structurally, yes. A passenger is almost never assigned any share of fault under § 768.81, so the apportionment fight between the drivers is not your problem.

If the trip was underway, the million-dollar tier applies, and your own trip receipt establishes that without needing anyone’s cooperation. You also have PIP from your household policy, with the same fourteen-day rule.

The driver says they were not working.

That is a factual claim with an obvious incentive behind it, and it is settled by the company’s trip record rather than by argument.

Which is why the written request for that record goes out early. If there was a passenger in the car, their receipt answers it immediately.

Why does this come up differently in South Dade?

Because the trips are long. The airport is forty minutes north, the Keys are an hour south, and a Homestead-to-Kendall trip is half an hour.

A driver working this market spends most of their shift engaged in a prearranged ride rather than waiting for one, so the million-dollar tier is in effect more of the time than it is in a dense market. It also means more highway miles, and worse injuries when a crash happens.

What does it cost to ask?

The consultation is free and the representation is on a contingency fee, generally payable only on recovery. Case expenses are governed by the written agreement.

The conversation is with Jose A. Dapena, not an intake department.

12 Keep reading

This page is general information about Florida law, not legal advice about your case. Published by Jose A. Dapena, P.A. Last updated October 2026.

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