E-Scooter & E-Bike Accident Claims: Who Pays?

Shared e-scooters and e-bikes solved a real transportation problem and created a genuinely new insurance gap. A car has mandatory liability coverage. A rideshare has a documented, well-litigated coverage structure. A rented scooter has a liability waiver you tapped through in three seconds and, in many cases, nothing behind it that pays for a serious injury.

Understanding where the money actually comes from after one of these crashes means understanding three separate relationships at once: you and the rental company, you and any at-fault driver, and you and your own insurance.

For the pedestrian and bicycle equivalents, see our guides to pedestrian accident claims and bicycle accident claims.

Quick answer: Rental waivers generally hold up against ordinary negligence but not against gross negligence or a defective vehicle. Against a driver, the same rules apply as a bicycle claim — their liability policy is primary, and your own auto policy’s UM/UIM coverage often follows you onto a scooter or e-bike.

The Rental Waiver Problem

Every scooter and e-bike rental app requires accepting terms before unlocking a ride, and those terms typically include a broad liability waiver and an arbitration clause. Courts in most states will enforce a waiver of ordinary negligence — meaning you generally cannot sue the company just because you fell while riding normally.

What a waiver usually does not cover:

• Gross negligence or recklessness — most states will not enforce a waiver against a company’s own extreme carelessness, such as knowingly deploying vehicles with a documented safety defect.
• Product liability for a defective vehicle — brake failure, a throttle that stuck, a folding mechanism that collapsed mid-ride. This is a claim about the machine, not about how you rode it, and it does not depend on the waiver’s negligence language in the same way.
• A third party’s independent fault — the waiver is between you and the rental company. It has no effect on a claim against a driver who hit you.

If the scooter itself malfunctioned, preserve it — do not let it be picked up and serviced before you have photographed and, ideally, had someone inspect it. Report the malfunction to the company in writing immediately, which starts a record independent of your later claim. A battery fire is a distinct malfunction with its own evidence and its own set of possible defendants — see our dedicated guide to e-bike and scooter lithium battery fire claims.

These waivers do get tested. A 2018 Los Angeles suit against Bird (Borgia v. Bird Rides, Inc., removed to federal court as No. 2:18-cv-09685) alleged gross negligence over scooters left on sidewalks; it was resolved procedurally in 2019 when the court compelled arbitration under the rental agreement, rather than by a ruling on the gross-negligence question itself. That outcome is itself instructive: the arbitration clause in the waiver did its job before the merits were ever reached, which is the more common pattern than a court striking a waiver down.

Against a Driver: Same Rules as Bicycle and Pedestrian Claims

Where a car caused the crash, the analysis is the same as for a cyclist or pedestrian: the driver’s liability policy is the primary source, and most states hold that riders of small personal mobility devices are entitled to the same basic protection from vehicles as any other road user. See our proving fault discussion of how “I didn’t see them” functions as an admission rather than a defense — the same logic applies here.

Your Own Coverage Often Fills the Gap

This is the single most important thing to check, and the one riders most consistently overlook:

• Auto UM/UIM and medical payments coverage frequently follows the person, not the vehicle. If you own a car with uninsured motorist coverage, it may apply while you are riding a scooter or e-bike, exactly as it would while walking or cycling — see our guide to UM/UIM claims.
• Homeowners or renters liability coverage may respond if you caused someone else’s injury while riding your own e-bike — but check for a motorized vehicle exclusion. Some policies exclude motorized devices above a wattage or speed threshold, which can catch a class 3 (higher-speed) e-bike even though it looks like an ordinary bicycle.
• Health insurance covers your own treatment regardless of fault, subject to a subrogation lien.
• The rental company’s own insurance, where required by local regulation, may provide limited coverage during an active ride — terms vary considerably by company and by city, and should be checked directly rather than assumed.

Owned vs. Rented, and Why the Vehicle’s Legal Category Matters

Most states classify e-bikes using some version of a three-class model that traces back to California’s 2015 e-bike law (Cal. Veh. Code, via AB 1096) and is now promoted nationally as model legislation by the cycling advocacy group PeopleForBikes:

• Class 1 — pedal-assist only, motor cuts off at 20 mph. Generally treated much like an ordinary bicycle.
• Class 2 — throttle-assisted, also capped at 20 mph. Often carries slightly more restriction than Class 1.
• Class 3 — pedal-assist up to 28 mph, frequently subject to its own age, helmet and roadway-use requirements.

The exact number of states using this model shifts every legislative session, so treat any specific count you read elsewhere as approximate. Standing e-scooters are typically classified separately from e-bikes entirely — commonly as an “electric personal assistive mobility device” (the term used in Virginia, Maine, South Carolina and Georgia, among others) or a “motorized foot scooter” (Washington’s term) — under newer, city- or state-specific statutes governing where they may be ridden, often barring sidewalks and highways and sometimes requiring bike lanes.

Which category your device falls into affects both what rules you were required to follow and, therefore, what comparative fault arguments the defense can raise. Riding on a sidewalk where it was prohibited, without a required helmet, or above a posted speed limit are all facts that can reduce — though rarely eliminate — recovery under most states’ comparative negligence rules.

City and Program Rules

Many e-scooter programs operate under a permit from the city, which can impose its own requirements — parking rules, speed caps in certain zones, geofenced no-ride areas. Where a crash involves a scooter that malfunctioned in a way tied to city-mandated equipment (a required governor limiting speed, for instance, that failed), the municipal permit terms can become relevant evidence, though this rarely creates a direct claim against the city itself.

Practical Steps

1. Screenshot your rental session immediately — start time, unlock confirmation, and any in-app crash or malfunction report. This is your primary evidence of which company and which specific device was involved.
2. Photograph the vehicle, especially anything suggesting a defect — worn brake pads, a loose fork, a cracked frame.
3. Call 911 if a driver was involved, and get a police report.
4. Get medical care the same day.
5. Report a suspected malfunction to the rental company in writing, and ask that the specific vehicle be preserved rather than immediately serviced or redeployed.
6. Check your own auto policy for UM/UIM and medical payments coverage.
7. Check your homeowners or renters policy for a motorized-device exclusion if you own the e-bike or scooter involved.
8. Do not accept an early settlement from the rental company without understanding whether a product defect, not just the ride itself, contributed to the crash.

Sources & Further Reading

• PeopleForBikes model e-bike legislation (the three-class framework) and its current state adoption map; state and municipal statutes on e-scooter classification, equipment and roadway use
• Borgia v. Bird Rides, Inc. (C.D. Cal., No. 2:18-cv-09685, 2018–2019) — gross-negligence claim resolved by an order compelling arbitration, not a merits ruling on waiver enforceability
• State comparative negligence statutes — see our comparative negligence by state guide
• State uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage rules on coverage following the insured person — see our guide to uninsured and underinsured motorist claims
• Several states passed micromobility legislation in 2025–2026 (including Connecticut, Delaware and Utah) reclassifying or regulating e-scooters. These are vehicle-classification rules rather than liability changes — see our guide to vulnerable road user laws, which distinguishes the two.
• Related guides: bicycle accident settlements, pedestrian accident settlements, and golf cart and low-speed vehicle accident claims for a comparable insurance-coverage gap involving a different small-vehicle category
• For the general doctrine behind the rental waiver discussed above — including the gross negligence exception, the public-policy limits and why a parent’s signature may not bind a child — see our guide to liability waivers and assumption of risk