First of all, don't worry about the passenger. If the passenger takes any action through an attorney, it'll be as an uninsured claim against Uber, not you. Uninsured motorist claim=the not at fault insurer has to step in and assume the role of the at-fault party, then once its all paid, they go after him.



My guess is the response is so slow because Uber reps (specifically at the city office) don't handle claims. I would assume that James River Insurance does all that. My assumption is based on the fact that an accident requires an incident report to be faxed in. You didn't find that odd? Uber is a tech company. Insurance companies very much are not.



What I'd do is check the waybill on the app and find the policy number for your state, then call James River and give them that number, the date of loss, and your name, and see if they have a claim set up, and if so, who it is with. You'll probably have to be pretty patient during the whole process, most adjusters move pretty slow on getting things done.



Very few insurance matters go to court because of the expense of litigation, especially on the defense side. You do not need an attorney. If the rider were to somehow come back, claim injury, and not be able to settle with Uber, then they would file a lawsuit. At that point, Uber's insurance provides you with a defense attorney, assuming you are even called in.



If Uber's insurer handles your damages, they will then pass the claim on to collection attorneys. Sometimes the collection attorneys realize the uninsured person has no assets and just gets their license suspended and does nothing else for years, until the guy pays them back, but sometimes they have to file suit against the uninsured driver for this. You may get called to testify on their behalf, but sometimes they even just have the adjuster called as a witness. I've had to do this twice, both times the policyholder wasn't called, so I was basically put on the stand to testify that we paid damages, the damages were paid as part of a contractual obligation, I verify the amount, and then I do the same for the rental car. It's a total coin flip as far as whether or not the uninsured person shows up. Sometimes they don't because they are in jail for something else, and sometimes they just show up and are like "aww man, I was going to pay for this but they wanted $1400, and my buddy could do it for $300, and man I've only got $76."



You'll probably still be on the hook for the $1,000 deductible, but if the collection attorneys get anything out of the uninsured guy, the first $1,000 goes back to you, since a deductible is basically co-insurance.



Shoot me a PM if you have any other questions. There is a LOT of misinformation being spread on the forum by people who do not have experience on the matter and thus choose to re-tell and exaggerate unfounded urban legends.