Rental Scooters and E-Bikes: Waivers, Arbitration, and Ride Data

This is chapter 3 of The E-Scooter and E-Bike Injury Guide.

Key points

• A rental company's release binds you and the company (and whoever else it names), not a driver who was never a party to it. Your claim against the driver is unaffected.
• The D.C. Court of Appeals has enforced Lime's arbitration clause in a rider's injury suit and sent the case to arbitration (Doucette v. Neutron Holdings, Inc., No. 21-CV-896 (D.C. Jan. 26, 2023)).
• Virginia voids pre-injury releases of liability for personal injury caused by negligence (Hiett v. Lake Barcroft Community Ass'n, 244 Va. 191 (1992)). Maryland and D.C. generally enforce clear releases of ordinary negligence, with limits.
• Rental terms set short reporting deadlines. Lime's posted terms call for an in-app report within two hours (or as soon as reasonably practicable if you are hurt) and a police report within 24 hours when someone is injured.
• D.C. requires every permitted scooter and e-bike sharing company to carry liability insurance of at least $1 million per incident (D.C. Code § 50-2201.03b).

Does the rental agreement stop you from suing the driver who hit you?

No. A release is a contract, and it releases only the parties it names. When you click "agree" in a rental app, you release the company and, often, its partners and the local governments that permit it, but not a stranger driving a car. If a driver hit you while you were on a rental scooter or e-bike, your claim against the driver, and against your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, proceeds as described in hit by a car and insurance. The rental terms come into play only if the company itself may be responsible, for example because a brake failed or the scooter was left in a dangerous condition.

What do the rental terms usually say?

Terms differ by company and change often, and the version in effect on the day of your ride is the one that matters. As an example, Lime's posted User Agreement (last updated July 15, 2025, read November 5, 2026) includes:

• A broad release. The rider waives and releases claims against the "Released Parties," defined to include Lime, its partners, and the municipalities and public entities that authorize it to operate, and the release purports to cover claims "caused solely or in part by the negligence" of a released party.
• Arbitration. Disputes go to final and binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its consumer rules, with a class action waiver and an exception for small claims court. A written notice of the dispute must be sent before arbitration begins.
• Reporting deadlines. Riders must report any crash or injury through the app within two hours, or as soon as reasonably practicable if injured, and file a police report within 24 hours when the incident involves personal injury or property damage.
• Insurance. In certain locations the company may provide personal accident or rider liability coverage if the rider fully complied with the terms, and in some locations the rider's own motor vehicle insurance is primary.
• Governing law. New York law governs the terms generally, but a dispute is governed by the law of the state where it arises, except as the arbitration provision provides.

Capital Bikeshare's terms, which cover its classic bikes and e-bikes, are summarized in our bikeshare chapter; they include a release, a 24-hour reporting requirement, and an arbitration clause with a 30-day opt-out.

Will a court send a rental injury claim to arbitration?

In D.C., likely yes, if the company's clause looks like Lime's. In Doucette v. Neutron Holdings, Inc., No. 21-CV-896 (D.C. Jan. 26, 2023), a rider alleged that her rented Lime scooter's brakes failed and she collided with a cyclist and broke her leg. The D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed an order compelling arbitration and held the arbitration agreement was not unconscionable, noting that "both parties are equally obligated to arbitrate their claims, with no avenues for litigation reserved to Lime alone." Challenges to other terms of the user agreement, such as the release, were left for the arbitrator.

Arbitration is not the end of the claim. It changes the forum, the rules, and often the timeline, and an arbitrator can still decide that a release does not bar the claim. But it means the rental company's terms need to be read before anything is filed.

Is a rental company's waiver enforceable?

It depends on the jurisdiction:

• Virginia. No, for personal injury caused by negligence. In Hiett v. Lake Barcroft Community Ass'n, 244 Va. 191 (1992), the Supreme Court of Virginia held that a pre-injury release from liability for future negligence violates public policy, concluding that the release "is prohibited by public policy and, thus, it is void."
• Maryland. Usually, within limits. "In the absence of legislation to the contrary, exculpatory clauses are generally valid," but not for intentional harm or reckless, wanton, or gross negligence, not where bargaining power was grossly unequal, and not in transactions affecting the public interest (Wolf v. Ford, 335 Md. 525 (1994)). Wolf involved an investment account, not an injury, so how those exceptions apply to a scooter rental is open to argument.
• D.C. A clear one usually is, for ordinary negligence. In Moore v. Waller, 930 A.2d 176 (D.C. 2007), the D.C. Court of Appeals enforced a health club's release that expressly covered the club's negligence, describing it as "clearly recognizable as a release from liability." The court noted that releases generally have not been enforced against gross negligence or recklessness but did not need to decide that question.

So the questions are what the release actually says, where the injury happened, and whether the company's conduct went beyond ordinary negligence, for example by putting a scooter it knew had failing brakes back into service.

What if the rider was a minor?

Most companies require riders to be at least 18, and D.C. law bars anyone under 16 from riding a shared scooter or e-bike (D.C. Code § 50-2201.03c(j)(1)). Teenagers ride anyway, often on a parent's or friend's account. Whether a minor is bound by terms someone else accepted is a real question. In a 2026 published decision about a trampoline park's electronic waiver, the Court of Appeals of Virginia held that "[t]here is no general rule in Virginia that minors cannot be bound to arbitrate," but that when it is disputed whether the adult who signed for the child had authority to do so, the trial court must decide that question, after an evidentiary hearing if the facts are disputed (Flight Fit N Fun (Springfield), LLC v. M.D., Record No. 1269-25-4 (Va. Ct. App. Sept. 29, 2026)). That decision did not address whether the release itself was enforceable.

How do you preserve the ride data and the scooter?

• Screenshot the trip in the app right away: start and end times, route, the device number, and the receipt.
• Photograph the scooter or e-bike where it ended up, including its ID number and any visible damage to the brakes, stem, wheels, or deck.
• Report the crash in the app within the company's deadline, briefly and factually. Do not describe fault.
• Send a written preservation request to the company asking it to keep the trip data, the device's maintenance and repair history, prior complaints about that device, and the device itself. A lawyer can do this the same day.
• Keep your own scooter or e-bike, battery, and charger exactly as they are if you were on your own device. If a defect played a part, the device is the evidence.

A defect in the device can give rise to a separate claim, which depends heavily on preserving the device and its records early.

• Previous chapter: Hit by a Car on an E-Scooter or E-Bike
• Next chapter: Insurance When You Ride an E-Scooter or E-Bike

Related practice areas

Related reading

• You signed a waiver before you got hurt in Virginia. Can you still sue?
• Scooters hit D.C.'s streets: the early legal questions
• Baltimore's rental scooters and city liability
• DMV Injury Guide: preserving documents

Responsible attorneys: Ryan C. Posey and Jacob M. Lebowitz. Posey Lebowitz PLLC, 3221 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007.