Shared scooters you unlock with an app are part of daily life in several New Jersey cities. Newark, for example, runs a shared scooter and e-bike program, and Asbury Park selected Veo to operate a citywide scooter share starting in 2024. When a rental scooter fails, or you're hurt while riding one, the claim involves the operator's app terms, the operator's maintenance, and sometimes the town's contract.

Rental scooters still follow state rules

A shared stand-up scooter is usually a "low-speed electric scooter" under New Jersey law: top speed under 19 mph, no registration or driver's license required, and bicycle rules apply (N.J.S.A. 39:1-1; 39:4-14.16). Local programs often add stricter rules. Asbury Park's program caps scooter speed at 12 mph, requires riders to be 18 or older, allows one rider per scooter, and prohibits sidewalk riding.

When the operator may be responsible

  • Poor maintenance: brakes that don't work, loose or cracked stems, worn tires, or a throttle that sticks. Operators inspect and repair fleets, and their maintenance records matter.
  • Known defects: earlier rider reports about the same scooter or the same model.
  • Dangerous placement: a scooter left blocking a sidewalk or crosswalk that someone trips over. Injuries to pedestrians.
  • Software failures: unexpected speed-limit braking or power loss in traffic.

The scooter's manufacturer may also be responsible for a design or manufacturing defect. Defective scooter claims.

The app terms: waivers and arbitration

Before you ride, the app makes you accept terms. Expect two kinds of provisions:

  • A liability waiver. New Jersey courts can enforce pre-injury waivers of ordinary negligence in some settings. In Stelluti v. Casapenn Enterprises, 203 N.J. 286 (2010), the New Jersey Supreme Court enforced a gym's waiver for an injury on exercise equipment. A waiver can't protect a business from liability for reckless or grossly negligent conduct, and courts look closely at whether enforcing it would violate public policy or a legal duty, such as a statutory or contractual safety obligation.
  • An arbitration clause. Many app terms require disputes with the company to go to private arbitration. New Jersey requires that a waiver of the right to go to court be clear (Atalese v. U.S. Legal Services Group, 219 N.J. 430 (2014)), but courts frequently enforce clickwrap arbitration terms. How app arbitration clauses work.

Neither provision affects your claim against a driver who hit you. Those claims are against someone who never agreed to the app's terms.

If a car hit you while you were on a rental

The claim against the driver works the same way as on your own scooter. Your medical bills likely won't be covered by PIP, because the New Jersey Supreme Court held in Goyco v. Progressive Insurance Co. (2024) that scooter riders aren't pedestrians under the No-Fault Act. Who pays medical bills. Scooter riders hit by cars.

Evidence specific to rental scooters

  1. Screenshot the ride in the app: the scooter's ID number, the start time, the route and any end-of-ride screen.
  2. Photograph the scooter's ID or QR code, and any visible damage or defect.
  3. Report the incident in the app and keep a copy. Be factual. Don't guess about speed.
  4. Ask that the scooter be preserved. A formal preservation letter to the operator should follow quickly, because fleet scooters are repaired, redeployed or scrapped.
  5. Keep the receipt email for the ride.

Claims involving the town

If a road or sidewalk defect caused the fall, a claim against the public entity requires a notice of claim within 90 days (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8). Towns that run scooter programs often require operators to carry insurance and to indemnify the town, which can affect who ultimately pays. Pothole and road-defect claims.

See our scooter accidents page.