Injured in an Uber or Lyft? Whose Insurance Pays, by Period

Uber and Lyft structure their insurance around what the driver's app was doing. In period zero, the app is off and the driver is a private motorist. Only the driver's personal auto policy applies, and the rideshare company has no involvement. In period one, the app is on and the driver is waiting for a request. In periods two and three, the driver has accepted a ride and is either heading to the pickup or carrying a passenger.

Coverage increases as the periods advance. In period one, the companies provide contingent liability coverage with modest limits, commonly $50,000 per person for bodily injury, $100,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, and this coverage typically applies only if the driver's personal policy does not. From the moment a ride is accepted, the company's $1 million third-party liability policy is in force.

The exact period is therefore the first fact any adjuster establishes, and the company's app logs settle it. If you were a passenger, you were by definition in period three and the $1 million policy applies. If you were in another car or on foot, the driver's status at the second of impact decides which insurer you are dealing with.

Passengers are in the strongest position. You did not cause the crash, you were on a trip, and the rideshare company's liability policy covers injuries caused by its driver. If the rideshare driver was at fault, your claim goes to the company's insurer, with up to $1 million available per accident, shared among everyone injured.

If another driver caused the crash, your primary claim is against that driver's liability insurer, the same as in any collision. If that driver is uninsured, underinsured, or fled, the rideshare policy's uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage applies in most states, often with limits well above a typical personal policy. Some states have allowed the companies to reduce or drop this coverage, so the available amount should be confirmed for your state.

Report the crash through the app as well as to police. The in-app report creates a record with the company's insurer that includes the trip data, and it starts the claim without relying on the driver to do it.

A pedestrian, cyclist, or occupant of another car hit by an Uber or Lyft driver has a claim against whichever coverage was active. On a trip, that is the $1 million liability policy. In the waiting period, it is the lower contingent coverage, and only after the driver's personal insurer has declined. With the app off, it is the driver's personal policy alone, which may carry only state minimum limits.

The driver may not volunteer their status, and may have reasons to understate it. Ask the police to record whether the driver was working, photograph the phone mount and any rideshare decal, and request the app status through the claim process. The companies' insurers can confirm the period from server logs, and attorneys routinely obtain that data in a disputed claim.

A driver's personal auto policy almost always excludes driving for hire. If the driver's own insurer learns the app was on, it will deny the claim, and the rideshare coverage becomes the only source. Some drivers buy a rideshare endorsement on their personal policy that fills the period one gap; many do not.

Suppose you are a passenger in a Lyft when the driver, distracted by the app, runs a red light and is hit by a truck. You suffer a concussion and a fractured collarbone. Medical bills reach $35,000, you miss six weeks of work worth $7,000, and your pain and suffering is substantial. Because you were on a trip, the rideshare company's $1 million liability policy applies, and the Lyft driver's fault is clear from the police report and the truck's dash camera.

Your claim goes to the rideshare insurer. It accepts liability and, after treatment ends, values the claim. The driver's personal insurer is not involved at all. If the truck driver had instead been at fault, your claim would go to the trucking company's insurer, which is required by federal rules to carry at least $750,000 for most interstate carriers, and the rideshare UM coverage would sit behind that as a backup.

Now suppose instead that you were in your own car and the Lyft driver who hit you had the app on but no ride accepted. The driver's personal insurer denies the claim for commercial use. The rideshare contingent coverage pays, but its $50,000 per-person limit is less than your $42,000 in bills plus pain and suffering, and the shortfall points to your own underinsured motorist coverage. All numbers are illustrative.

The steps overlap with any car accident, with a few that are specific to rideshare claims and easy to miss in the first hour.

• Screenshot the trip in the app, including the driver's name, the vehicle, the route, and the time; the trip record is the proof of period three.
• Report the crash to the police and make sure the report notes that the vehicle was operating as a rideshare.
• Report it through the app's safety or help section, which notifies the company and its insurer directly.
• Get the rideshare driver's personal insurance details as well, in case the period is disputed.
• Collect the other driver's details and witness contacts exactly as in any crash.
• Get medical care the same day and keep records; the rideshare insurer evaluates injuries like any other liability insurer.
• Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer until you know which coverage applies and have had advice.

Most states passed rideshare insurance laws between 2015 and 2017 that set the minimum coverage for each period, and the $1 million on-trip liability figure comes from those laws and the companies' own policies. The period one minimums and the uninsured motorist requirements vary. California, for example, requires $1 million in UM coverage while on a trip; several other states require less or allow the companies to opt out, so the backup coverage for a passenger hurt by an uninsured third driver differs by state.

No-fault rules still apply. In Florida, Michigan, New York and New Jersey, a passenger's initial medical bills may be paid by personal injury protection, either their own policy or the rideshare policy depending on the state, and a claim for pain and suffering against any at-fault driver requires meeting the state's injury threshold. New York treats rideshare vehicles outside New York City under a specific statutory scheme with its own coverage amounts.

Comparative negligence and deadlines are as in any crash. A passenger is rarely at fault, but a pedestrian or other driver can be, and Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia bar recovery for any fault. The statute of limitations is the state's injury deadline, one year in Tennessee and Kentucky and two or three years in most other states, and it runs from the crash regardless of how long the insurers take to decide which policy applies.

The companies classify drivers as independent contractors rather than employees and argue that they are technology platforms, not transportation providers. In most crash cases, that means the claim is against the insurance the company arranged, not the company itself, and the $1 million policy is the practical ceiling. Claims that go beyond the insurance, for negligent hiring or failing to deactivate a dangerous driver, exist but are harder and depend on facts the companies control.

For most injured passengers and third parties, the distinction does not matter, because the insurance is large enough to cover the claim. It matters in catastrophic cases where damages exceed $1 million, and those are the cases where an attorney will look hardest at whether the company's own conduct, rather than the driver's, contributed.

Rideshare drivers injured on the job have a different problem. They are generally not covered by workers' compensation, and their own injuries are covered by the company's policy only in some circumstances, such as uninsured motorist coverage when another driver was at fault, or optional occupational accident coverage the driver may have bought.

Rideshare claims involve at least two and often three insurers, each with an incentive to say another one is responsible. Sorting out the period, obtaining the app data, and keeping the claim from falling between the policies is the main work in the first weeks. Most personal injury attorneys work on contingency, and the insurers involved know which claims are being handled and which are not.

Ask Legal Matters is a free claim-review request service, not a law firm. Requests may be shared with independent attorneys and legal services partners who handle inquiries in your state, and an attorney must evaluate the facts and the applicable policies before anyone can say what is recoverable. If you were hurt in or by a rideshare vehicle, you can request a free claim review.

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• Can I Sue for a Slip and Fall? Premises Liability Explained
• Can I Sue My Employer for a Work Injury? Workers' Comp vs Lawsuit

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