In almost every other kind of crash, the insurance that responds is decided by who was at fault. In a rideshare crash it is decided by something else entirely: what the driver's app was doing at the moment of impact. A driver waiting for a request and a driver two minutes into a pickup are covered by very different policies, and the gap between them can be enormous.
By Michael Mangione, Legal Research EditorLast reviewed August 1, 202619 min read
The app state decides the coverage A personal policy may exclude it Capture the trip record early Amounts are set state by state Independent and attorney vetted No fee unless you recover The app state decides the coverage A personal policy may exclude it Capture the trip record early Amounts are set state by state Independent and attorney vetted No fee unless you recover
Decides everything
The period
What the app was doing at impact determines which policy answers the claim.
Periods 2 and 3
Commercial
The NAIC describes 1 million dollars in primary commercial liability once a request is accepted.
Period 1
Much thinner
Online but unmatched. The NAIC calls the coverage substantially more limited.
The trap
Exclusions
A personal auto policy may lawfully exclude rideshare driving altogether.
Key takeaways
Fault decides who is liable; the period decides who pays. Both questions have to be answered, and the second one is unique to this kind of crash.
The step between periods is a cliff, not a slope. Accepting a request can move the available coverage by an order of magnitude.
The driver's own insurer may be entitled to walk away. Regulators expressly contemplate personal policies excluding this driving.
The proof sits in an app you may not control. Which is why capturing what you can, early, matters more here than in an ordinary collision.
Editorial content, not legal advice
This guide is written and reviewed by our editorial team to be accurate and current. It is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every statement here about coverage is attributed to a regulator rather than to any company, and the amounts are set by state statute and differ between states, so nothing below should be read as the rule where you live. We are a referral service and are paid by attorneys.
01 Why the period decides everything
Quick answer
Rideshare insurance is not one policy that switches on when someone starts driving for money. It is a set of layers that apply differently depending on what the app was doing, so two crashes that look identical from the outside can have completely different money behind them.
This is the single fact that makes a rideshare accident claim different from an ordinary collision, and almost nobody outside the industry knows it.
Consider two drivers on the same street. One has the app open and is waiting for a request. The other accepted a request ninety seconds ago and is driving to collect a passenger. Neither has anyone in the car. If each one runs a red light, the injured person in the first case and the injured person in the second case are looking at very different insurance. Nothing about the driving explains the difference. The app does.
Bottom line: establishing what the app was doing is not a technicality in this kind of case. It is frequently the whole case.
Three periods
Defined by regulators, not by the driver.
02 The three periods
Quick answer
Regulators divide rideshare driving into three periods: app open and waiting, request accepted and driving to the pickup, and passenger aboard. The first carries markedly thinner coverage than the other two, and the step between the first and the second is where the money changes.
The California Public Utilities Commission defines the boundaries plainly, describing Period 1 as app open, waiting for a match, and Period 3 as running from the moment a passenger enters the vehicle until the passenger exits the vehicle.
What the regulators describe
Thin at the start, commercial after the match
National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Commercial Ride-Sharing
The NAIC reports that once a driver has accepted a request, or has a passenger aboard, the platforms carry primary commercial liability of 1 million dollars. For the earlier stage, when a driver is online but not yet matched, it describes the position very differently, calling the coverage substantially more limited and noting that some states set minimums of 50,000 dollars per person, 100,000 dollars per incident and 25,000 dollars for property damage. Note that phrasing. Those are figures some states require rather than a national floor, and our research found states departing from them in both directions. Read the NAIC overview
The three rideshare insurance periods and how coverage differs between them
Period
What is happening, and what the NAIC describes
Period 1
App open, waiting for a match. Coverage substantially more limited, with some states requiring 50,000 per person and 100,000 per incident
Period 2
Request accepted, driving to collect the passenger. Primary commercial liability of 1 million dollars
Period 3
Passenger in the vehicle until the passenger exits. Primary commercial liability of 1 million dollars
App off
Outside this framework altogether. An ordinary personal auto claim against the driver
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
The practical reading is simple. If the app was off, this is an ordinary claim. If a request had been accepted, substantial commercial coverage is in play. If the app was merely open, the answer depends heavily on the state, and that is precisely the situation in which people are told there is nothing available when there may be.
03 Why the driver's own policy may not respond
Quick answer
A private motorist's insurance is written for private motoring. Regulators have expressly contemplated personal auto policies excluding driving done for a rideshare platform, which means the driver's own insurer may be entitled to decline the claim entirely rather than merely arguing about the amount.
This is the part that surprises people most, including many drivers. It is also why an uber accident claim can look dead on the paperwork and still be very much alive.
The exclusion is by design
Written into the model, not a loophole
National Association of Insurance Commissioners, on the TNC Model Bill
The NAIC's account of the model bill is explicit about this. Among the things the model does is expressly allow a personal auto policy to exclude rideshare driving altogether, while separately obliging the platforms to carry mandatory primary liability: at the earlier-stage minimums set out above, which the NAIC notes turn on state law, and at no less than 1 million dollars once a request has been accepted. The design intention is that the platform's cover takes over where the personal policy stops. The risk for an injured person is landing in the seam between them, which is what makes the period question worth establishing properly rather than accepting somebody's word for it.
If you are dealing with an uber accident claim and have been told the driver's insurer has denied cover, that denial may be entirely correct and yet completely irrelevant to what you can recover, because the platform layer is a different question.
The proof
Held by somebody else.
04 Proving which period was running
Quick answer
The record that settles the period question lives on the platform's systems, not on the road. That makes it both very good evidence and evidence you cannot simply go and collect, so the practical task early on is capturing whatever is within reach before it becomes contested.
What is within reach depends on who you are, and it is worth being specific.
If you were the passenger, you have a trip record. Your own app holds the booking, the driver, the vehicle and the timings. Screenshot it rather than assuming it will still be there.
If you were not, photograph the vehicle and the phone. Trade dress, decals and a mounted phone showing an active screen are all worth capturing at the scene if it is safe.
Ask the driver plainly, and note the answer. Whether they were waiting, collecting or carrying somebody is the question, and the answer at the scene is often more candid than the one given later.
Note whether anyone else was in the car. A passenger present at the scene is both a witness and, in themselves, evidence of the period.
Expect the record to be requested formally. Platform data is usually obtained through the claim rather than over the counter, which is another reason to start early.
05 Who the claim runs against
Quick answer
The driver remains a defendant in the ordinary way, but the policy that responds may be one the platform arranged rather than one the driver bought. Other vehicles, and anyone else whose fault contributed, sit alongside that in the usual way.
Sorting out the layers takes effort, and it is effort worth spending before anybody accepts a figure. A rideshare accident claim that stops at the first policy identified frequently stops short of the money.
The driver. Liability is established against them in the ordinary way, whichever policy ultimately pays.
The platform's insurance layer. Which layer applies, and at what level, follows from the period.
Another vehicle. Rideshare crashes frequently involve a third car whose driver was wholly or partly at fault.
Your own coverage. Uninsured and underinsured motorist cover you hold may matter, particularly where the available limits fall short. Our guide to what these claims settle for deals with valuation.
06 Passenger, other driver, pedestrian, cyclist
Quick answer
The period framework applies whoever you are, but your starting position differs sharply. A passenger has the trip in their own app and is rarely blamed for the collision. Everybody else has to establish from outside the car what the app inside it was doing.
The distinction matters because it changes what you should do in the first hour, and a rideshare accident claim brought by a passenger starts from a materially different place than one brought by somebody on the pavement.
Passengers. You were in Period 3 by definition, which is the strongest coverage position. Preserve the trip record and get treated.
Other drivers. You need to establish the period from the outside, so scene evidence about the vehicle and the phone matters disproportionately.
Pedestrians and cyclists. Same problem as other drivers, usually with worse injuries and less ability to gather anything at the scene.
Drivers themselves. A driver hurt by somebody else's fault has their own claim, and the interaction with the platform's cover is worth advice.
First days
Capture what you can reach.
07 What to do in the first days
Quick answer
Get treated, capture everything that bears on what the app was doing, and take advice before giving any recorded statement. The period question is the one that decides the case, so anything that helps answer it is worth ten minutes now.
Five steps. If you were a passenger, step two takes about thirty seconds and is the most valuable thing on this page.
1
Get medical attention and keep going
The treatment record is the injury record, and gaps in it become arguments later. If the injuries are serious, our guide on what to do after a catastrophic accident covers the wider ground.
2
Screenshot the trip, if you have one
Booking confirmation, driver and vehicle, times, route, receipt. Capture it to your camera roll rather than relying on the app still showing it months from now.
3
Photograph the vehicle and anything on the phone
Decals, trade dress, plate, and the mounted phone if a screen is visible. If you were not in the car, this may be the only period evidence you can obtain yourself.
4
Get names before everyone disperses
Other passengers, other drivers, witnesses. In a rideshare crash the passenger is frequently a stranger to everyone and becomes impossible to trace afterwards.
5
Take advice before any recorded statement
You may be asked about the app by somebody who already knows the answer. A statement given before you understand the period framework is fixed for the rest of the claim.
Warning signs
Mostly about the period.
08 Red flags
Quick answer
Being told the app was off without any record to support it, a denial from the driver's personal insurer presented as the end of the matter, an early offer made before the period is established, and pressure to give a recorded account of what the driver was doing.
Each of these works by treating the period question as settled when it is not.
Where these claims go quietly wrong
An unevidenced account of the app. Whether the app was off, open or matched is a matter of record, not of recollection, and it should be established from the record. A personal policy denial treated as final. It may be correct and still leave a commercial layer untouched. An offer before the period is settled. A figure that makes sense against a minimal policy makes no sense against a commercial one. Questions about the driver's status. If you are being asked to characterize what somebody else's app was doing, take advice first.
One closing thought. Everything difficult about a rideshare accident claim comes from the same source: the decisive fact is held by a company that is not you, was recorded automatically, and cannot be observed from the roadside. That is unusual and it is worth knowing before anybody asks you to accept a figure. If you would rather have somebody establish the period properly, a free case review costs nothing, our guide to choosing a rideshare accident lawyer covers what to look for, and you can read how we match people with attorneys before deciding anything.
How we vet every lawyer
This is a standard rather than an ordering. An attorney either clears it or does not.
Active, discipline-free license
Verified good standing with the state bar, with no unresolved discipline on record. You can check this yourself too.
Rideshare and layered coverage experience
A record of establishing app status and working through platform insurance layers rather than only ordinary car claims.
Capacity to fund a long case
The resources to advance expert costs over years without the case being driven by cash flow.
Clear contingency terms
Fees and case costs put in writing up front, so you know exactly how it works before signing.
Tell us what happened and we will only match you when a case genuinely fits.
Help in all 50 states
MVA Lawyer Network is a nationwide guide. Wherever the crash happened, we can connect you with an independent attorney licensed in that state.
Northeast Southeast Midwest Southwest West Coast Mountain West Gulf States Alaska and Hawaii
Rideshare insurance is created by state statute, so the periods are broadly consistent across the country while the required amounts are not. Some states sit above the model the NAIC describes and some sit below it, and a few structure the requirement differently again. How fault is divided and the deadline for bringing suit are separately set by each state. That deadline, known as the statute of limitations, is running now.
Sources and authorities
Coverage statements are attributed to regulators rather than to the companies named in the title.
Rideshare insurance structure
National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Commercial Ride-Sharing. Source of the description of 1 million dollars in primary commercial liability during Periods 2 and 3, of the statement that Period 1 coverage remains substantially more limited with some states requiring 50,000 dollars per person, 100,000 dollars per incident and 25,000 dollars property damage, and of the account of the TNC Model Bill including express permission for personal auto policies to exclude rideshare driving. NAIC.
California Public Utilities Commission, TNC Insurance Requirements. Source of the period definitions used above, including Period 1 as app open while waiting for a match and Period 3 as running from the moment a passenger enters the vehicle until the passenger exits. CPUC.
Why the figures carry the word model. Rideshare insurance is created by state legislation, and states have adopted the framework with variations. Research for this page found requirements above and below the figures quoted, and different property damage amounts between states applying otherwise similar rules. The numbers here are presented as what the NAIC describes and as what some states require, never as a national rule, and the only safe figure for any individual claim is the one in the statute governing that claim.
Nothing here describes any company's conduct. Uber and Lyft are named because they are the platforms most readers will have used, and the guide is about the regulatory structure that applies to transportation network companies generally. We have not described how either company handles claims, what either pays, or how either behaves in litigation, because we have no primary source for any of that.
What we have left out. The terms of service question, meaning whether and how a dispute may be pushed out of court, is dealt with on our guide to choosing a rideshare accident lawyer rather than here. We have also not covered the position where a driver was working for two platforms at once, which arises in practice and which we could not source.
Our editorial standards
How we keep this guide accurate and worth trusting.
01
Regulators, not companies
Every coverage statement is attributed to the NAIC or a state commission, never to a business we name.
02
Figures carry their caveat
The amounts are described as a model that states vary, because presenting them as national would mislead.
03
Our gaps are named
Where we could not source something, such as driving for two platforms at once, we say so rather than guessing.
04
Built around the deciding question
The period determines the outcome, so it comes first rather than appearing as a detail further down.
Michael Mangione Verified editor
Legal Research Editor · Founder, The Mangione Group, Inc.
MVA Lawyer Network is edited by Michael Mangione, who has spent more than twelve years working inside contingency-based law firms, building intake departments, designing qualification frameworks, and studying how claims are screened and pursued from the first call through resolution. Rideshare files are the ones where the answer most often turns on a single fact nobody at the scene can see, which is why this guide is built around establishing that fact rather than around the crash. Michael is not a practicing attorney and does not give legal advice.
General information, not legal advice. Rideshare insurance is set by state statute, so check anything here against your own state and your own attorney.
How much insurance is available after a rideshare crash?
It depends on what the driver's app was doing. The NAIC describes 1 million dollars in primary commercial liability once a ride request has been accepted or a passenger is aboard, and substantially more limited coverage while the driver is merely online waiting for a match. The amounts are set by each state, so the figures describe a model rather than a national rule, and establishing the app status is the first thing that has to happen.
I was the passenger. Does that make things simpler?
In two useful ways, yes. You were in the period regulators define as running from when a passenger enters the vehicle until they exit, which is the strongest coverage position available. And you have the trip in your own app, so the evidence that decides the coverage question is already in your hand. Screenshot it now rather than later, and get medical attention even if you feel able to walk away.
The driver's insurer says they are not covered. Is that the end?
Very possibly not. Regulators expressly contemplated personal auto policies excluding rideshare driving, so a denial from the driver's own insurer may be perfectly correct and yet say nothing at all about the platform layer that sits behind it. Treat that denial as one answer to one question rather than as the answer to whether anything is available.
How do I find out what the app was doing?
The definitive record sits with the platform and is normally obtained through the claim rather than by asking. What you can do immediately is preserve everything within reach: your own trip record if you had one, photographs of the vehicle and any visible phone screen, the presence of a passenger, and what the driver said at the scene. Those things frame the question well before anyone produces the data.
Why does it matter whether a request had been accepted?
Because that is the moment the coverage changes character. Before it, the driver is online and waiting and the NAIC describes coverage as substantially more limited. After it, primary commercial liability applies even though there is still nobody in the car. Two crashes ninety seconds apart on the same street can therefore have very different money behind them, which is why the timing is worth establishing precisely.
I was hit by a rideshare driver while walking. What now?
The same framework applies to you, but you start from a harder position because you have no trip record and cannot see inside the car. Anything you or a witness captured about the vehicle, its markings and a mounted phone becomes disproportionately valuable. Get treated first, then get advice early, because the period question will need somebody to pursue it formally.
Do these figures apply everywhere in the country?
No, and that is worth being clear about. Rideshare insurance is created by state legislation and states adopted the framework with variations. Our research found requirements sitting above the model figures in some places and different property damage amounts in others. The period structure is broadly consistent nationally; the amounts are not, and the only figure that governs your claim is the one in your state's statute.
Does it matter which platform the driver was using?
For the structure described here, not really. The period framework and the insurance obligations come from state law applying to transportation network companies generally rather than from any individual company's choices. Which platform was involved matters for practical things, such as who a request for records goes to, rather than for the shape of the coverage.
The driver said the app was off. Should I accept that?
Note it, but do not treat it as settled. App status is a matter of record rather than recollection, and a driver at a crash scene may be mistaken, may not remember precisely, or may have reasons of their own. If the vehicle carried platform markings, or a passenger was present, or a phone was mounted and lit, those are worth recording precisely because they bear on a question the driver has just answered informally.
What if the other car caused the crash?
Then that driver's insurance is the primary route, and the rideshare layers may still matter, particularly if the at-fault driver carries little coverage or none. Uninsured and underinsured motorist provisions can become important here. It is one of the situations where identifying every available layer, rather than stopping at the obvious defendant, changes what an injured person actually recovers.
Do I have to pay anything up front?
Injury firms generally work on a contingency basis, meaning the fee is a percentage of what is recovered set out in the written agreement and there is nothing to pay up front. Case costs, meaning experts and records and filing fees, are a separate item from the fee, and the agreement should say plainly who carries them and what happens to them if the case does not succeed.
Is what I tell you private?
Yes. What you share in a case review is kept private and is used only to match you with an attorney who fits your situation. One distinction is worth understanding: true legal confidentiality, called attorney-client privilege, only attaches once you actually have an attorney-client relationship with a lawyer. Submitting a form to a referral service is not the same thing. If that matters to you, raise it directly with the attorney.
What does it cost to use MVA Lawyer Network?
Nothing. We are a free, independent referral service, not a law firm, and we do not give legal advice. Requesting a case review costs you nothing and puts you under no obligation. When a situation fits, we connect you with an independent attorney who reviews it directly, and we may be paid a referral fee by that attorney. That fee does not add anything on top of their percentage.
The fact that decides your claim was recorded automatically. Somebody has to go and get it.
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