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Rideshare Accident Insurance (App Periods)

Which insurance applies when a rideshare vehicle is in a crash depends on what the driver's app was doing at that moment - the three periods state transportation network company laws define, and the gap that personal policies leave.

Informational only - this is not legal advice. These definitions explain general legal vocabulary in plain English. They are not advice about your situation, reading them creates no attorney-client relationship, and the law differs from state to state and changes over time. For advice you can rely on, speak to a lawyer licensed in your state.

What it means

Almost every state has a transportation network company statute that sets insurance rules for drivers using platforms such as Uber and Lyft, and those rules turn on the state of the driver's app. When the app is off, the driver is a private motorist and their personal policy applies. When the app is on but no ride has been accepted, the company must provide liability coverage at a level the statute sets, usually on a contingent basis that applies only if the driver's own policy does not. From the moment a ride is accepted until the passenger is dropped off, the company's policy is primary and at a substantially higher level, and typically includes uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage for the driver and passengers.

The gap the statutes were written to close is that personal auto policies commonly exclude driving for hire, so before these laws a driver logged in and waiting for a fare could be uninsured altogether. Some personal insurers now sell rideshare endorsements that fill the waiting period; whether a driver has one, and whether the app was on, are among the first facts an insurer establishes after a crash. Passengers and other road users injured during a ride generally look to the company's primary policy; a driver's own injuries during a ride depend on the state statute and on coverages the driver chose.

Drivers are usually independent contractors under the platform agreement, which is why claims are brought against the insurance layers rather than against the company as an employer; a small number of states have treated drivers differently for particular purposes. Delivery platforms are covered by some of the same statutes and not by others.

Where this comes from

Transportation network company insurance requirements are state law, enacted in nearly every state after the model act developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the National Conference of Insurance Legislators. Representative statutes are California Public Utilities Code §§ 5430-5443 (including § 5433 on insurance), Colorado Revised Statutes § 40-10.1-604, Illinois Transportation Network Providers Act, 625 ILCS 57/10, Texas Insurance Code Chapter 1954, and Florida Statutes § 627.748. Each state's statute states its own coverage levels for each period.

When people hire a lawyer for this

A passenger or another driver injured by a rideshare vehicle should get the driver's name, the platform, and the trip details from the app before leaving the scene, because which of three insurance layers applies is decided by timestamps the company holds. A rideshare driver hurt while working should ask a lawyer which period they were in, whether their personal policy excludes the loss, and whether the company's uninsured-motorist coverage reaches their own injuries in their state.

Find a lawyer for this in your state

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Part of the LawyerLand plain-English legal glossary. Definitions are written from primary sources - statutes and court rules - and each entry states the authority it rests on, or says plainly when the doctrine is state law with no national rule.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, civil legal aid programmes provide free help with many of these problems: civil legal aid programmes by state.

Related free reference tools: statute of limitations for a personal-injury claim, by state, quoted from each state's official text - part of LawyerLand's legal reference tools.