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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.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of Car Accident law firms.

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.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

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Related terms

Entries on the same subject:

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

CDL DisqualificationThe federally defined list of offenses that take away a commercial driver's license - including offenses committed in a personal car, and a lower alcohol limit than applies to other drivers.
Contesting a Traffic TicketWhat a moving violation citation actually is, the difference between an infraction and a traffic misdemeanor, and the procedures - hearing, written defense, traffic school - for answering one.
Driving Record PointsThe system most states use to score moving violations against a driver's record, with a license suspension when the total crosses a threshold - and an interstate compact that makes an out-of-state ticket count at home.
DUI / DWI (Impaired Driving)Driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs - a charge that almost always runs as two separate cases at once, one criminal and one over the license.
Field Sobriety TestsThe roadside balance, coordination and eye-movement exercises an officer uses to build probable cause for an impaired-driving arrest - usually voluntary, and never the same thing as the chemical test that follows.
Hours-of-Service Rules (Commercial Trucking)Federal limits on how long a commercial driver may drive and work, and the electronic records that show whether those limits were kept.
Ignition Interlock DeviceA breath-testing device wired into a vehicle that stops it starting if the driver has been drinking - required by many states after an impaired-driving conviction as a condition of driving at all.
Implied Consent and Administrative License SuspensionThe rule in every state that by driving you have agreed to a chemical test for alcohol or drugs after a lawful arrest - and the license suspension that follows a refusal or a failed test, separately from any criminal case.
Leaving the Scene of an Accident (Hit and Run)The legal duties every state imposes on a driver involved in a crash - to stop, to exchange information and to help anyone hurt - and the separate criminal offense of driving away instead.
Lemon Law and Warranty RightsRules that entitle a buyer to a refund or replacement when a new vehicle has a defect the manufacturer cannot fix in a reasonable number of attempts.
Negligent Entrustment (Lending a Vehicle)The claim against a person who lent a car to someone they knew, or should have known, was unfit to drive it - the owner's own negligence, separate from the driver's.
Odometer Fraud and the Odometer DisclosureRolling back or replacing an odometer to hide a vehicle's true mileage is a federal offense, and every transfer of a vehicle must come with a written mileage statement the buyer can sue over if it is false.
Salvage and Rebuilt TitlesThe title brands a state applies to a vehicle an insurer has declared a total loss, what a rebuilt brand means, and the federal database built to stop a branded title being washed clean in another state.
SR-22 and Financial Responsibility FilingsThe certificate an insurer files with the state to prove a high-risk driver is carrying the required liability coverage - what triggers it, why it is not itself insurance, and what happens if the policy behind it lapses.
Tire Defect Claims (Tread Separation and Blowouts)Injury claims after a tire fails, where the question is whether the tire was defectively made or designed, was too old or was recalled, rather than only how the driver reacted.
Used Car Buyers Guide (FTC Used Car Rule)The window sticker a dealer must display on every used vehicle offered for sale, stating whether it comes with a dealer warranty or as is - and why the sticker overrides the contract.
Vehicle Safety RecallA manufacturer's federally supervised obligation to notify owners of a safety defect and fix it free of charge - and the rules on what a dealer may sell with a recall still open.

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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 programs provide free help with many of these problems: civil legal aid programs 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.