California does not treat Uber and Lyft differently. Both are transportation network companies under Public Utilities Code section 5433, and what matters is the driver’s app status at the moment of the crash, not which app they were using. Three things currently being published about that framework, including in Google’s own AI answers, do not match the statute. The coverage required while a driver has the app on but has not accepted a ride is primary, not contingent on a personal insurer denying first. The uninsured motorist coverage attaches from when a passenger enters the vehicle, not from when a ride is accepted. And the million-dollar uninsured motorist figure has been reduced by recent legislation.
Each of those changes who you claim against or how much is available. This page sets out the framework, the three corrections, what actually happens in the first weeks of a rideshare claim, and what a lawyer does with it. To discuss a crash, call our San Mateo office at 650-250-0705.
Key Takeaways
- One statute covers all rideshare operators. The app is irrelevant; the driver’s app status is decisive.
- Period 1 coverage is primary under the statute, which is not the same as coverage that responds only after a personal insurer declines.
- Uninsured motorist coverage is tied to a passenger being in the vehicle, which leaves a gap for someone struck while a driver was en route to a pickup.
- Verify the current uninsured motorist amount. The widely published figure appears to be superseded.
- App status is proved with platform data, so the first substantive step is a preservation demand to the platform.
The Framework
Rideshare operators are regulated as transportation network companies by the California Public Utilities Commission, with insurance requirements set by Public Utilities Code section 5433 and the Commission’s decisions.
| Driver status | What the framework requires |
| App off | Outside the framework. The driver’s personal auto policy is the relevant coverage, and personal policies commonly exclude commercial use, which can create its own dispute. There is no numbered period for this. |
| Period 1 — app on, no ride accepted | Primary coverage of at least $50,000 for death and personal injury per person, $100,000 per incident, and $30,000 for property damage, plus a Commission-required excess layer of at least $200,000 per occurrence. |
| Periods 2 and 3 — ride accepted through completion | $1,000,000 in primary commercial liability for death, personal injury, and property damage. |
| Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage | Required from the moment a passenger enters the vehicle until the passenger exits, primary over any other applicable coverage and solely the company’s obligation. The amount has been reduced — see below. |
Correction One: Primary Is Not Contingent
Google’s AI answers for rideshare searches describe the Period 1 coverage as “contingent” liability that “only kicks in if the driver’s personal policy denies the claim.” Several firm pages say the same.
Section 5433 says that coverage “shall be primary.” Primary means it responds first, not after another insurer has been approached and has refused.
If you accept the contingent framing, the sequence becomes: claim against the driver’s personal insurer, wait for a denial, then approach the platform. That delay lands exactly when medical bills are arriving. There is a real complication behind the confusion, which is that the statute permits the requirement to be satisfied through insurance maintained by the driver, by the company, or a combination, so which primary policy responds can involve a verification step. That is a question about which primary policy pays, not about whether the obligation is contingent on a denial.
Correction Two: When Uninsured Motorist Coverage Actually Attaches
This is the correction with the sharpest practical edge, and it is new.
Google’s AI Mode answer for “rideshare accident lawyer” states that in Period 2, once a driver accepts a request and is driving to the pickup, “corporate $1 million commercial liability and Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) coverage becomes active.”
The statute ties the uninsured motorist coverage to passenger occupancy, not to ride acceptance. Section 5433 requires the company to provide that coverage “from the moment a passenger enters the vehicle of a participating driver until the passenger exits the vehicle.” The primary commercial liability does attach on acceptance. The uninsured motorist coverage does not.
Why that matters. Consider someone struck by a rideshare driver who had accepted a ride and was on the way to collect the passenger, with nobody yet in the car. The commercial liability applies. But if the party actually at fault was a third driver who turns out to be uninsured, the company’s uninsured motorist coverage is not the answer during that window, because no passenger was aboard. A claimant who has been told that coverage “becomes active” at acceptance may assume protection that the statute does not provide in that period.
Correction Three: The Uninsured Motorist Amount
For years the framework required one million dollars in uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage while a passenger was in the vehicle. That figure is still widely published and appears in Google’s AI answers.
Legislation has reduced it. An Assembly Insurance Committee analysis of a 2025 bill describes the change as reducing rideshare uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage from one million dollars to a substantially lower per-person and per-incident amount, while leaving the million-dollar primary liability requirement intact. The current text of section 5433 available through published code services also shows a materially lower figure.
This page does not state a current amount, because the available sources differ and there has been more than one proposal in this area. An amount that turns out to be superseded would be worse than none, since this is the figure that decides whether a serious injury is covered when the at-fault driver has no insurance. If you have read that a rideshare passenger has a million dollars of uninsured motorist coverage, verify it before relying on it.
What to Expect in the First Two Weeks
This is the part of “working with a lawyer” that is rarely described, and in a rideshare claim it is unusually front-loaded.
- A conversation, then an engagement agreement. Work can begin the same day. Nothing has to be decided on a first call.
- Preservation demands go out immediately — to the platform, to the driver’s insurer, and to any other involved insurer. The platform demand is the one most often missed, and it is the one that matters most.
- Your own records get collected. The ride receipt, in-app trip history, driver and vehicle details, and the trip identifier. Screenshot them rather than assuming they will still be accessible.
- The period question gets worked. Establishing app status determines what coverage exists, so it drives everything else.
- Insurer contact moves to counsel. Adjusters commonly call early, and an early call is not a courtesy.
- Other parties get identified. Another motorist, a public entity if a road condition contributed, a manufacturer if something failed.
- A public entity claim is presented if one applies, because that window is six months rather than two years.
What to Expect After That
Three things are worth setting expectations on honestly.
Valuation waits for the medical picture. A claim cannot be valued properly before treatment stabilizes, because most of the value in a serious claim is in losses that have not occurred yet. An early offer precedes that entirely, and a settlement resolves the claim in full including the parts nobody has valued.
Rideshare claims are litigated more often than ordinary collisions. Not because they are more contentious, but because the evidence that settles the period question sits with the platform and arrives through formal discovery. Filing does not end negotiation, which usually continues alongside.
You will probably not go to trial. Most civil claims resolve beforehand. Expect to sit for a deposition and attend a mediation or settlement conference. The San Mateo County Superior Court encourages alternative dispute resolution as a way of resolving matters without trial.
The Evidence Problem at the Center of It
Coverage turns on a fact that is not recorded in a police report and that a driver’s recollection does not settle. App status is established from platform records: trip data, app logs, GPS data, and driver status history. Only the platform holds them.
That is why a preservation demand has to reach the platform and not only the driver’s insurer, and why your own screenshots carry more weight than people expect. Where app status is genuinely contested, it is resolved with platform data obtained in discovery.
Beyond app status, the ordinary evidence still applies: the police report, photographs of both vehicles and the scene before anything moves, the other driver’s identity and insurance, witness details, and prompt medical records connecting the mechanism to the injuries.
Who You May Be Claiming Against
- The rideshare driver, whose conduct is the starting point.
- Another motorist, where the rideshare vehicle was struck rather than at fault. If you were a passenger, the claim may run against that driver first, with the platform’s coverage relevant where their limits are insufficient.
- The platform’s insurer, through the period framework.
- The driver’s personal insurer, where the app was off, subject to commercial-use exclusions.
- A public entity, where a roadway condition contributed. A written claim generally must be presented within six months under Government Code section 911.2, before any lawsuit.
- A vehicle or component manufacturer, where something failed. Our defective product page covers that.
Our California Uber and Lyft accident page covers the practice generally, and our car accident page covers the underlying collision claim.
If You Were the Driver
A rideshare driver injured in a crash is in a different position from a passenger, and it is handled poorly almost everywhere. The platform’s coverage is structured principally around third parties and passengers, a personal policy may exclude commercial use, and classification questions affect what else may be available. Which applies depends on the period, the policy wording, and the facts. Get advice early rather than assuming the platform’s coverage handles it.
Deadlines
| Situation | General rule | Source |
| Suing a driver or other private party | Two years from the injury | Code Civ. Proc., § 335.1 |
| Where a public entity may be responsible | A written claim generally must be presented within six months | Gov. Code, § 911.2 |
| A claim under your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage | Its own timing, set by statute and your policy, potentially much shorter | Ins. Code, § 11580.2, and your policy |
Our guide to the California personal injury statute of limitations covers the full picture, including the government claim sequence and what does not pause the clock.
Rideshare Claims in San Mateo County
Our office at 15 North Ellsworth Avenue, Suite 105, San Mateo, CA 94401 works with injured people across the Peninsula. Civil cases here are handled by the Superior Court’s Civil Division at the Hall of Justice, 400 County Center, Redwood City.
Airport and commute trips mean a high share of local rideshare miles are on US-101 and I-280 at speed. And where a road surface contributed, which agency is responsible is genuinely not obvious: a stretch of El Camino Real is a state highway, while the street a block away is a city responsibility. More about the office is on our San Mateo page.
How Vaksman Khalfin Can Help
Vaksman Khalfin, PC can send preservation demands to the platform as well as the insurers, establish the driver’s app status from trip and log data, identify which period applies and therefore what coverage exists, press the primary nature of the Period 1 requirement rather than accepting a contingent framing, check whether the uninsured motorist coverage actually attaches on your facts rather than assuming it does, verify the current uninsured motorist amount rather than relying on a published figure, identify every other responsible party including another motorist or a public entity, present a government claim within its window where one applies, and handle the insurers so you are not doing it while recovering.
The firm’s California personal injury practice is led by Alan D. Khalfin, admitted in California. Rideshare matters are handled on a contingency-fee basis: there is no upfront attorney’s fee, and attorney’s fees are owed only if there is a recovery. Case costs are a separate category from attorney’s fees, and how they are handled, including whether you may be responsible for them, is set out in the written fee agreement reviewed with you before anything is signed.
To discuss a crash, call 650-250-0705 or schedule a free consultation. Bring your ride receipt if you have it.
Reviewed by Alan D. Khalfin, Partner and Managing Attorney, Vaksman Khalfin, PC (admitted in California). Last reviewed: 09/28/2026
Frequently Asked Questions
You can bring a claim, and whether it reaches the platform's insurance depends on the driver's app status at the moment of the crash. California regulates all rideshare operators identically under Public Utilities Code section 5433: comparatively modest primary coverage with the app on but no ride accepted, and one million dollars in primary commercial liability from acceptance of a ride request until the ride is complete. Establishing which period applied is usually the first task.
Often yes, and as a passenger you are generally not at fault, which removes the argument that dominates most collision claims. What remains is which policy responds and for how much, which depends on the period and on whether another motorist was responsible. The practical constraint is usually the coverage available rather than liability.
Not according to the statute. Section 5433 provides that transportation network company insurance for the period when the app is on but no ride has been accepted "shall be primary." Google's AI answers describe that coverage as contingent, kicking in only if a personal policy denies the claim, which is a materially different thing. The statute does allow the requirement to be met through a policy held by the driver, the company, or a combination, so which primary policy responds can involve verification. That is different from the obligation being contingent on a denial.
The statute ties it to passenger occupancy: from the moment a passenger enters the vehicle until the passenger exits. Google's AI Mode answer states that it "becomes active" in Period 2, when a driver has accepted a ride and is driving to the pickup. That is not what the statute says. The million-dollar primary commercial liability does attach on acceptance; the uninsured motorist coverage is tied to a passenger being aboard, which leaves a gap for someone struck while a driver was en route with nobody in the car.
Treat it with caution. That was the requirement for years and is still widely published, but legislation has reduced it. An Assembly Insurance Committee analysis of a 2025 bill describes the reduction, and the code text available through published services shows a materially lower amount. Because sources differ, this page does not state a figure. Verify it before relying on it.
There is no reliable typical amount, and no lawyer can responsibly quote one. What determines a particular outcome is the liability evidence, the documented and projected losses, the share of fault attributed to each party, and the coverage actually available, which in a rideshare claim depends on app status. Any figure offered before an investigation is a guess.
Platform records: trip data, app logs, GPS data, and driver status history. None of it is in a police report, and only the platform holds it, so a preservation demand needs to go to the platform and not only to the driver's insurer. Your own ride receipt, in-app trip history, and screenshots of the driver and vehicle details help establish that a ride was in progress.
Not legally. Both are transportation network companies under the same statute and the same Commission decisions, and the analysis is identical. What differs is operational: how each app records and surfaces trip data, and which insurer stands behind the coverage in a given period. Neither changes what you have to establish.
Most claims against a driver or other private party must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. Where a public entity may be responsible, a written claim generally must be presented within six months under Government Code section 911.2. A claim under your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage has its own timing under Insurance Code section 11580.2 and your policy.
