A rideshare claim turns on one fact that no ordinary collision claim involves: what the driver’s app status was at the exact moment of the crash. California regulates Uber and Lyft as transportation network companies through the Public Utilities Commission, and the required insurance is divided into periods. With the app on but no ride accepted, the required primary coverage is comparatively modest. From the moment a ride request is accepted until the ride is complete, it is one million dollars in primary commercial liability. App status therefore decides how much coverage exists, and proving it is an evidence problem rather than a legal one, because the data sits with the platform.
There is also something important and time-sensitive in the results you are likely reading, including Google’s own AI answer: the uninsured motorist figure being quoted for rideshare passengers appears to be out of date. That is covered below, and it is the reason this page does not state a current figure for it. To discuss a rideshare crash, call our San Mateo office at 650-250-0705.
Key Takeaways
- Coverage depends on the driver’s app status at the moment of the crash, not on who was hurt.
- California requires one million dollars in primary commercial liability from acceptance of a ride request until the ride is complete.
- With the app on but no ride accepted, the required primary coverage is far lower, with a separate excess layer.
- The uninsured and underinsured motorist requirement for rideshare passengers has been reduced by recent legislation, and the widely published figure is likely stale.
- App status is proved with platform data, which means preservation matters early.
The Period Framework
California classifies Uber and Lyft as transportation network companies, regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, and the insurance requirements are set by Public Utilities Code section 5433 and the Commission’s decisions. The structure divides a driver’s engagement with the app into periods:
| 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 a dispute of its own. |
| 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. The Commission also requires an additional excess layer of at least $200,000 per occurrence. |
| Periods 2 and 3 — from acceptance of a ride request until the ride is complete | $1,000,000 in primary commercial liability for death, personal injury, and property damage. |
| Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage during Period 3 | Required, but the amount has changed. See the next section, and do not rely on the figure published elsewhere. |
The practical consequence is stark. The same crash, with the same injuries, can sit against a comparatively small policy or against a million-dollar commercial policy depending on whether the driver had tapped “accept” moments earlier.
The Figure in Google’s Answer Appears to Be Out of Date
This is the most important thing on this page, and it is worth being precise about.
For years the framework required one million dollars in uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage while a passenger was in the vehicle. That figure is what most pages on this topic still publish, and it is what Google’s AI Mode answer for this search currently states.
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 one-million-dollar primary liability requirement for Periods 2 and 3 intact. The current text of section 5433 available through published code services also shows a materially lower uninsured motorist figure than one million dollars.
What this page will not do is give you a number. The sources available to us give differing figures, and there has been more than one legislative proposal in this area. Stating a specific amount that turns out to be superseded would be worse than useless on a page a passenger might rely on, because it is exactly the number that determines whether a serious injury is covered when the at-fault driver has no insurance.
What we can tell you with confidence: if you have read that a rideshare passenger has a million dollars of uninsured motorist coverage available, verify that before relying on it. The primary liability figure and the uninsured motorist figure are different things, and only one of them has stayed put.
App Status Is an Evidence Problem
Because coverage turns on app status, the first substantive task in a rideshare claim is proving what the status was. That information is not in a police report and it is not something a driver’s recollection settles. It sits with the platform, in the form of trip records, app logs, GPS data, and driver status history.
That has three consequences:
- A preservation demand needs to go to the platform early, not only to the driver’s insurer.
- Your own records help. If you were a passenger, your trip receipt, the in-app ride history, and any screenshots establish that a ride was in progress. Save them rather than assuming the platform will produce them.
- Reporting through the app creates a record, and it is worth doing in addition to any exchange of information at the scene.
Where app status is genuinely contested, the dispute is resolved with platform data obtained through formal discovery, which is one reason these claims are more often litigated than a straightforward collision.
Who Might Be Responsible
More parties are usually in play than in an ordinary collision:
- The rideshare driver, whose own conduct is the starting point.
- Another motorist, where the rideshare vehicle was struck rather than at fault. If you were a passenger, this matters: the claim may run against the other driver first, with the rideshare policy relevant only if that driver’s coverage is insufficient.
- The platform’s insurer, through the period framework above.
- The driver’s personal insurer, where the app was off, though commercial-use exclusions frequently create a coverage dispute.
- A public entity, where a roadway condition contributed. That claim requires a written claim to the entity within six months under Government Code section 911.2, before any lawsuit, and that clock is far shorter than the two years to sue a driver.
- A vehicle or component manufacturer, where something on the vehicle 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 Rather Than the Passenger
This situation is handled worse than any other in the material on this topic, and it is genuinely different.
A rideshare driver injured in a crash sits in an awkward position: the platform’s coverage is structured principally around third parties and passengers, the driver’s own personal policy may exclude commercial use, and the driver’s employment classification affects what else might be available. Which of those applies depends on the period, the policy wording, and the facts. It is not something to resolve from a webpage, and it is a reason for a driver to get advice early rather than assume the platform’s coverage handles it.
What to Do After a Rideshare Crash
- Get medical attention, and describe the mechanism so it appears in the record.
- Capture the trip evidence while it is on your phone: the receipt, the ride history, the driver and vehicle details, and the trip identifier.
- Report through the app, in addition to anything done at the scene.
- Photograph the scene and both vehicles before anything moves.
- Collect the other driver’s information, including insurance, because the claim may run against them first.
- Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer, including the platform’s, and do not sign a release.
- Note whether a road condition may have contributed, because that puts you on a six-month clock.
- Get advice before accepting anything. An early offer precedes any projection of future care.
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.
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.
Two local points. Airport and commute trips mean a high share of rideshare miles here are on US-101 and I-280 at speed, which affects the injury picture and the reconstruction question. And a stretch of El Camino Real is a state highway while the street a block away is a city responsibility, so where a road surface contributed, which agency gets the claim is genuinely not obvious. More about the office is on our San Mateo page.
How Vaksman Khalfin Can Help
On a rideshare claim specifically, Vaksman Khalfin, PC can send preservation demands to the platform as well as to the insurers, establish the driver’s app status from trip and log data, identify which period applies and therefore what coverage is available, verify the current uninsured motorist requirement 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 platform’s insurer so you are not doing it.
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 rideshare crash, call 650-250-0705 or schedule a free consultation. Bring your trip 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 Uber and Lyft as transportation network companies and sets required insurance by period: comparatively modest primary coverage with the app on but no ride accepted, and one million dollars in primary commercial liability from the moment a ride request is accepted until the ride is complete. Establishing which period applied is usually the first task.
Yes, and substantially. With the app off, the framework does not apply and the driver's personal policy is the relevant coverage, which may exclude commercial use. With the app on but no ride accepted, the required primary coverage is far lower, with a separate excess layer. From acceptance until the ride is complete, one million dollars in primary commercial liability is required.
Treat that with caution. That figure was the requirement for years and is still widely published, including in Google's AI answer for this search, 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 the available sources differ and there has been more than one proposal in this area, this page does not state a current figure. Verify it before relying on it, because it is the number that matters most when the at-fault driver has no insurance.
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.
Most civil claims of any kind resolve before trial, and rideshare claims are no exception. That said, app status disputes and coverage arguments are more often litigated than a straightforward collision, because the evidence that settles them sits with the platform and arrives through formal discovery.
Less than any gross figure. Attorney's fees under the contingency agreement, case costs advanced during the matter, and any medical liens or reimbursement claims are accounted for first. Liens are not always owed as claimed: California's Hospital Lien Act limits how much of a recovery a hospital lien can reach, and whether a lien was properly noticed and whether the charges were reasonable can be examined.
That is a different and less well covered situation. The platform's coverage is structured principally around third parties and passengers, a personal auto 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, so it is worth getting advice early rather than assuming the platform's coverage handles it.
Platform records: trip data, app logs, GPS data, and driver status history. None of that is in a police report. Your own trip receipt, in-app ride history, and screenshots help establish that a ride was in progress, so save them. A preservation demand should go to the platform early, not only to the driver's insurer.
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.
