Passengers injured in a rideshare crash: how claims work

An injured rideshare passenger usually has three places to look for payment: the liability coverage the app company carries for the trip, the liability policy of whichever other driver caused the crash, and the passenger's own insurance, including health coverage. Which one pays first depends on who was at fault, what phase the trip was in, and whether the state is a no-fault state.

A passenger is rarely the cause of the crash, which makes the claim a third-party claim against someone else's policy. That is a different process from a driver's claim, and the passenger is the one person in the car who has no policy decisions to make.

Who can pay: a map of the sources

The ride companies describe the first rows on their own insurance pages. Uber's insurance page says riders are covered for injuries when the driver is at fault, under the liability limits for the phase of the trip, and that Uber may also maintain uninsured and underinsured motorist, personal injury protection and medical payments coverage for riders, "depending on state law." It adds that riders may also have uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage through their own insurance, and that these rideshare coverages do not apply to commercially licensed drivers.

When the rideshare driver is at fault

When the driver caused the crash, the passenger's claim goes against the driver, and the driver's liability insurance for that moment responds. Which policy that is turns on the phase of the trip.

• Passenger aboard, trip in progress. State laws set a floor. The model act from the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) calls for primary liability of at least $1,000,000 for death, bodily injury and property damage during a prearranged ride, and state laws on rideshare insurance requirements shows the $1,000,000 figure in California, Florida, Texas and Washington statutes. Lyft's insurance page says it maintains "at least $1,000,000" in third-party liability while a ride is in progress, with exceptions it lists for certain markets.
• Who supplies the coverage. The statutes let the driver's policy, the app company's policy, or a combination meet the requirement. The injured passenger does not need to figure out which; the insurers do. Texas Insurance Code section 1954.055, for instance, says the app company's coverage is "not contingent" on the driver's personal insurer first denying a claim. Florida and California say the same.
• If the driver's coverage failed. If a driver's policy lapsed or does not provide the required coverage, the statutes reviewed for this article require the app company's insurer to respond from the first dollar, and Florida and California add a duty to defend the claim.

The passenger's claim is for the passenger's own losses: medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering to the extent the state allows. It is not a claim against the passenger's own policy.

The passenger who was a driver's friend

If the "rideshare" trip was a shared-expense carpool or a free ride, it falls outside most TNC statutes. The model act's definition of a prearranged ride excludes carpools, taxis and limousines, so the driver's personal policy is the likely source. Our guide to can passengers and family members claim on your liability coverage? covers that case.

When another driver caused the crash

Most serious rideshare crashes involve two vehicles, and the other driver may be the one at fault. The claim then runs like any third-party claim against the other driver's liability policy. The special problem is the one that comes up in every crash: the other driver's limits may be low, or the driver may have no insurance.

That is the job of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which pays when the at-fault driver cannot. Some state TNC laws require it for the passenger period. California Public Utilities Code section 5433, as published on California.Public.Law with a January 2026 update, requires the app company to provide uninsured and underinsured coverage of $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident from the moment a passenger enters the car until the passenger exits, and says it is primary over other applicable coverage and solely the company's obligation. Washington's RCW 46.72B.180 requires underinsured motorist coverage of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident for the same window. Florida requires uninsured and underinsured coverage as required by its general uninsured motorist statute, and Texas requires it where its Insurance Code requires it.

The takeaway: the same crash can produce different layers of coverage in different states. Who UM coverage protects: passengers, pedestrians and cyclists explains the passenger's own uninsured motorist rights.

When the app was off, or the ride was not through the app

The most dangerous situation is a ride that is not covered by any TNC policy. The NAIC's consumer article on being a rideshare passenger, first published December 2015 and last modified in January 2024, says the largest TNCs "only provide coverage while the app is in use," and warns that "there may be no coverage available if the driver does not have a commercial auto policy." It advises passengers to research the company's insurance and limits, to ask the driver for proof of coverage, and to be cautious with drivers who turn off the app or ask for cash.

This matters in a few situations: a driver who ends the trip in the app before dropping you off, a driver who picks you up for a cash fare outside the app, and a driver who has accepted a ride on another company's platform. The state statutes apply to prearranged rides through the app. A ride arranged outside it can leave the passenger relying on the driver's personal policy, which may exclude the trip. The NAIC article adds that a passenger's own auto policy will likely cover the passenger to some extent, and that someone who does not own a car can buy a named non-owner policy, which sits above the vehicle owner's coverage.

Reporting to the app company

An injured passenger should report the crash to the app company promptly, in addition to calling police and getting care.

Uber's crash page tells people to call 911 if anyone is hurt, says "everyone involved in the crash should file a report with Uber," and has a riders' option labeled "I was riding in an Uber involved in a crash." Others involved, such as other drivers, pedestrians and witnesses, use a separate form. The page describes a three-stage claims process: report, review, and resolution, with updates by email and in the app inbox. It says the claims support team will guide you through the claims process and crash reporting to the insurance coverage provider in your state, and that coverage "may vary depending upon who is at fault," with an explanation given during the claims process. The page does not state a filing deadline. Lyft's insurance page directs drivers to a claims team available around the clock; for riders, use the safety and help sections in the Lyft app, since the insurance page is written for drivers.

A few practical points about how these claims typically move:

1. The app company opens a claim file and refers it to the insurer for the trip phase.
2. An adjuster may contact you for a recorded statement and medical authorizations. You do not have to sign broad releases before you understand what they allow.
3. Because a rideshare crash can involve several insurers (the TNC's, the driver's personal insurer, and the other driver's), the insurers may exchange information among themselves. State law helps here: the model act and Florida require the TNC to give the precise log-on and log-off times to a directly involved party or an insurer on request, so a claimant's representative can ask for them.
4. Medical treatment generally should not wait for the insurance decision.

Terms of use and arbitration clauses

Both big apps have arbitration terms. Uber's U.S. terms of use, which showed a last-modified date of 11/4/2026 when read for this article, contain an arbitration agreement in Section 2 that covers disputes between you and Uber, including claims for personal injury or death arising from incidents connected to use of the service. It carves out individual small claims court cases and individual claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment. Lyft's terms of service, last updated February 9, 2026, include a binding arbitration agreement in Section 17 with carve-outs for small claims and for individual claims of sexual assault or harassment, and the opt-out section describes a window for drivers, not riders.

What does this mean for an injured passenger?

• It governs claims against the app company. The agreement is between the account holder and the company. It does not bind another driver whose negligence caused the crash, because that driver is not a party to it.
• Whether it binds a given person is a legal question. A passenger who has an account clicked through the terms. A guest who rode on someone else's account, a minor, or a pedestrian struck by the vehicle may be in a different position. Arbitration clauses are enforced and challenged in different ways in different states and courts, and this article does not summarize case law.
• The rule of thumb: do not sign anything that releases the app company, and do not assume you can or cannot sue it, until you have asked a licensed attorney in your state.

Health insurance, medical payments and no-fault

The insurance claim and the bills on your kitchen table are two separate problems. Treatment is ordinarily billed to your health plan, or to a medical payments or PIP benefit, long before any liability claim settles.

• Health insurance. Your plan pays according to its terms. Many plans have a right to be repaid from a liability settlement, and Medicaid and Medicare have rules of their own. Our article on Settlement paperwork: releases, liens and Medicare reimbursement explains how those claims are handled when a case settles.
• Medical payments coverage. Where you or a driver you know has medical payments coverage, it pays reasonable medical bills regardless of fault, usually up to a modest limit. See MedPay or health insurance: who pays first after a crash for how it interacts with health insurance.
• PIP and no-fault. In a no-fault insurance state, injured people look first to their own PIP benefits, whoever caused the crash, and the right to sue the at-fault driver may be limited to serious injuries. TNC laws in some no-fault states add PIP requirements for rides. Florida's section 627.748 requires personal injury protection meeting the statutory minimum while a driver is logged on and at the limousine minimum during a prearranged ride; Washington requires PIP to the extent state law requires it; Texas requires it where its Insurance Code does. A passenger who lives in one state and is injured in another needs to check which state's rules apply. Our no-fault vs at-fault states guide covers the basics.
• UM/UIM through your own policy. Many auto policies extend uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage to the named insured and family members in any vehicle, including a rideshare. That varies by state and policy, so read your declarations page or ask your insurer.

A worked example

Say a passenger, Dana, is a back-seat rider during a trip. A car runs a red light and hits the rideshare vehicle. The rideshare driver did nothing wrong. Dana has $62,000 in medical bills and $9,000 in lost wages from missed work, which makes $71,000 in measurable losses (all numbers here are hypothetical).

1. The at-fault driver's liability policy. That driver carries a $25,000 per-person limit. The insurer pays up to $25,000.
2. Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage in the app company's policy. If the state requires it or the company maintains it, Dana can claim it for the remaining loss, subject to the amount stated. In a state with a $60,000 per-person requirement, the policy could cover the remaining $46,000.
3. Dana's own UIM coverage. If any loss is still unpaid and Dana's own policy extends to her as a passenger, she may claim it, subject to that policy's rules about how it coordinates with other coverage. Some policies subtract what others have paid, some stack on top.
4. Health insurance. In the meantime, the plan has been paying providers. If a settlement later reimburses those costs, the plan may seek repayment from the settlement, which is why the order and timing of payments matter.

In this example Dana's claim does not depend on the rideshare driver's coverage at all, since the driver was not at fault. In a state with no UIM requirement for the TNC policy, step 2 would be missing and step 3 would carry more weight. That is why the same crash can produce different results from one state to the next.

Evidence and steps for the first 48 hours

1. Get medical care and tell the provider it was a car crash. Symptoms can appear later; see injuries that show up days after a crash: protecting your claim.
2. Report to the app company. Use the in-app option for riders, and save the confirmation.
3. Screenshot the trip. Capture the receipt, the driver's name and photo, the license plate, the pickup and drop-off points and the time. Do this before the app updates.
4. Photograph the scene and injuries. Uber's guide lists all sides of the vehicles, damage close-ups, the location, street signs and road conditions.
5. Get names and numbers from the drivers and witnesses, and the police report number.
6. Ask the driver for insurance information and write down whether the driver says the app was on.
7. Keep every bill and explanation of benefits, and a short daily log of symptoms and missed work.
8. Do not give a recorded statement or sign a release until you understand what it covers. Our after-accident checklist and information form tool provides a form for the details.

Time limits

State law sets the deadline for suing, and it varies. Some policies add shorter contractual deadlines for first-party claims, such as uninsured motorist claims. Lyft's insurance page notes that, effective October 1, 2026, under the uninsured and underinsured motorist policy it procures on a driver's behalf under New Jersey law, a legal action against the carrier must be brought within two years of the accident or one year after the person knew or should have known the vehicle was an underinsured vehicle as defined by the policy. That example shows how a policy's own wording can set a clock, and it is written about drivers, so it is not a statement about any particular passenger's rights. See statutes of limitations for car accident claims for the general picture and ask a licensed attorney about your state.

Common questions

Do I have to be a registered rider to be covered?

The statutes talk about riders and prearranged rides, and Uber's crash page says anyone involved after requesting a ride, or a guest of the requester, may report. Whether a particular person is a "rider" for coverage or arbitration purposes can depend on the facts, so ask the company or an attorney.

Is the app company's insurance the only one that matters?

No. The other driver's insurance, your own insurance and your health coverage may all matter, and the right order depends on the facts and the state.

Will my own car insurance premium go up because I was a passenger?

A claim against someone else's policy is not a claim on yours. Claims under your own medical payments, PIP or uninsured motorist coverage are first-party claims, and how an insurer treats those at renewal varies by company and state, so ask before you file.

What if I was hurt in a crash with a rideshare driver who was not carrying a passenger?

Then you are not a passenger but a third party. The app's liability tier for that moment depends on whether the driver was waiting or en route, and the lower waiting-period tier may apply.

Key takeaways

• An injured passenger can usually look to up to three sources: the app company's coverage for the trip, the other driver's liability policy, and the passenger's own insurance.
• The app company's liability tier during an accepted ride is commonly $1,000,000, and state law may add uninsured and underinsured motorist or PIP requirements, which vary by state.
• Report to the app company quickly, keep the trip receipt, and gather scene evidence; the claims process is a report, review, resolution sequence with no deadline stated on Uber's crash page.
• App terms contain arbitration agreements that can reach personal injury claims against the company; do not sign a release before consulting a licensed attorney.
• Health insurance and medical payments or PIP usually pay the bills first, and some payers may be repaid out of a settlement.