Written and reviewed by Josh Kohanim, Esq., California Bar No. 328609 · Reviewed
In this guide
What a Lyft claim shares with Uber
Half the people searching after a rideshare crash type Lyft, and the law they need is the same law. A Lyft passenger, a driver hit by a Lyft, or a Lyft driver in Los Angeles County is owed what the statute requires, and Lyft's own published coverage is measured against that statute. For the statute itself and the fault analysis, start at our Uber and Lyft accident page.
Some firms write that Lyft claims are harder or easier than Uber claims. Nothing in California law supports that, and neither company publishes claim outcome data. The differences that matter are the ones each company puts in writing, and what follows comes from Lyft's own help center or from the statute.
Lyft's numbers against the legal minimums
Lyft's insurance coverage page describes its policy in national terms, and California sets a higher floor in one place and a firmer rule in another.
| Situation | What Lyft's page says | What California requires |
|---|---|---|
| App off | "Lyft does not have a policy that applies when your app is off" | The driver's personal policy alone |
| App on, waiting for a request | At least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident for bodily injury, $25,000 per accident property damage | $50,000, $100,000, and at least $30,000 property damage, plus $200,000 in excess coverage (PUC 5433(c)) |
| Driving to the pickup or on the ride | At least $1,000,000 third-party auto liability in most markets | $1,000,000 primary (PUC 5433(b)) |
| Passenger aboard | First-party coverage that "may include" uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage | $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, primary and owed by the company (PUC 5433(b)(2)) |
| Damage to the driver's own car | Contingent comprehensive and collision up to actual cash value, $2,500 deductible, only if carried personally | Not required by section 5433 |
Two gaps in that table decide real cases. The property damage figure on Lyft's page is $5,000 below what section 5433(c)(1) requires in this state, and the uninsured motorist language is permissive where the California statute is mandatory. A national help page describes a national program. The statute is the obligation in California, and when an insurance adjuster quotes the help page, the answer is the section.
How a Lyft claim is opened
Lyft's accident reporting page starts with "Call 911 for emergencies" and then asks you to complete an accident report, which it says takes 10 to 15 minutes. It also offers a Claims Customer Care team to speak with, and a separate post-collision inspection form for a crash already reported. That is the whole published intake path.
- Report the crash to police at the scene if anyone is hurt, and get the report number.
- Screenshot the ride in the app before it closes, including the driver, vehicle and plate.
- Complete Lyft's accident report or call its Claims Customer Care team.
- See a doctor the same day, and report every place that hurts, not only the worst one.
- Say nothing about fault and give no recorded statement until you know how badly you are hurt.
Lyft's page also names the insurers a driver can expect to work with. They include Allstate through North Light Specialty Insurance Company, Liberty Mutual, Mobilitas Insurance Company, Progressive through United Financial Casualty Company, State Farm, Crum and Forster, and Travelers through Constitution State Services. Knowing which insurer holds the file changes the first phone call, because the adjuster, the reservation of rights letter (the insurer's notice that it may later deny coverage) and the authority to approve a settlement all sit with that company rather than with Lyft.
If you were riding in the Lyft
A passenger is in the strongest position in the car. The $1,000,000 layer was in force before you got in, because it attaches when the driver accepts the ride. Your first job is to preserve the ride record, and your second is to avoid a recorded statement while you are still learning how badly you are hurt. The sequence for that is on our passenger injury claims page.
When a Lyft claim differs
Three situations pull a Lyft crash out of section 5433 or out of the numbers above. Each one changes who you are claiming against, so identify it early.
- The app was off. Lyft says so itself. The claim is against the driver's personal policy, with California's 30/60/15 minimum ($30,000 per person, $60,000 per crash, $15,000 property damage) as the floor, and against your own uninsured motorist coverage if that policy is exhausted.
- It was a delivery, not a ride. A driver carrying food or packages with no passenger is outside the passenger-transport statute, and the answer comes from the platform's own policy. That is our delivery app driver accidents page.
- A public entity is in the file. A Metro bus, a city vehicle or a street defect brings a six month written claim deadline under Government Code section 911.2, and it runs long before the two year statute of limitations.
No help page answers which window the driver was in. That is a question of fact, and it is the same question in a Lyft case as in an Uber case. Our page on rideshare insurance coverage sets out what proves each window and how the record is obtained when the company holds it.
Whether it matters that it was Lyft
For the money, no. The same section sets the same limits whichever app was open, and a Lyft passenger and an Uber passenger are owed the same $1,000,000 layer and the same $60,000 and $300,000 in uninsured motorist coverage. For the process, yes: the report goes through Lyft's own form or its claims team, a named insurer takes the file, and Lyft's published property damage figure is lower than California's floor.
Do three things this week. Screenshot the ride, see a doctor, and get the police report number. If your injuries are serious enough that surgery is on the table, our car accident page explains how the same insurers handle a treatment-heavy file.