Written and reviewed by Josh Kohanim, Esq., California Bar No. 328609 · Reviewed
In this guide
Which policy answers after a rideshare crash depends on the coverage window, the meaning of primary, the personal policy gap and the uninsured motorist layer, and a disputed window is resolved with records. Delivery platforms follow a different statute. For the claim itself, start at our Uber and Lyft accident page.
Four coverage windows and what each pays
Section 5433 never uses the phrase "period 1", which is a convention insurers invented. The statute attaches coverage to two events: logging on, and accepting a request. Everything else follows from where those two events fall.
| Window | Starts when | Ends when | What the statute requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| App off | The driver logs off, or never logs on | The driver logs on | Nothing from the company |
| Logged on, waiting | Log-on, or the end of the previous ride | A request is accepted, or the driver logs off | $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident, $30,000 property damage, primary, plus $200,000 excess |
| Driving to the pickup | The driver accepts the request | The passenger gets in | $1,000,000 primary |
| Passenger aboard | The passenger gets in | The passenger gets out, or the trip is closed in the app, whichever is later | $1,000,000 primary, and $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident in uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage |
The middle boundary is the one people get wrong. Coverage jumps when the request is accepted, not when the passenger opens the door. A driver who accepted a ride and is three blocks from the pickup is already inside the $1,000,000 layer under section 5433(b). The uninsured motorist layer is narrower and attaches only once a passenger is physically in the car.
Which policy pays first
Section 5433(d) says the company's coverage is not dependent on a personal auto policy first denying the claim, and that a personal policy is not required to deny first. That single sentence removes the delay that would otherwise run every rideshare file: send it to the personal insurer, wait for the denial, then start over.
Two more provisions sit behind it. Section 5433(e) makes the company cover from the first dollar when a driver's own rideshare policy has lapsed or been cancelled. Section 5433(b)(3) puts the duty to defend and indemnify, meaning to provide the defense and pay what is owed, on the insurer providing that coverage, so the company's insurer hires and pays the defense lawyer. Section 5433(f) then says nothing in the article limits the company's liability above the required amounts.
The gap when the app is off
With the app off, the driver is an ordinary motorist and the only policy in the room is the personal one. California's floor is $30,000 for injury to one person, $60,000 per incident and $15,000 in property damage. That is the whole answer, and it is why an app-off crash with a serious injury usually turns into an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim on somebody's own policy.
The harder problem is the window where the app is on and the personal insurer says the policy never applied. That exclusion is lawful by design. Insurance Code section 11580.1(b)(3) requires a California auto policy to designate, by explicit description, the purposes for which coverage is excluded, and carrying passengers for a fee is the classic one. The state requires that the driver be told. Public Utilities Code section 5432 requires every company to tell drivers in writing, in the driver agreement, that their personal policy will not provide coverage while they use the app, and that it will not provide collision or comprehensive coverage for the car from log-on to log-off.
For a driver, that means buying the endorsement. The company's policy protects the people you hurt. Your own car, and your own body in a single-vehicle crash, are covered only if you bought the endorsement. Our Lyft accident page shows how one company describes its contingent comprehensive and collision coverage and the deductible attached to it.
When the other driver has no insurance
The $60,000 and $300,000 layer attaches on a narrower trigger than the rest of the statute: it runs only while a rider is physically inside the car, not from acceptance of the request. Section 5433(b)(2) then does two unusual things with it, making the layer primary over every other applicable policy and putting the obligation on the platform alone. Insurance Code section 11580.2 supplies the mechanics, and the mechanics matter.
| Rule | What it means | Cite |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A vehicle is underinsured when it carries less than the injured person's own uninsured motorist limits | 11580.2(p)(2) |
| Exhaustion first | The coverage does not apply until the at-fault liability limits are paid out and proof is submitted | 11580.2(p)(3) |
| Credit for what was paid | The insurer's maximum is your limit minus what the liable party already paid | 11580.2(p)(4) |
| Hit and run | Physical contact required, police report within 24 hours, sworn statement within 30 days | 11580.2(b) |
| Deadline | Sue, settle in writing, or demand arbitration within two years of the crash | 11580.2(i) |
A worked example
You are riding in an Uber on Olympic. A driver with minimum limits runs a red light and hits you. Your medical bills come to $95,000. The at-fault policy pays its $30,000 per person limit and is exhausted. The rideshare underinsured motorist layer is $60,000 per person, and under section 11580.2(p)(4) the insurer's maximum is that limit less what the liable driver paid, so it adds $30,000. Total from those two policies: $60,000.
Now change one fact. If your Uber driver was at fault instead, the $1,000,000 primary layer answers and the arithmetic above never happens. The same crash and the same injuries produce sixteen times the available coverage, decided by who ran the light. That is why fault and the coverage window are investigated together, never in sequence.
When the usual rule does not apply
Four situations put a case outside the coverage windows table. Each one should be checked in the first week, because each changes who you notify.
- The window is disputed. The insurer says no request had been accepted; your screenshot says otherwise. This is a fact question resolved with app records, the receipt, the police narrative and, if necessary, a subpoena.
- No passenger was aboard. The uninsured motorist layer never attached, even though the $1,000,000 layer may have.
- It was a delivery. Section 5433 governs companies that carry passengers, so a food or package run is a different analysis, on our delivery app driver accidents page.
- A public entity is involved. A transit bus or a street defect adds a six month written claim deadline under Government Code section 911.2, which runs long before the two year statute.
For a plainer walkthrough of the three periods insurers use, without the statutory detail, our blog post on Uber and Lyft accident insurance coverage periods in California covers the basics. If the crash also involved an ordinary passenger vehicle and the coverage question is about a personal policy rather than the app, our car accident page is the better starting point.
Which policy answers your crash
Work it backward. With a passenger in the car, the answer is $1,000,000 plus a $60,000 and $300,000 uninsured motorist layer. With a request accepted but no pickup yet, it is $1,000,000 and no uninsured motorist layer. With the app merely on, it is $50,000, $100,000 and $30,000, with $200,000 in excess behind it. With the app off, it is a personal policy with a $30,000 floor.
The answer is only as good as the proof of the window, and that proof decays. Screenshot the trip today, save the receipt, and get the police report number. Then let us send the preservation request before the record ages out of easy reach.