Rideshare crashes are not ordinary car accidents. California regulates Uber and Lyft as Transportation Network Companies, and the insurance that applies depends entirely on what the driver's app was doing at the moment of impact. The gap between the highest and lowest coverage tier is enormous, and the only proof of which tier applies sits on servers the companies control. And as of January 1, 2026, one of those coverage layers was cut by roughly 94 percent.
A standard collision has one or two insurers. A rideshare collision can have five: the rideshare driver's personal policy, the TNC's commercial policy, the other driver's policy, the other driver's employer if commercial, and your own UM coverage. Each will point at the others. Sorting the order of payment is the case, and it is not something an adjuster will do in your favor unaided.
Your own trip receipt is the single best piece of evidence a passenger holds, and most people never think to screenshot it. It shows the driver, the vehicle, the route and the timestamps. Save it, along with the in-app trip detail screen, before the account history is archived. Then the preservation demand goes out for the driver-side data: GPS trace, app status log, and any internal incident reporting.
Everything in a rideshare case runs through this framework, so it is worth being precise about it.
The driver is logged in and waiting. Coverage here is contingent and limited, generally mirroring standard auto liability limits rather than the commercial layer. Personal auto policies frequently exclude losses occurring while the driver is logged into a rideshare platform, which is precisely the coverage gap this tier was created to fill. It is also the tier where the driver's own policy is most likely to deny.
The moment a driver accepts a request, the commercial layer engages. Public Utilities Code § 5433 requires $1 million in primary liability coverage from acceptance until the trip completes. A crash on the way to pick you up falls here.
From pickup to drop-off, the same $1 million primary liability requirement applies. If the rideshare driver caused the crash, this is the policy that responds, and it is substantial.
This is the development most pages have not caught up with, and it matters enormously.
Historically, California required TNCs to carry $1 million in uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage while a passenger was in the car. That layer existed for a specific and common scenario: you are riding in an Uber, and someone else — an uninsured driver, or a hit and run driver — causes the crash. The rideshare driver did nothing wrong, so the $1 million liability policy does not respond. The UM layer did.
Senate Bill 371 took effect January 1, 2026 and reduced that UM/UIM requirement to $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. Liability coverage for an at-fault rideshare driver is unchanged at $1 million. But in the uninsured-third-party scenario, the ceiling dropped by roughly 94 percent. A single hospital admission can exceed $60,000.
The practical consequence for anyone in San Jose who rides frequently: your own uninsured motorist coverage now carries far more weight than it did last year. It stacks behind the reduced TNC layer, and it is inexpensive to increase. This is worth checking on your own policy today rather than after a crash.
Liability is often straightforward. Coverage is not. The work is establishing, with records rather than testimony, exactly what the app was doing at impact — because a driver who claims to have gone online moments earlier, or a trip that had technically ended when the passenger was still in the vehicle, moves the case between coverage tiers worth very different amounts.
That is why the preservation demand goes out first. GPS trace, app status log, trip acceptance and completion timestamps, driver history, and any internal incident report. These are produced through subpoena in litigation, but only if they still exist.
Screenshot the trip in the app before you do anything else — driver name, vehicle, plate, route and timestamps. Report the incident through the app so a record is created on the company's side. Call 911 and make sure the report notes the rideshare status. Photograph the vehicles and the scene. Get medical attention the same day. Do not accept a quick settlement offered through the app before anyone has evaluated your injuries or determined which coverage tier applies, and do not give a recorded statement to any of the several insurers who will call.
No confusion. No pressure. Here is exactly what to expect when you contact us.
We review your trip data, the app period and every available policy at no cost, and identify which coverage actually responds.
We send preservation demands to the TNC for GPS and app status data, and handle all five potential insurers.
We know what rideshare cases in Santa Clara County are worth, and we stack the TNC layer against your own UM coverage.
Our fee comes from your recovery only — never out of pocket. If we do not win, you owe us nothing.
Which period you were in decides your coverage. Free consultation, no fee unless we win.
✆ (408) 677-2785 — Free CallNo cost, no obligation. Choose how you'd like to start.
✆ Call (408) 677-2785 ✉ Submit My Case Online