If you were hurt in a crash involving an Uber or Lyft in Texas, the insurance that pays depends almost entirely on what the driver was doing on the app at that moment. Uber and Lyft both carry large commercial liability policies, but those policies only switch on during certain phases of a trip. When the app was off, the driver's personal auto policy is usually the only coverage in play. That single detail, the driver's app status at the time of impact, often matters more to a rideshare claim than anything else.
Beyond that wrinkle, a rideshare crash is still a Texas car accident case. The same fault rules apply, the same damages are available, and the same filing deadline applies.
How an Uber accident claim in Texas is different from a regular car wreck
In an ordinary two-car collision, there are usually two insurance policies to sort through. In a rideshare crash there can be four or more:
- The rideshare driver's personal auto policy
- The rideshare company's commercial liability policy
- The rideshare company's uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage
- Any other involved driver's policy
- The injured person's own uninsured/underinsured motorist and personal injury protection coverage
Many personal auto policies in Texas contain a livery or for-hire exclusion, meaning the personal insurer may deny a claim if the driver was working when the crash happened. That is part of why the rideshare company's policy exists, and part of why insurers on both sides have a financial reason to argue about app status.
When Uber and Lyft coverage applies
Both companies publish their insurance structure, and both break it into phases. The general framework looks like this.
App off, driver is off duty
The rideshare company's coverage does not apply. The driver's personal auto insurance is the policy that responds, the same as any other private driver on the road.
App on, waiting for a ride request
This is sometimes called Period 1. The company provides contingent liability coverage, meaning it may apply if the driver's personal policy does not. The limits in this phase are much lower than during an active trip.
En route to a passenger or carrying a passenger
Once a driver has accepted a request and is heading to pick up, and continuing until the ride ends, both Uber and Lyft maintain third-party liability coverage of $1 million for that period, along with uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. This is the phase with the most coverage available, and it covers passengers, other drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists injured by the rideshare driver's negligence.
If you were a passenger, you were almost certainly in that highest-coverage phase. If you were in another vehicle and have no idea what the other driver was doing, the app status becomes something that has to be established through records.
Who can be at fault in a Texas rideshare crash
A rideshare passenger is rarely at fault for anything, which simplifies the liability question for passengers. But fault still has to be assigned between the drivers involved, and that allocation controls who pays.
Texas uses modified comparative fault with a 51 percent bar. A plaintiff whose share of responsibility is more than 50 percent recovers nothing. At 51 percent at fault, recovery is zero. Below that line, a damages award is reduced by the plaintiff's percentage of fault. So a driver found 20 percent responsible for a collision with an Uber would see an award cut by 20 percent, while a driver found 51 percent responsible would recover nothing at all.
This is why insurers in rideshare cases often work hard to shift a slice of blame onto the injured person. Every percentage point reduces what they pay, and crossing the 51 percent line eliminates the claim entirely.
Worth noting: Uber and Lyft classify their drivers as independent contractors, not employees. That classification is one of the reasons claims typically proceed against the commercial insurance policy rather than against the company itself on a theory that it is responsible for its employee's conduct.
What damages are available
Texas does not cap ordinary compensatory damages in a motor vehicle case. Economic losses like medical bills, future medical care, lost wages, and lost earning capacity are recoverable in full as proven. Noneconomic damages such as physical pain, mental anguish, physical impairment, and disfigurement are also uncapped in a standard rideshare claim.
Punitive damages are a separate category and are capped. Under Chapter 41 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, exemplary damages are limited to the greater of $200,000, or twice the amount of economic damages plus up to $750,000 of noneconomic damages. Punitive damages require proof of fraud, malice, or gross negligence, so they are not part of a typical negligence case. They come up more often in crashes involving conduct like drunk driving.
The deadline to file an Uber or Lyft injury lawsuit in Texas
Texas gives injured people two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit, under Section 16.003 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. If no suit is on file when those two years run out, the claim is generally barred no matter how strong it was.
A few things people commonly misunderstand about that deadline:
- Reporting the crash in the Uber or Lyft app does not stop the clock. Neither does opening a claim with an insurance adjuster.
- Ongoing settlement negotiations do not extend it. Insurers are not required to warn anyone that the deadline is approaching.
- Limited exceptions and different deadlines can apply in certain situations, including claims involving minors and claims against governmental entities, which carry their own short notice requirements.
Evidence that tends to matter in rideshare cases
Rideshare claims turn on records that live on a company server rather than at the scene. The information that commonly ends up being important includes:
- The trip receipt or ride history in the app, which documents the ride and its timing
- The driver's app status and GPS data at the moment of the collision
- The Texas Peace Officer's Crash Report
- Photographs of the vehicles, the roadway, and visible injuries
- Medical records that connect the treatment to the collision
- Names and contact information for passengers and witnesses
- Dashcam footage, which many rideshare drivers run
App data is held by the company and typically has to be requested formally. Gaps in treatment, by contrast, are frequently used by insurers to argue that an injury was minor or came from something else.
The bottom line
Uber and Lyft both carry $1 million liability coverage that applies while a driver is en route to a passenger or on an active trip, which covers most passenger injury situations. When the app was off, the driver's personal policy is the coverage at issue. Texas allows recovery as long as the injured person is not more than 50 percent at fault, places no cap on ordinary compensatory damages, and requires that a personal injury lawsuit be filed within two years of the injury under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Sec. 16.003. Because coverage, fault, and the filing deadline all interact, the specific facts of a given crash determine how those rules play out.
This article is general information about Texas law and is not legal advice. Laws change and every case is different. Talk to a licensed attorney about your situation.