Who pays after an Uber or Lyft accident in Texas?

The three coverage periods

Texas structured rideshare insurance around the driver's phone. App off: the driver's personal auto policy applies, and it commonly excludes commercial activity. Logged on and waiting for a request: the same law requires minimums of $50,000 per person and $100,000 per crash for injury, plus $25,000 property damage. Ride accepted through drop-off: the coverage jumps to a total aggregate limit of at least $1 million per incident, with uninsured motorist and PIP where required. These rules protect everyone the rideshare vehicle hits, not just passengers: other drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists claim against the same tiers.

Why seconds on an app are worth $900,000

The difference between waiting and en route is a tap on a screen, and it moves available coverage from six figures to a million dollars. Carriers know it, and disputes over the driver's exact status at impact are a standard defense play. Texas anticipated this: the statute obligates the rideshare company and its insurer to disclose the precise times the driver logged on and off in the twelve hours before and after the crash. That data, plus trip records and GPS, must be demanded and preserved immediately, because it is the whole coverage fight in one file.

The gaps the companies built in

Two structural problems recur. First, rideshare drivers are classified as independent contractors, which the companies use to deflect direct liability, leaving the layered insurance as the practical recovery. Second, if the driver's personal policy has lapsed or excludes the loss, the statute makes the rideshare company's coverage respond from the first dollar, a provision carriers do not volunteer. Delivery-app crashes, Uber Eats, DoorDash and their kin, run on similar but not identical coverage structures, so the platform involved changes the analysis.

If you were the passenger

Passengers in a rideshare occupy the strongest position: you were not driving, the $1 million tier is engaged, and it applies whether your driver or a third party caused the crash, with UM/UIM protection layered for the uninsured stranger. The practical work is documentation: screenshot the trip in the app, the receipt, the driver identity, and the route, before the record is only on their servers. Silver Key Law has litigated against rideshare defendants and their coverage layers, and the pattern is constant: the company's data tells the story, and the side that secures it first frames the case.

Injured in Arizona? Some rules on this page are Texas-specific. Arizona differs on points that change outcomes, including pure comparative fault and government-claim deadlines. See our Arizona answers or call (888) 508-6967.

Related: Passenger Injuries · Uninsured Drivers · Submit Your Case · All Common Questions

This page is general information about Texas law, not legal advice about your specific situation. Deadlines and outcomes depend on facts; talk to a lawyer about yours.