Texas car accident claims: deadlines, fault rules and insurance, explained
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The coverage available in an Uber or Lyft crash swings between $30,000 and $1,000,000 depending on what the driver’s app was doing at the moment of impact.
The short answer
Texas sets rideshare coverage by period. App off: the ordinary 30/60/25 minimum. App on but no ride accepted: $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident, $25,000 property. Ride accepted through drop-off: $1,000,000 aggregate. Establishing which period applied is the first task in the claim.
In this guide
The three periods
Texas Insurance Code chapter 1954 divides a rideshare driver’s day into three states, and attaches different required coverage to each.
Chapter 1954 imposes nothing special. The driver is an ordinary motorist and the Texas minimum applies: $30,000 per person, $60,000 per collision, $25,000 property damage.
$50,000 for bodily injury or death of one person, $100,000 per incident, and $25,000 for property damage. Higher than the private minimum, and far below the top tier.
From the moment the driver accepts the ride until the passenger is dropped off, the required coverage is a total aggregate limit of $1,000,000 for death, bodily injury and property damage per incident.
Tex. Ins. Code § 1954.052, § 1954.053(1); Tex. Transp. Code § 601.072(a-1).
Whose policy pays
The required coverage may be satisfied by insurance the driver carries, insurance the transportation network company carries, or a combination of the two. The statute cares about the total, not the source.
If the driver’s own policy has lapsed or does not provide the required coverage, the company must provide it beginning with the first dollar of the claim. There is no gap for the claimant to fall into.
Texas does not separately mandate UM/UIM for rideshare periods. It applies where the ordinary rule in section 1952.101 would require it — that is, unless the named insured rejected it in writing.
Same structure: PIP applies during rideshare periods only where section 1952.152 would otherwise require it.
Tex. Ins. Code § 1954.051(d), § 1954.054, §§ 1954.052(2)–(3), 1954.053(2)–(3).
Why the personal policy often will not
Passengers and other drivers sometimes assume the rideshare driver’s own car insurance is available in the background. In Texas it frequently is not, and lawfully so.
An insurer may exclude from a personal automobile policy any loss occurring while the driver is logged on to a rideshare network or engaged in a prearranged ride — and that exclusion may reach liability, PIP, uninsured motorist, medical payments, comprehensive and collision cover alike. A personal policy is not required to provide any coverage during those periods.
The practical consequence is that the chapter 1954 tiers are usually not a supplement to the driver’s own policy. They are the coverage.
Tex. Ins. Code § 1954.151(a), § 1954.152.
What this means in practice
Trip screenshots, the ride receipt, the timestamp on the request and the driver’s own account all speak to which period applied. That single fact moves the available coverage by a factor of twenty.
Regulation of these companies, their logged-in drivers and the vehicles used for prearranged rides is exclusively a matter for the State of Texas. A municipality cannot add to it, so local ordinances are not a separate avenue.
A rideshare driver is treated as an independent contractor rather than an employee where the company does not control hours, territory, use of competing networks or other work, and the parties agreed in writing. That shapes who is liable for what.
Two years to file, damages reduced by your share of responsibility, nothing at all above 50 percent. Rideshare changes the coverage, not the rules of the claim.
Tex. Occ. Code § 2402.003(a), § 2402.101, § 2402.114; Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 16.003, 33.001.
Free case check
Nine questions about what happened, including whether a rideshare vehicle was involved. No account, and nothing owed.
Common questions
It depends on the period. App off: the ordinary 30/60/25 minimum. App on with no ride accepted: $50,000 per person, $100,000 per incident, $25,000 property. Ride accepted through drop-off: $1,000,000 aggregate.
Often not. Texas expressly allows a personal auto policy to exclude any loss occurring while the driver is logged on or on a prearranged ride, across liability, PIP, UM, medical payments, comprehensive and collision.
The transportation network company must provide the required coverage from the first dollar of the claim.
Only where the ordinary Texas rule would require it — that is, unless the named insured rejected UM/UIM in writing. Chapter 1954 does not independently mandate it.
No. Regulation of these companies and their drivers is exclusively a matter for the State of Texas.
Sources
Every Texas rule stated here is taken from the primary source named below. The Texas statutes are published free by the Texas Legislative Council.
Keep reading
Which policy responds, and the deadlines your own insurer must meet.
The ordinary claim, and the framework every other type is measured against.
The first hour, the first week, and what Texas law requires at the scene.
Editorial information
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Next steps
That single fact can move the available coverage from $30,000 to $1,000,000. See how the Texas rules apply to what happened. General information only, not legal advice.
Texas-specific information on crash deadlines, fault rules and insurance, with the statute cited on every page. Operated by National Claim Network. Not a law firm, insurer, or government agency.
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