Uber and Lyft Crash Insurance in Illinois: Who Pays

Last Updated: October 7, 2026

After a crash with an Uber or Lyft car in Illinois, which insurance pays depends on what the driver’s app was doing. While the driver waits for a ride, the driver’s own policy comes first and the company’s coverage backs it up. Once a ride is accepted, Illinois requires at least $1,000,000 of coverage, and that coverage pays first.

“Two insurance companies are each telling me the other one is responsible. Who actually pays?” The question comes from a passenger, or from the driver of the other car, who was hurt in a crash with an Uber or Lyft car. Each side now has an adjuster (the insurance company’s claim handler) saying the other company owes the claim. Illinois answers the question with one fact: what the rideshare driver’s app was doing at the moment of the crash. This page explains the two situations the law describes, the coverage each one requires, and what to do next.

Parker & Parker takes these cases. Robert Parker handles claims for injured passengers, other drivers and pedestrians after rideshare crashes in Peoria, Tazewell, McLean, Knox and Woodford counties, and he personally handles every case the firm accepts. You can call before you have the crash report or a claim number.

Which insurance pays after an Uber or Lyft crash in Illinois?

The Transportation Network Providers Act, 625 ILCS 57/10, sets the insurance a rideshare company and its drivers must carry, and it ties the amount to the driver’s app. The Act describes two situations:

App on, waiting. The driver is logged in and has no ride accepted. The same rules apply after a ride ends, until the driver accepts another request or logs off.
Ride accepted or passenger aboard. The driver has accepted a ride request, is on the way to the pickup, or has the passenger in the car, through the end of the ride.

The Act’s requirements begin the moment the driver logs in and end when the driver logs off. With the app off, the Act adds no coverage, and the crash is handled like any other car crash. Each situation below has its own numbers, so the first thing to pin down after a crash is which one applied.

What coverage applies while the driver is waiting for a ride?

While the driver is logged in and waiting, the Act requires liability coverage (insurance that pays the people the driver injures) of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per crash for death or injury, and $25,000 for property damage. The driver’s own policy is the first place to look for those amounts.

The rideshare company must also carry what the Act calls contingent coverage at those same amounts. It pays when the driver’s own policy excludes coverage under its terms or carries limits below the required amounts. So if the driver’s insurer denies the claim because the policy excludes the trip, the exclusion is what brings the company’s waiting-period coverage into play, and the denial letter is the proof to send to the company’s insurer with the claim. If the driver’s policy covers the trip but carries limits below the required amounts, the company’s contingent coverage applies at those amounts as well.

What coverage applies once a ride is accepted or a passenger is aboard?

From the moment the driver accepts a ride request until the ride is complete, the Act requires $1,000,000 of liability coverage for death, injury and property damage, and it requires that coverage to be primary. Primary means it pays first. The Act states that this coverage cannot depend on the driver’s personal policy denying the claim first, and that nobody can require the personal policy to deny first. When an adjuster tells you to claim against the driver’s personal policy first during an accepted ride, the Act’s answer is that the $1,000,000 coverage pays without that step.

From the moment a passenger gets into the car until the passenger gets out, the coverage must also include $50,000 of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. In plain words, uninsured motorist coverage pays when the driver who caused the crash had no insurance, and underinsured motorist coverage helps when that driver’s limits are lower than yours; both terms are explained further below. So a passenger hurt by another driver who had no insurance has that $50,000 to look to, and may also have uninsured motorist coverage on a personal auto policy. Whether the two can be combined depends on the policy language.

One rule applies in both situations. If the driver’s own insurance has lapsed or ended, the company must provide the required coverage from the first dollar of the claim.

Is $1,000,000 the most the rideshare company can owe?

$1,000,000 is the minimum coverage the Act requires from acceptance through the end of the ride. The Act also states that it does not limit a company’s liability in a lawsuit for damages above the required coverage. Whether a company itself owes anything in a particular case depends on facts and law beyond this page, and Robert Parker looks at that question case by case. The point for a reader weighing an offer is that the Act’s figure is a floor for the insurance, and the Act itself says it does not cap a lawsuit.

Does it matter whether the driver is an employee or an independent contractor?

The Act says nothing about whether a rideshare driver is the company’s employee or an independent contractor. The coverage rules above turn on what the app was doing at the moment of the crash and apply whichever label the company uses for its drivers. When an adjuster says the drivers are independent contractors, the coverage question is unchanged: find out whether the driver was logged in, and whether a ride had been accepted.

What if the other driver had no insurance, or too little?

Two sources can answer that question, and both are written into Illinois law.

The rideshare coverage. While a passenger is in the car, the Act requires $50,000 of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, as described above.
Your own auto policy. Under 215 ILCS 5/143a, every Illinois auto policy must include uninsured motorist coverage for bodily injury, and it cannot go below the state minimum. Under 215 ILCS 5/143a-2, that coverage is written at the same limits as your liability coverage unless you rejected the higher amount in writing. The same section requires a policy with uninsured motorist limits above the state minimum to carry underinsured motorist coverage at the same limits. Underinsured motorist coverage fills the gap between the other driver’s limits and your own underinsured limit, after what you actually recover from the other driver.

Three practical rules follow. Many policies do not let you add limits together, so the policy language controls whether the rideshare coverage and your own coverage can be combined. Disputes with your own insurer about uninsured motorist coverage are usually decided in arbitration (a private hearing before a neutral decision maker) rather than by a jury. And tell your lawyer before accepting any settlement from the other driver’s insurer, because your own policy has notice rules that can affect an underinsured motorist claim. Your declarations page, the summary sheet that lists your coverages and limits, is the place to start; bring it to the consultation. The firm’s uninsured and underinsured motorist page covers these claims in more detail.

What should I do when two insurers each say the other is responsible?

Pin down the app status first, because everything above turns on it. A passenger has the ride receipt and the trip record in the app; another driver has the crash report and the information exchanged at the scene; the rideshare company keeps the trip data. Then:

Keep the ride receipt, screenshots of the trip, the crash report, both claim numbers, every letter from each insurer, and your medical bills.
Ask each insurer to put its position in writing. The company’s waiting-period coverage applies when the driver’s own policy excludes the trip or carries limits below the required amounts; a written denial, or the declarations page showing the limits, is how you show which one happened.
You do not owe the liability insurer for the driver who caused the crash a recorded statement (an interview the adjuster records and can quote later); get advice before you give one. Any policy you are claiming uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage under, including the coverage required while you were a passenger and your own auto policy, has its own notice and cooperation terms, so ask before you refuse or before you answer.
Get medical care and keep the records; the claim is built from them.
Watch the filing deadline. Under 735 ILCS 5/13-202, most personal injury lawsuits in Illinois must be filed within two years of the crash. Exceptions exist, including a one-year deadline for claims against a local public entity such as a city under 745 ILCS 10/8-101, so the dates get checked at the first meeting.

Talk with Robert Parker about the crash

Call 309-673-0069 or send a message through the contact page. The consultation is free, and in a personal injury case the fee is one-third of the recovery, charged only if there is a recovery. If you are calling for a family member who was hurt, say so; the review starts with whatever you have, and the missing pieces get gathered from there. Rideshare crashes are part of the firm’s Peoria car accident practice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Uber or Lyft insurance cover every crash their drivers are in?

Only while the driver is logged in to the app. The Act’s coverage requirements apply from the moment the driver logs in until the driver logs off. A crash with the app off is handled like any other car crash. While the driver is logged in and waiting, the required amounts are at least $50,000 per person, $100,000 per crash and $25,000 for property damage, with the company’s contingent coverage behind the driver’s own policy. From acceptance of a ride through the end of the ride, the required coverage is $1,000,000, and it pays first.

I was a passenger in an Uber or Lyft. Whose insurance covers my injuries?

A passenger drove neither car, so the claim depends on which driver caused the crash. If the rideshare driver caused it, the $1,000,000 coverage that applies from acceptance through the end of the ride pays first. If the other driver caused it, that driver’s liability insurance is the first source. If that driver had no insurance or too little, the $50,000 of uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage required while you were in the car applies, along with any uninsured motorist coverage on your own auto policy, subject to the policy language on combining limits.

The rideshare driver’s personal insurer denied the claim. What happens next?

The Act says where the claim goes next. While the driver was waiting for a ride, the company’s contingent coverage applies when the driver’s own policy excludes the trip or its limits fall short of the required amounts, and the denial letter is your proof of the exclusion. During an accepted ride, the $1,000,000 coverage pays first and cannot be made to wait for a denial from the personal insurer. If the driver’s personal policy had lapsed, the company provides the required coverage from the first dollar.

Can I use my own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage after a rideshare crash?

Every Illinois auto policy must include uninsured motorist coverage, and a policy with uninsured limits above the state minimum must also include underinsured motorist coverage at the same limits (215 ILCS 5/143a and 143a-2). Whether that coverage applies to your crash, and whether it can be combined with the rideshare coverage, depends on your policy’s language. Bring your declarations page to the consultation, and tell your lawyer before you accept any settlement from the other driver’s insurer, because your own policy has notice rules.

How long do I have to file a rideshare accident claim in Illinois?

Most personal injury lawsuits in Illinois must be filed within two years of the crash under 735 ILCS 5/13-202. Exceptions exist, including a one-year deadline for claims against a local public entity under 745 ILCS 10/8-101, so call and have the dates checked rather than counting on the two years.

What does it cost to talk with the firm?

The consultation is free. In a personal injury case the fee is one-third of the recovery, and there is no attorney fee unless the firm recovers money for you.

For a free consultation about your injury case, contact our our personal injury team today.

Uber and Lyft Crash in Illinois: Which Insurance Pays, and How Much?