When does Illinois coverage change: when the driver accepts the ride, or when the passenger gets in?

Acceptance opens the $1 million liability window. Passenger entry starts the $50,000 UM/UIM window.

The $1 million accepted-ride requirement is primary and can be satisfied by insurance maintained by the driver, insurance maintained by the TNC, or a combination, 625 ILCS 57/10(c)(1). That coverage cannot be conditioned on the driver’s personal insurer first denying the claim, 625 ILCS 57/10(c)(4). If coverage the driver was using to satisfy the statute lapses or ceases to exist, the TNC must provide the required coverage beginning with the first dollar of the claim, 625 ILCS 57/10(d).

Uber’s current Illinois certificate, effective March 1, 2026 through March 1, 2027, lists the statutory waiting-period liability limits and a $1,000,000 combined single limit once a ride has been accepted. Its schedule also identifies $50,000 per accident in uninsured/underinsured motorist bodily-injury coverage for the passenger-in-vehicle portion of the trip. Uber Illinois Certificate of Insurance.

Lyft’s current Illinois certificate, effective October 1, 2026 through October 1, 2027, lists $50,000/$100,000/$25,000 for the waiting period, a $1,000,000 combined single limit, and $50,000 combined single limit for uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. The statute controls the minimum period during which that rideshare UM/UIM coverage must apply. Lyft Illinois Certificate of Liability Insurance.

When does the higher Illinois coverage begin and end?

Illinois defines TNC service to begin when the driver accepts a transportation request through the app. It continues while the driver transports the passenger and ends when the passenger exits. Separately, the insurance statute keeps the $1 million accepted-ride coverage in place from acceptance until the driver completes the transaction on the app or the ride is complete, whichever is later. 625 ILCS 57/5 and 57/10.

That means the drive to the pickup is already inside the $1 million liability period.

But Illinois does not use that same starting point for the rideshare UM/UIM requirement. The $50,000 UM/UIM requirement begins only when the passenger enters the vehicle and ends when the passenger exits.

That distinction matters after accidents caused by uninsured or underinsured drivers. A driver hit while heading to pick up a passenger can be inside the $1 million TNC liability period without yet being inside Illinois’ required rideshare UM/UIM period.

Acceptance raises liability to $1 million. Passenger entry is what starts Illinois rideshare UM/UIM.

The app timeline can change the available liability insurance by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

An accident one minute before a request is accepted can fall under the $50,000/$100,000/$25,000 waiting-period structure. An accident one minute after acceptance moves into the $1 million liability tier.

For uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, Illinois requires one more fact: had the passenger actually entered the vehicle? Acceptance alone is not enough to trigger the statutory $50,000 rideshare UM/UIM requirement.

The waiting-period coverage is also different in another way. Illinois requires the TNC to maintain it on a contingent basis, meaning it responds when the driver’s own automobile liability policy excludes the activity or does not provide at least the statutory limits. By contrast, the accepted-ride insurance is expressly primary and cannot be made to wait for a personal insurer’s denial. Illinois TNC insurance requirements.

What about Chicago?

Chicago has its own transportation-network-provider insurance ordinance. It requires a provider to maintain $1 million in commercial automobile liability coverage from ride acceptance through completion and also requires $1 million in commercial general liability coverage. The city ordinance does not reduce the statewide waiting-period requirement. A unit of local government, whether or not it is a home-rule unit, may not regulate transportation network companies, drivers, or services in a manner that is less restrictive than the Act. Chicago Municipal Code § 9-115-090 and 625 ILCS 57/32.

Illinois’s $50,000 rideshare UM/UIM window is passenger-in-vehicle only

Liability insurance pays claims against a driver or insured party that is legally responsible for an accident. Uninsured motorist coverage protects an insured person when the at-fault vehicle has no applicable liability insurance. Underinsured motorist coverage addresses the gap when the at-fault vehicle has liability insurance, but its limits are below the applicable underinsured-motorist protection.

Illinois treats ordinary personal auto policies and TNC policies differently.

For personal auto policies, Illinois requires minimum uninsured-motorist bodily-injury coverage at the state’s financial-responsibility limits. If a policy has higher bodily-injury liability limits, uninsured-motorist limits must generally match those higher limits unless the named insured or applicant makes a written request for lower UM limits or a written rejection of the amount above the legal minimum. The current statute does not require a signature or initials for that written election. When the selected UM limits exceed the statutory minimum, the policy must also include underinsured-motorist coverage equal to the UM limits. 215 ILCS 5/143a and 215 ILCS 5/143a-2.

For the rideshare policy itself, 625 ILCS 57/10(c)(2) imposes a separate $50,000 UM/UIM requirement during the passenger-in-vehicle period.

Uber

Uber’s current Illinois certificate lists:

• Waiting for a request: $50,000 bodily injury per person / $100,000 per accident / $25,000 property damage.
• Accepted ride: $1,000,000 combined single limit.
• Heading to pickup: no rideshare UM/UIM shown for that leg.
• Passenger in vehicle: $50,000 per accident in uninsured/underinsured motorist bodily-injury coverage.

See the Uber Illinois Certificate of Insurance, effective March 1, 2026–March 1, 2027.

Lyft

Lyft’s current Illinois certificate lists:

• Waiting for a request: $50,000 bodily injury per person / $100,000 per accident / $25,000 property damage.
• Accepted-ride liability: $1,000,000 combined single limit.
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage: $50,000 combined single limit.

The certificate also lists comprehensive and collision coverage subject to a $2,500 deductible and the actual cash value or cost of repair, whichever is less. That vehicle-damage coverage is different from liability coverage and from UM/UIM bodily-injury coverage. See the Lyft Illinois Certificate of Liability Insurance, effective October 1, 2026–October 1, 2027.