Which insurance applies at each stage of a North Carolina Uber or Lyft trip?
Start with the app, not with the city. North Carolina uses three stages. The driver is offline. The driver is logged on and waiting. Or the driver has accepted a request and is still inside TNC service.
Each stage points at a different kind of insurance. Liability coverage, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and any optional medical coverage are not the same thing. The record that proves the stage is part of the claim.
The rules are in Article 10A of Chapter 20, including G.S. 20-280.1 and G.S. 20-280.4.
North Carolina & the South
Which stage was the app in?
G.S. 20-280.1(5) defines TNC service by the app. It begins when the driver accepts a ride request. It ends at the later of two times: the driver completes the transaction on the app, or all passengers have exited and finished unloading. North Carolina does not split “driving to the pickup” from “passenger in the car.” Both are TNC service.
| Stage | Liability | Uninsured and underinsured motorist |
|---|---|---|
| Offline | Article 10A does not set the offline personal-policy floor. For a personal policy issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2025, G.S. 20-279.21(b)(2) sets minimum liability at $50,000 bodily injury per person, $100,000 bodily injury per accident, and $50,000 property damage. The Department of Insurance summary says the prior floor was $30,000 / $60,000 / $25,000. A claim on an older policy is read under the law that applied to that policy. | See the uninsured section below. The rideshare statute does not govern an offline personal policy. |
| Logged on, available, no request accepted | Primary liability of at least $50,000 because of death or bodily injury to one person in any one accident, $100,000 because of death or bodily injury to two or more persons in any one accident, and $25,000 because of injury to or destruction of property in any one accident. G.S. 20-280.4(a)(2). The property-damage floor here stays $25,000. It is not the $50,000 personal-policy floor. | Combined uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage that complies with G.S. 20-279.21(b)(3) and (b)(4). |
| Accepted, until the later of app completion or finished unloading | Primary liability of at least $1,000,000 because of death, bodily injury, property damage, or any combination, in any one accident. G.S. 20-280.4(a)(3). | The same cross-reference. The $1 million liability floor does not, by itself, require $1 million of uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage. |
Which kind of insurance is that?
Liability coverage responds to the driver’s legal responsibility for harm. Uninsured-motorist coverage is the coverage G.S. 20-279.21 describes for an uninsured or hit-and-run motor vehicle. Underinsured-motorist coverage is bodily injury only. They are not substitutes for each other.
The waiting-period and TNC-service requirements may be met by the driver, by the company, or by a combination. G.S. 20-280.4(a)(4). The policy may be placed with an insurer licensed in North Carolina or an eligible surplus-lines insurer. G.S. 20-280.4(d).
If the driver’s insurance has lapsed, or does not provide the required coverage, the company’s insurance provides the required coverage beginning with the first dollar of a claim and provides the defense. G.S. 20-280.4(b). Company coverage must not depend on a personal insurer denying the claim. G.S. 20-280.4(c). Article 10A does not add a separate excess-only sentence for a driver policy that covers the trip and is merely short.
A personal auto insurer may exclude any coverage for a loss while the driver is logged on or providing TNC service. The statute lists liability, personal injury protection, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, medical payments, comprehensive, and collision. G.S. 20-280.4(i). The statute permits the exclusion. It does not say every personal policy uses it.
Article 10A does not set a mandatory rideshare medical-payments or personal-injury-protection dollar amount. The certificates below do not list one. Any first-party medical benefit has to be read from the policy that was in force that day.
| Certificate row | What it prints | Dated source |
|---|---|---|
| Uber, logged on, no request accepted | Liability $50,000 / $100,000 / $25,000. UM/UIM of $50,000 death and bodily injury per person, $100,000 per accident, and $50,000 property damage. Policy 06273861. Term March 1, 2026 to March 1, 2027. | Uber North Carolina certificate, United Financial Casualty Company, NAIC 11770. Certificate dated March 1, 2026. |
| Uber, after acceptance | $1,000,000 combined single limit. The same UM/UIM amounts. Policy 06270188. Same term. Automobile liability is increased to a $1,500,000 combined single limit when on public airport premises. | Same Uber certificate. The additional-remarks schedule for policy 06270188 lists comprehensive and collision at actual cash value with a $2,500 deductible. |
| Lyft, Period 1 | Bodily injury $50,000 / $100,000 and property damage $50,000. Policy NCBA1T6624548270. Term October 1, 2026 to October 1, 2027. The extra $25,000 of property-damage liability is above the $25,000 statutory waiting-period floor. It is not a change in the statute. | Lyft North Carolina certificate SEA-004219089-05, dated August 13, 2026, Mobilitas Insurance Company, NAIC 16392. The form says “Evidence of Insurance Only for the State of NC.” |
| Lyft, Period 2 and Period 3 | Period 2, policy NCBA2T6624548270, prints a $1,000,000 combined single limit. Period 3, policy NCBA3T6624548270, prints an auto-physical-damage deductible of $2,500 and does not print a liability dollar. Remarks say physical damage under Periods 2 and 3 is actual cash value or the cost of repair, whichever is less, less $2,500. Remarks say all automobile policies on the certificate include UM/UIM of $50,000 / $100,000 / $50,000. No airport increase is printed. | Same Lyft certificate. The certificate does not define the period labels. The $1 million statutory floor during TNC service is still G.S. 20-280.4(a)(3). The Period 3 row does not print that number. |
The certificate’s property-damage entry on the UM/UIM line is uninsured-motorist property damage. North Carolina does not create underinsured-motorist property damage. A certificate is evidence of insurance. It is not the policy, and it is not a quote for a personal endorsement.
What floor applies, and can it be rejected outright?
G.S. 20-280.4 requires combined uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in both the waiting period and TNC service. It points to G.S. 20-279.21(b)(3) and (b)(4) instead of writing a separate rideshare dollar amount.
Under the current statute, the default uninsured-motorist bodily-injury limits equal the highest bodily-injury liability limits for any one vehicle on the policy. That default is capped at $1,000,000 per person and $1,000,000 per accident. The named insured may buy greater or lesser limits, but not below the bodily-injury liability limits in subdivision (b)(2). Those limits are $50,000 and $100,000. Underinsured-motorist bodily-injury limits equal the uninsured-motorist bodily-injury limits.
Uninsured-motorist property-damage limits default to the highest property-damage liability limit, capped at $1,000,000 per accident, unless the named insured buys a lower limit. The lower limit cannot fall below the property-damage liability limit in subdivision (b)(2), which is $50,000. The first $100 of those property damages is excluded for each insured. Underinsured-motorist coverage is bodily injury only.
G.S. 20-279.21(m) says the named insured is required to purchase uninsured-motorist bodily injury, uninsured-motorist property damage, and underinsured-motorist bodily injury. A complete rejection is not the mechanism. The insurer gives notice at issuance and at renewal. The current text does not say that choosing a different limit inside the allowed range must be signed.
For policies governed by the current statute, the amount of underinsured-motorist coverage applicable to a claim shall not be reduced by a setoff or credit against any coverage, including liability insurance, except for workers’ compensation to the extent subsection (e) provides. The Department of Insurance’s July 1, 2025 summary describes that change. An accident on a policy issued under an older version has to be checked against the statute then in effect.
Both current certificates document $50,000 / $100,000 bodily-injury UM/UIM and $50,000 uninsured-motorist property damage. That is the floor. It is not $1 million.
What record shows the stage?
G.S. 20-280.4(m) requires an exchange, in a coverage investigation or an accident, of three things:
- A description of the coverage, exclusions, and limits under any insurance policy.
- The precise times the driver logged on and off during the 12 hours before and the 12 hours after the accident.
- The precise times the driver provided TNC service in those same 12-hour windows. That is the acceptance-to-end period, not only the time a passenger was seated.
G.S. 20-280.5(c) requires the company to keep the record of each TNC service in the state for one year from the date the service occurred. On request after an accident, the driver must give insurance information to interested parties, insurers, and investigating officers, and must say whether the driver was logged on or off. G.S. 20-280.4(f).
Keep the acceptance time, the time the transaction was completed on the app, and the time every passenger finished unloading. If the accident was on public airport premises, keep the location. Uber’s current certificate raises accepted-ride liability to $1,500,000 there. Lyft’s current certificate does not print that increase.
Do Charlotte or Raleigh change the floor? Where does the Mensing appeal fit?
G.S. 20-280.10 says that, except as Chapter 20 authorizes, no county, city, airport operator, or other governmental agency may impose fees, require licenses, limit TNC service, or otherwise regulate it. Ordinary local traffic and parking laws still apply. G.S. 20-280.9 lets an airport charge a reasonable fee, require a decal, and set staging and pickup areas. Those airport powers do not themselves create a different statutory insurance floor. Uber’s $1,500,000 airport figure is a line on Uber’s certificate. It is not a city ordinance, and it is not on Lyft’s certificate.
Does Uber Owe North Carolina Riders the Same Safety Duty as a Taxi Company? That article is a platform-duty question. It is not a reading of these insurance floors.
RideClaim.co is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
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That report is a driver-screening case. It is not a second insurance-limits guide.
The stage of the app picks the coverage.
Establish whether the driver was offline, waiting, or already inside TNC service. Then match the policy that was in force that day. A free review can start with those records.