What Uber and Lyft insurance applies in Texas?
Texas’s rideshare insurance floors are statewide. They apply everywhere in the state, they change when a driver accepts a ride request, and they come from Insurance Code chapter 1954. Those statutory floors are not a quote for a personal rideshare endorsement.
The available insurance depends on the driver’s exact app status. While a driver is waiting for a request, Texas requires the waiting-period liability amounts in Insurance Code §1954.052, including $50,000 for bodily injury to or death for each person in an incident; after a ride is accepted, the required rideshare liability limit rises to $1 million for each incident. If the driver is offline, the rideshare policy does not apply and the driver’s personal auto policy controls.
Damage to the driver’s own car while the driver is waiting for a request, and whether the platform must answer for the driver’s driving, are separate topics from these insurance floors.
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Three insurance periods, three different numbers
Texas doesn’t insure an Uber or Lyft trip under a single policy. It treats the driver’s app status at the moment of the accident as the deciding fact, and each status carries a different insurer and a different limit.
| App status at impact | Policy that responds | Liability available |
|---|---|---|
| Driver offline | Driver’s personal auto policy | Driver’s personal policy limits. Texas minimum financial-responsibility limits are $30,000 for bodily injury to or death of one person in one collision, $60,000 for bodily injury to or death of two or more persons in one collision, and $25,000 for property damage in one collision. Tex. Transp. Code §601.072. As of November 10, 2026, that official page did not return the section text, so the $30,000, $60,000, and $25,000 figures are unverified against the statute on that date. |
| App on, waiting for a request | Required rideshare / TNC coverage | $50,000 for bodily injury to or death for each person in an incident; $100,000 for bodily injury to or death of a person per incident; and $25,000 for damage to or destruction of property of others in an incident, plus uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage and personal injury protection coverage where required by Sections 1952.101 and 1952.152. Tex. Ins. Code §1954.052. |
| Ride accepted through drop-off | Rideshare company’s commercial policy | Coverage with a total aggregate limit of liability of $1 million for death, bodily injury, and property damage for each incident, plus UM/UIM and PIP where required by Sections 1952.101 and 1952.152. That period begins when the driver accepts a ride requested through the company’s digital network and ends when the last requesting rider departs from the vehicle. Tex. Ins. Code §§1954.053 and 1954.001(3). |
*The coverage requirements may be satisfied by insurance maintained by the driver, insurance maintained by the transportation network company, or a combination of both. Tex. Ins. Code §1954.051(d). If a driver-maintained policy has lapsed or does not provide the required coverage, the transportation network company shall provide the required coverage beginning with the first dollar of a claim against the driver. §1954.054. Coverage under an automobile insurance policy maintained by the company is not contingent on the driver’s personal automobile insurer initially denying a claim. §1954.055. The official chapter text is published at statutes.capitol.texas.gov. Confirm the policy actually in effect on the date of the accident before relying on any specific coverage.
NoteTexas law treats the drive to pick up the passenger and the trip itself as one continuous period — what Insurance Code §1954.001(3) calls a “prearranged ride,” beginning at acceptance and ending when the last requesting rider departs. There is no separate, lower statutory tier for the minutes before pickup. House Bill 3520 in 2025 would have lowered that en-route-to-pickup floor relative to current law. The official bill history shows a last action of May 28, 2025, when the bill was placed on the Senate intent calendar; it does not show enrollment or an effective date. The bill did not become law. Chapter 1954 as published November 8, 2026, still applies the $1 million floor whenever the driver is engaged in a prearranged ride. 89(R) HB 3520 history.
It’s not whether they were driving for Uber. It’s what the app was doing.
Personal auto policies may exclude or restrict coverage while a vehicle is being used for rideshare work. An insurer may exclude from a personal automobile policy any loss or injury that occurs while a TNC driver using the personal vehicle is logged on to a digital network or engaged in a prearranged ride. That permission applies to liability, personal injury protection, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, medical payments, comprehensive, and collision. Tex. Ins. Code §1954.151. The statute does not require a personal policy to cover that activity, but an insurer may still provide the coverage by policy or endorsement. §1954.152. Whether an endorsement is available, and what it costs, depends on the personal insurer and the policy.
Texas therefore requires the waiting-period limits to be in place while the driver is logged on and available, whether that required coverage is maintained by the driver, the rideshare company, or both. Company-maintained coverage is not contingent on a personal insurer first denying the claim. §§1954.051, 1954.054, and 1954.055.
A ride acceptance can move the required rideshare liability tier from the §1954.052 waiting-period amounts — including $50,000 for bodily injury to or death for each person in an incident and $100,000 for bodily injury to or death of a person per incident — to a $1 million total liability limit under §1954.053. Establishing the driver’s exact app status at impact is therefore one of the first things worth nailing down after a Texas rideshare accident.
Do Austin or Dallas have different Uber or Lyft insurance limits?
No. Austin and Dallas do not have a different statutory Uber or Lyft liability floor than the rest of Texas. The Insurance Code chapter 1954 floors are statewide.
Separately, Occupations Code §2402.003 makes regulation of transportation network companies an exclusive power and function of this state. A municipality or other local entity may not regulate them by imposing a tax, requiring an additional license or permit, setting rates, imposing operational or entry requirements, or imposing other requirements, except as the chapter allows. Chapter 2402 was added by House Bill 100 (85th Legislature, 2017), which took effect May 29, 2017. Tex. Occ. Code §2402.003.
A person may not operate a transportation network company in Texas without a permit issued under Occupations Code §2402.051. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation issues that permit to the company, not to the individual driver. Occupations Code §2402.101 then applies Insurance Code chapter 1954 to transportation network companies and drivers logged in to a digital network. TDLR TNC operations guide; §§2402.051 and 2402.101.
An airport owner or operator may impose regulations, including a reasonable fee, on a TNC that provides digitally prearranged rides to or from the airport, and a governmental body with jurisdiction over a cruise ship terminal may do the same for rides to or from the terminal. Those extra rules may not conflict with chapter 2402 and may not include driver requirements beyond Occupations Code §2402.107. They do not create a different statewide statutory insurance minimum. Ordinary traffic rules that treat TNC vehicles and drivers the same as others remain in force. §2402.003(b)–(e).
What if the other driver has no insurance, or not enough?
Liability insurance and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage do different jobs. Liability pays claims against whoever caused the accident. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can apply when that person has no insurance, or not enough to cover the loss.
Insurance Code §§1954.052(2) and 1954.053(2) require uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage “where required by Section 1952.101.” Section 1952.101 requires an insurer to provide UM/UIM on an automobile liability policy delivered or issued for delivery in Texas, unless any insured named in the policy rejects the coverage in writing. After a written rejection, the insurer need not add that coverage to a reinstatement or renewal unless the named insured later requests it in writing. Chapter 1954 does not set its own UM/UIM dollar amount. Tex. Ins. Code §1952.101.
The same structure applies to personal injury protection. Sections 1954.052(3) and 1954.053(3) require PIP “where required by Section 1952.152.” Section 1952.152 requires PIP unless a named insured rejects it in writing, with the same renewal rule. Section 1952.153 says that subchapter does not require an insurer to provide PIP in an amount that exceeds $2,500 for all benefits, in the aggregate, for each person. That is a cap on the required PIP amount, not a promise that every Texas Uber or Lyft accident produces a $2,500 PIP payment. Tex. Ins. Code §§1952.152 and 1952.153.
Uber
Uber’s Texas certificate for the March 1, 2026–March 1, 2027 policy period, issued by United Financial Casualty Company, shows $50,000 bodily injury per person / $100,000 per accident / $25,000 property damage while the driver is logged on and available but has not accepted a request. After acceptance, while the driver is traveling to the pickup or from the pickup to the final destination, it shows a $1,000,000 combined single limit, with comprehensive and collision at actual cash value subject to a $2,500 deductible. Both forms state that uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is not included in any amount. No PIP amount is printed. The form does not print the word Texas; the state label comes from Uber’s certificate index. Uber Texas certificate of insurance
Confirm Uber’s Texas certificate and the policy in effect on the accident date for any UM/UIM or PIP the company then documented. Uber’s 2026–27 Texas certificate states that UM/UIM is not included in any amount and prints no PIP figure. A certificate line is not a substitute for the Insurance Code offer-and-rejection rules.
Lyft
Lyft’s Texas certificate for the October 1, 2026–October 1, 2027 policy period, issued by Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company, shows $50,000 bodily injury per person / $100,000 per accident / $25,000 property damage on the Period 1 policy and a $1,000,000 combined single limit on the policy labeled Period 2/3, with auto physical damage at actual cash value or the cost of repair, whichever is less, less a $2,500 deductible. The certificate does not print a UM/UIM or PIP amount, and it does not define its period labels. Lyft Texas certificate of insurance, October 1, 2026–October 1, 2027
Confirm Lyft’s Texas certificate and the policy in effect on the accident date the same way. A Texas-specific UM/UIM or PIP limit should not be assumed from another state’s materials.
A personal auto policy may also include UM/UIM or PIP if that coverage was provided and not rejected in writing. Check the declarations page and any written rejection for the policy period that includes the accident. That personal-policy path is one place to look. It is not a statute-declared exclusive remedy.
What actually proves which policy applies
Rideshare companies keep electronic trip records showing exactly when a ride was requested, accepted, started, and completed. Those records settle the app-status question far better than anyone’s memory of it after the fact.
In an insurance-claim investigation, the transportation network company and any insurer providing chapter 1954 coverage shall assist by providing the precise times the driver logged on and off the digital network in the 12-hour period immediately preceding and the 12-hour period immediately following the accident, and a clear description of the coverage, exclusions, and limits under the Subchapter B policy. Tex. Ins. Code §1954.154. After a collision, the driver shall, on request, provide proof of the insurance that satisfies §§1954.052 and 1954.053 and disclose whether the driver was logged on to the company’s digital network or engaged in a prearranged ride. §1954.056(b). Occupations Code §2402.151 also requires a TNC to keep individual ride records for at least five years.
Useful evidence includes:
Does Lyft cover damage to the driver’s car while the driver is waiting for a request?
The liability floors in the table are a different question from who pays for damage to the driver’s own car.
Neeley v. Lyft is the vehicle-damage brief. The driver had the Lyft app on and was waiting for a request. He had no passenger and had not accepted a pickup when he rear-ended another car. His personal policy excluded damage to his car while he was logged in. Lyft’s collision coverage, as the court described it, started only after a driver accepted a ride request.
On February 12, 2026, a Texas appeals court upheld the result for Liberty Mutual on every claim and for Lyft on most claims. It sent two claims about what Lyft allegedly failed to disclose back to the trial court, because Lyft’s motion had not asked for judgment on those claims. The court said Neeley conceded that neither policy covered his collision claim. The case does not set a new statutory amount for vehicle damage.
Does Uber have to answer for the driver’s driving?
Acosta v. Uber is the platform-liability brief. Two riders said their Uber driver collided with another vehicle and that Uber’s app encouraged him to look at his phone. On July 1, 2025, the Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso affirmed a judgment for Uber. The opinion states that the driver was an independent contractor under Occupations Code §2402.114 on the day of the accident. It also states that the record had no evidence Uber required him to use his phone while driving. That is a no-evidence finding about a requirement. It does not describe what the driver did with a phone at the moment of the accident. The court rejected the arguments that Uber had presented the driver as its agent and that Uber and the driver were in a joint enterprise.
Vehicle damage and platform liability stay separate topics. Acosta applies Occupations Code §2402.114, the independent-contractor statute. The Austin and Dallas section uses §2402.003, the state-preemption statute.