Which clock was running in a Washington Uber or Lyft accident?

The liability window and the underinsured window are not the same stretch

Logged off, and not in a prearranged ride, the rideshare statute does not apply. If a Washington personal policy responds, the ordinary financial-responsibility floor is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $10,000 for property damage. RCW 46.29.090. Uninsured coverage is whatever that personal policy has, if anything.

PIP does not get its own dollar column. Before acceptance and during the prearranged ride, the primary policy must provide personal injury protection only “to the extent required” by RCW 48.22.085 and RCW 48.22.095. Those statutes make PIP an offer that a named insured may reject in writing. They are not a flat schedule like the $1 million liability figure.

If the driver has been matched and is traveling to the pickup, or is providing services to a passenger, the company that matched the driver provides the coverage. If the driver is logged into more than one company and has not been matched, liability is divided equally among the applicable commercial policies. RCW 46.72B.180(10). Delivery trips are outside this statute.

The $1 million period ends when the passenger gets out

“Commercial transportation services” means all times the driver is logged into the digital network, or until the passenger has left the personal vehicle, whichever is later. RCW 48.177.005(1). A “prearranged ride” is shorter. It begins at acceptance, continues while the driver transports the passenger, and ends when the passenger departs from the personal vehicle. RCW 48.177.005(6).

There is no statutory test that keeps the $1 million period open until the later of app completion or finished unloading. The ride ends when the passenger departs the vehicle.

The required policy is a primary automobile policy. The statute says a primary automobile policy for this purpose is not a private-passenger policy. Nothing in the section requires a private-passenger policy to provide primary coverage, excess coverage, or a defense while the driver is logged in or on a prearranged ride. The requirement can be met by the company, by the driver, or by a combination. A driver-bought policy may be an Office of the Insurance Commissioner-approved rider or endorsement. A vehicle that instead carries for-hire coverage under chapter 46.72 RCW, or limousine coverage under chapter 46.72A RCW, in force 24 hours a day, satisfies the section by that other route. That is not the ordinary personal-car path. RCW 46.72B.180(1), (2), and (7).

The coverage may be placed with a Washington-licensed insurer or an eligible surplus-lines insurer. Before the driver provides commercial transportation services, the company must give the driver written proof of the primary policy, or must verify a driver-purchased policy. The terms of service must include the statutory warning that the private-passenger policy might not afford liability, underinsured motorist, PIP, comprehensive, or collision coverage, plus a lienholder warning. The driver must acknowledge that electronically or by signature. RCW 46.72B.180(4), (5), and (15).

Ordinary Washington financial responsibility, when the rideshare statute does not apply, remains $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $10,000 property damage. The Department of Licensing’s mandatory-insurance page states the same figures and cites RCW 46.29.090 and RCW 46.30.020. Those are not the rideshare floors.

$1 million of liability is not $1 million of underinsured coverage

An accident on the way to a Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, or Bellevue pickup can already be inside the $1 million liability period and outside the only specific underinsured-motorist amount.

The $1 million combined single limit covers death, personal injury, and property damage during the prearranged ride. It does not, by itself, set the uninsured or underinsured motorist limit. It does not buy PIP. It does not pay the driver’s workers’ compensation claim.

For an accident while a passenger was in the car before June 9, 2022, the House Bill Report on ESHB 2076 says the law then required $1 million of underinsured-motorist coverage while a passenger was in the car. The 2022 legislature replaced that figure with $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. RCW 46.72B.190 uses June 9, 2022 as the act’s general effective date. Industrial-insurance sections of the same act were delayed to January 1, 2023. The underinsured-motorist dollar change is not one of those delayed sections. The House Bill Report, ESHB 2076, As Passed Legislature, is the source for the old $1 million passenger figure.

An accident before June 9, 2022 has to be read under the statute then in force, not under today’s $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident figure. A current accident uses the codified figure, not the old $1 million passenger requirement. The codified section’s last amendment on the RCW history line is 2022 c 281 s 33. No later amendment appeared on that history line as of October 2, 2026.

Passenger entry starts the only specific amount

Liability coverage and underinsured-motorist coverage solve different problems. Liability responds to the rideshare driver’s legal responsibility for the accident. Underinsured-motorist coverage responds when the at-fault vehicle has no applicable liability insurance, or when that insurance is less than the damages the covered person is legally entitled to recover.

Washington uses one underinsured-motorist statute for uninsured, underinsured, hit-and-run, and phantom vehicles. RCW 48.22.030. “Underinsured motor vehicle” includes a vehicle with no applicable liability insurance and a vehicle whose applicable liability limits are less than the damages the covered person is legally entitled to recover. That is a damages comparison. It is not a simple test of whether their limits sit below the claimant’s limits.

Before acceptance, underinsured-motorist coverage is required only “to the extent required under RCW 48.22.030.” RCW 46.72B.180(1)(b)(i)(B). From passenger entry until passenger exit, the amount is $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. There is no parallel sentence setting an uninsured-motorist dollar for the drive to the pickup after acceptance. Uber’s current certificate is explicit on that slice. Lyft’s current certificate states the $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident figure only on Period 3, and it does not define what Period 3 means.

What an ordinary Washington auto policy does with underinsured coverage

On an ordinary new auto policy, underinsured-motorist bodily-injury coverage must be issued in the same amount as third-party liability unless the named insured or spouse rejects all or part in writing. A written rejection sticks on renewal unless the named insured or spouse later requests coverage in writing. The written-rejection requirement applies to original issuance of policies issued after July 24, 1983, not to every renewal. RCW 48.22.030(3) and (4).

A phantom vehicle, meaning no physical contact, requires corroboration other than the testimony of the insured or another person with an underinsured-motorist claim from that accident, and a report to law enforcement within 72 hours. RCW 48.22.030(8).

Subsection (5) allows a policy to cap the limit at the maximum for all damages from one accident regardless of the number of covered persons. Subsection (6) allows an other-insurance clause under which the total limits of all similar coverages do not exceed the higher of the applicable limits. That is permission for a policy clause. It is not a holding that stacking is always barred or always allowed, and it is not a single statewide setoff formula. The policy language controls what those clauses do in a particular case.

A personal-auto exclusion under RCW 46.72B.180(6) applies to any coverage the named insured selected or rejected under RCW 48.22.030 and RCW 48.22.085. Buying a driver rider under subsection (2)(a) does not require a separate rejection under those two statutes. RCW 46.72B.180(9).

Property-damage uninsured-motorist coverage, on an ordinary policy, need only be issued together with bodily-injury coverage. It means physical damage to the insured motor vehicle unless the policy says otherwise. A written rejection is not required when the named insured merely chooses property-damage underinsured coverage below the property-damage liability limit. Hit-and-run or phantom-vehicle property damage may carry a deductible of not more than $300. Other underinsured property damage may carry a deductible of not more than $100. RCW 48.22.030(3), (4), and (7). Neither current company certificate states an uninsured-motorist property-damage limit. The $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident figure on both certificates is for death and bodily injury. It is not a property-damage benefit.

Uber’s certificate

Uber’s current Washington certificate is the file Uber’s U.S. certificates list labels “Washington.” It is issued by Liberty Surplus Insurance Corporation (NAIC 10725). The certificate date on each page is February 25, 2026. The automobile forms show a policy period of March 1, 2026 through March 1, 2027. The producer is Aon Risk Insurance Services West, Inc. The insureds are Rasier LLC, Rasier-CA LLC, Rasier-DC LLC, and Rasier-PA LLC. The certificate face does not print the words “State of Washington.” The state identification is Uber’s own certificates index. The $30,000 property-damage limit and the $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident passenger figure track the Washington statute rather than Uber’s generic national description. Uber Washington certificate of liability insurance.

• Available and waiting, policy ASE-665-067247-536, certificate number 570118117703. Covered autos are passenger autos used by a driver logged into the digital network, available to receive requests, who has not accepted any request. Liability limits printed: $50,000 bodily injury per person, $100,000 bodily injury per accident, and $30,000 property damage. The description states that uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage “is not included in any amount.”
• After acceptance, policy ASE-665-067247-546. Covered autos are those for which the driver has logged and recorded acceptance and is en route to the pickup or traveling from the pickup to the final destination. Liability limit printed: $1 million combined single limit. While en route to the pickup, the description states underinsured-motorist coverage “is not included in any amount.” While traveling from the pickup to the final destination, or on the premises of a public airport, it “is included in the amount of $100,000 for death and bodily injury per person and $300,000 for death and bodily injury per accident.”
• Physical damage on the same policy number ASE-665-067247-546, certificate number 570118117705, for that accepted-trip use. Comprehensive deductible $2,500. Collision deductible $2,500. The description does not say that coverage depends on the driver carrying personal comprehensive and collision.

The airport sentence is an underinsured-motorist trigger on the after-acceptance form. It is not a higher liability limit, and it is not on Lyft’s certificate. The Washington certificate does not list a PIP limit, a MedPay limit, or a higher airport liability limit.

The certificate states that underinsured-motorist coverage is not included while the driver is waiting and while the driver is en route to the pickup. Neither that certificate nor RCW 46.72B.180 settles whether those words are a written rejection under RCW 48.22.030, or a gap against the “to the extent required” cross-reference. The Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s gig-worker page warns that personal policies often do not cover gig driving. It does not interpret the rideshare underinsured-motorist clause.

Lyft’s certificate

Lyft’s current Washington certificate is issued by Mobilitas Insurance Company (NAIC 16392). The certificate date is August 14, 2026. The policies run October 1, 2026 through October 1, 2027. Certificate number SEA-004219094-05. Reference line CN109337515-WA-GAWUX-26-27. The producer is Marsh Risk & Insurance Services, San Francisco. The insured is Lyft, Inc. The form says “Evidence of Insurance Only for the State of WA.” Lyft Washington certificate of liability insurance.

• Period 1, policy WABA1T6624548270: bodily injury $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident, property damage $30,000.
• Period 2, policy WABA2T6624548270: combined single limit $1 million.
• Period 3, policy WABA3T6624548270: the limits cell prints “APD Deductible: $2,500” and does not print a liability dollar limit. The remarks say auto physical damage under Period 2 and Period 3 is actual cash value or cost of repair, whichever is less, less a $2,500 deductible, and that “Policy for Period 3 includes UM/UIM $100,000 each person / $300,000 each accident.” Spell that remark: $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident.

The certificate does not define Period 1, Period 2, or Period 3. Period 2 is the only row with a printed $1 million liability limit. Only Period 3 carries the $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident amount. Those rows can be lined up against the statute, but the form does not say which app status each period covers. It also does not state a Period 3 liability dollar amount, because the August 14, 2026 form does not print one.

The statute still requires a $1 million combined single limit for the whole prearranged ride, including the passenger trip. That requirement sits in RCW 46.72B.180. It is not a liability dollar amount printed on Lyft’s Period 3 row.

An earlier Alliant certificate dated August 22, 2025, for policies October 1, 2025 through October 1, 2026, did print “Period 3/CSL $1,000,000” on the same policy numbers, with the same Period 1 limits, $1 million Period 2, $2,500 physical-damage deductible, and Period 3 underinsured-motorist coverage of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. Lyft Washington certificate dated August 22, 2025. A later Marsh certificate for that same October 1, 2025 through October 1, 2026 year, dated April 30, 2026, already used the layout that omits a Period 3 liability figure. The omission is not unique to the 2026 through 2027 form. That does not supply a liability dollar amount for Period 3 on the current form.

No PIP, MedPay, waiting-period underinsured coverage, en-route underinsured coverage, or public-airport underinsured wording appears on the current Lyft certificate. The form also does not show an airport liability increase.

Both certificates are information-only ACORD forms. They say they confer no rights and do not amend the policies. Who is an insured, other-insurance clauses, and terms that were not printed on the certificate can live in forms these certificates do not attach. The certificate in force on the accident date, and the policy behind it, still have to be read.

PIP is an offer. These certificates do not list it.

Washington is not a no-fault state. The PIP statutes do not create a tort threshold. Fault still matters.

PIP is optional coverage that must be offered. No new automobile liability policy, and no renewal of such a policy, may be issued unless personal injury protection is offered as optional coverage. A named insured may reject PIP in writing. That rejection binds all levels of coverage and all persons who might otherwise have been insured, and it continues on renewal unless a named insured later requests PIP in writing. RCW 48.22.085.

If PIP is provided, the minimum offer is $10,000 medical and hospital benefits, $2,000 funeral expense, $10,000 income continuation limited to $200 per week, and $5,000 loss of services limited to $200 per week. RCW 48.22.095. Those are the minimums of an offer. They are not a statement that every rideshare policy in force carries the $10,000 medical benefit.

The rideshare statute points at those two sections both before acceptance and during the prearranged ride. RCW 46.72B.180(1)(b)(i)(C) and (1)(b)(ii)(B). Because the incorporated law allows a written rejection, “to the extent required” does not settle whether a particular company policy must carry PIP. Neither the current Uber certificate nor the current Lyft certificate lists a PIP amount.

MedPay is not a required Washington auto coverage. The rideshare statute lists it only as one of the coverages a personal auto insurer may exclude during logged-in or prearranged-ride use. RCW 46.72B.180(6)(d). No company MedPay figure was on either current certificate.

PIP, when a policy actually provides it, is first-party coverage. It can matter to a driver, a passenger, or another occupant who qualifies as an insured under the policy that applies. It is not a substitute for liability coverage against the at-fault driver, and it is not the workers’ compensation benefit below. Pedestrians and people in the other vehicle are not automatically PIP insureds of the company policy. That depends on the policy’s insured definition, which these certificates do not supply.

Fault reduces the award. It does not bar it.

Any contributory fault chargeable to the claimant diminishes proportionately the amount awarded as compensatory damages for an injury attributable to the claimant’s contributory fault, but does not bar recovery. RCW 4.22.005.

Washington is not a state that cuts off recovery at 50 percent or 51 percent fault. A rideshare passenger, a person in another car, a bicyclist, or a pedestrian can still have a claim if they share some of the fault. The percentage reduces the compensatory award. It does not erase it. The $1 million limit is still only a coverage ceiling. It is not a measure of what the injury is worth.

The personal policy can drop out. The company then owes the required coverage from the first dollar.

A Washington personal auto insurer may exclude any and all coverage under a private-passenger policy for a loss while a driver is logged into a commercial transportation services provider’s digital network, or while the driver provides a prearranged ride. The statute lists liability, PIP, underinsured motorist, medical payments, comprehensive, and collision, and says the list is not exhaustive. An insurer that uses the exclusion has no duty to defend or indemnify the excluded claim. RCW 46.72B.180(6) and (8).

The statute permits the exclusion. It does not require every insurer to use one. The policy controls. The section also does not wipe out an older “carrying persons for a charge or available for hire” exclusion that was already in a policy in use or approved before July 24, 2015.

After July 1, 2016, an insurer may not deny an otherwise covered claim that arises exclusively out of personal use of the car solely because the insured at other times used that car for commercial transportation services. Logged-off personal use is not automatically uncovered just because the driver also drives for Uber or Lyft. RCW 46.72B.180(13).

If the primary policy the driver maintains to meet this section does not provide coverage for any reason, including that the policy lapsed or did not exist, the company must provide the coverage required under the section beginning with the first dollar of a claim. RCW 46.72B.180(2)(b). That sentence fills the statutory requirement. It does not automatically import every extra limit a company certificate happens to show above the floor, and it does not rewrite a certificate that says underinsured-motorist coverage is not included.

Only the insurers providing coverage under subsections (1) and (2) have the duty to defend a liability claim from an accident while commercial transportation services are being provided. RCW 46.72B.180(3).

The Insurance Commissioner’s public guidance matches the exclusion statute at a consumer level: most personal auto policies sold in Washington do not cover losses during gig driving, and the driver should ask the agent before driving. That page is not a statute, and it does not set limits.

Lyft’s Washington driver-document page says it will not accept a for-hire policy, a commercial policy, a commercial certificate, or a declarations page as the personal-insurance upload. That is a platform paperwork rule. It is not a statement of what RCW 46.72B.180 allows a driver to buy. The statute expressly allows a driver to satisfy the requirement with a primary commercial policy, including an approved endorsement. Lyft’s state-and-local disclosures also tell Washington drivers their personal policy may not cover liability, collision, comprehensive, underinsured motorist, PIP, or MedPay while logged in or on a prearranged ride, and they point drivers to Lyft’s certificates.

Workers’ compensation pays the driver, not the passenger

Beginning January 1, 2023, the Department of Labor & Industries assesses transportation-network-company premiums for coverage of drivers during passenger platform time and dispatch platform time. RCW 51.16.250. Premiums are at taxicab-company rates unless later adjusted. This is workers’ compensation. It is not an auto liability tier, and it does not pay a passenger, a pedestrian, or another driver.

Dispatch platform time is travel from the driver’s location at acceptance to the pickup. It ends when the passenger cancels or the driver begins the trip in the platform. Passenger platform time is the time the driver is transporting one or more passengers. On a shared ride it runs from the first passenger’s entry until the last passenger’s exit. RCW 49.46.300(1). Waiting while available is not one of those two periods.

A driver hurt by an uninsured motorist during the drive to the pickup may have a workers’ compensation claim and, on Uber’s current certificate, no company uninsured-motorist coverage. Those are different systems. The workers’ compensation claim is not proof of which auto liability tier applied.

Uber’s general insurance page, not the certificate, says Washington rideshare drivers may be eligible for workers’ compensation while en route to pick up riders and during rides, with no signup, and that claims are filed with Labor & Industries at 1-800-547-8367. Lyft’s Washington driver page says drivers are covered by the state workers’ compensation system for injuries while picking up and driving with a rider, with a deduction from Washington ride earnings, and it does not describe that coverage as applying while the driver is only waiting for a request. Both companies describe state workers’ compensation, not a private occupational-accident substitute.

The same Uber insurance page says Optional Injury Protection in Washington is $0.022 per mile and is aimed at the online-but-not-yet-accepted period and at deliveries. That product is optional. It is not the statutory underinsured-motorist amount and it is not the statutory PIP offer. The same page’s countrywide sentence about at least $50,000, $100,000, and $25,000 while available is not the Washington certificate. Washington’s certificate prints $30,000 of property damage. Uber’s insurance overview.

Seattle licenses vehicles. It does not rewrite the state limits.

The dollar tiers in RCW 46.72B.180 are statewide. An accident in Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Spokane, or Everett is still sorted by acceptance, passenger entry, and passenger exit.

RCW 46.72B.190 preempts local transportation-network-company regulation as of June 9, 2022. It preserves a role for Seattle and King County licensing ordinances that already existed, and it leaves a separate power for an airport operator to contract for fees and operations on airport property. The list of subjects an airport contract may not regulate is labor and workers’ compensation statutes, not RCW 46.72B.180.

Seattle Municipal Code 6.310.260, as published by Municode and last noted to Ordinance 126976 (2023), requires evidence that each affiliated vehicle has insurance “in an amount no less than required by RCW 46.72.050 and underinsured motorist coverage indicating a minimum coverage of $100,000 per person, and $300,000 per accident,” or “in an amount no less than required by RCW 46.72B.180,” while active on the dispatch system. The policy must name the City of Seattle as an additional insured, give the Director 30 days’ written notice of cancellation or nonrenewal, and not include aggregate limits or named-driver requirements or exclusions, with a surplus-lines path if an exemption is met. SMC 6.310.260.

RCW 46.72.040, which RCW 46.72.050 incorporates, is a for-hire bond or policy of $100,000, $300,000, and $25,000. That is not the rideshare schedule of $50,000, $100,000, and $30,000, and it is not the $1 million combined single limit. Satisfying RCW 46.72B.180 is an express alternative in the Seattle section. SMC 6.310.260 is a licensing overlay. It is not a different state dollar tier.

Seattle’s own consumer webpage has restated the period triggers inaccurately, including a description of the lower tier as “before a passenger requests a ride” and of the $1 million tier as running “from when the passenger requests.” Use the statute and the municipal code for when coverage changes. SMC 6.310.270.V still tells the company to disclose that the vehicle is insured “as required by RCW 46.72.050,” while SMC 6.310.260 allows either that for-hire statute plus $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident of underinsured-motorist coverage or compliance with RCW 46.72B.180. That is a code inconsistency. It is not the coverage timeline.

Uber’s public-airport wording is a $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident underinsured-motorist trigger on Uber’s after-acceptance certificate. It is not a Seattle ordinance, and Lyft’s certificate does not have that sentence.

Seattle recordkeeping under SMC 6.310.540 includes collision reports with driver identity, fault, injuries, and estimated damage, kept two years and reported quarterly. That is a city operating record. It is not the insurance-exchange statute. “Collision” in that code title is the city’s word. It is not a different coverage limit.

Trip receipts are evidence of status. They are not insurance limits.

Within 24 hours after the trip, the company must send the passenger an electronic receipt with the date and time, the pickup and drop-off described at least by specific block, the duration and distance, the driver’s first name, the total fare itemized, and passenger-paid tips. Within 24 hours, the driver gets an electronic trip receipt with passenger-platform time, mileage, rates, tips, gross and net pay, and itemized deductions. Per-trip receipts must be available to the driver in a downloadable format for two years. Beginning July 1, 2026, the driver can request one aggregated, searchable download of the prior 24 months of per-trip receipt data, due within three business days. RCW 49.46.300. Lyft’s Washington help page describes that download. Minimum driver pay under the same chapter is not coverage.

Other useful facts: pickup and drop-off location, trip ID, GPS, screenshots of app status, the police report, and the other vehicle’s insurance. For the driver’s own injury during dispatch or passenger platform time, the Labor & Industries claim is not proof of the auto liability tier.

A Seattle case file on this site looks at dashcam footage as claim evidence: How Wenjian Zhuo’s Own Dashcam Became Evidence in His Federal Drug Case.