Rideshare insurance explained: the app periods, the statutory minimums and the gap

Your personal auto policy probably does not cover you while you drive for a rideshare app. The NAIC says most personal policies contain exclusions for livery use, and Texas law lets an insurer exclude every coverage, liability through collision, while you are logged on or carrying a rider. State law makes the app company or the driver carry other coverage instead: in Texas, $50,000/$100,000/$25,000 while you wait for a request, and $1 million once you accept one.

Those statutory amounts cover injuries and damage to other people. They do not have to cover your own car. That is the gap most drivers find after a crash, and it is the part of this guide worth reading closely.

Estimates and published averages, not a quote. Not insurance advice. State rules and insurer rules vary. Confirm requirements with your state insurance regulator or a licensed agent in your state.

Why a personal policy stops at the app

A personal auto policy is priced for personal use: commuting, errands, trips. Carrying paying passengers is a different risk, and personal policy forms have long excluded it. The NAIC, in its sharing economy overview (last updated July 3, 2024), says personal auto policies typically limit coverage for ridesharing, and that most contain exclusions when a person uses the vehicle for livery services. The Texas Department of Insurance consumer guide says the same in plain terms: most policies do not cover accidents while you drive for a ride-hailing service or deliver items for a fee.

States responded by writing coverage requirements for transportation network companies (TNCs), the app companies that connect drivers and riders. The NAIC notes that its 2015 white paper recommended state laws requiring insurance carried by the TNC or the driver at all times, and that a model developed by the app companies with insurers became the basis of the National Council of Insurance Legislators model, which many states used for their own laws. The details differ by state, so this guide uses one named statute, Texas Insurance Code Chapter 1954, as the worked example and tells you what to check in yours.

The periods: how coverage changes during a shift

Rideshare coverage is usually described in periods, because the law attaches different requirements to different moments. Texas defines them through two terms. A driver is logged on when connected to the app and available for requests. A prearranged ride, under section 1954.001, begins when the driver accepts a ride requested through the app and ends when the last requesting rider leaves the car. Everything else is personal driving.

Industry shorthand often numbers these Period 0 to Period 3. The labels are a convenience; the legal test is the statutory definition, which is why section 1954.056 requires a driver, after a collision, to tell the other party, the insurers and the investigating officer on request whether they were logged on or engaged in a prearranged ride.

The gap: damage to your own car

Read the Texas requirements again and look at what they protect: other people injured or whose property is damaged, plus uninsured motorist and personal injury protection where the state's general rules require them. Nothing in sections 1954.052 or 1954.053 requires coverage for physical damage to the driver's own car. Meanwhile section 1954.151(b) lists the coverages a personal insurer may exclude during app time, and the list expressly includes comprehensive and collision.

So a driver who rear-ends someone while logged on can find that the other car and the other driver's injuries are covered by the required rideshare coverage, while the repair bill for the driver's own car is covered by nobody. Whether the app company's policy includes some physical damage coverage, and on what conditions and deductible, is a term of that company's coverage, not of the statute. Section 1954.101 requires the company to disclose in writing, before you accept a ride, the coverage types and limits it provides and that your personal policy may not cover you. Read that disclosure; it is the document that answers the question.

The gap is widest while logged on and waiting. In that period the required liability is lower, the app company's coverage may be limited to liability, and your personal policy may exclude you entirely. Drivers who spend long stretches waiting between requests carry that exposure for those hours.

Worked illustration with stated inputs

Labelled illustration only. It applies the Texas statutory minimums to invented crash amounts and assumes, for simplicity, that the required coverage is carried exactly at the minimum, that the driver's personal policy uses the full exclusion the statute allows, and that no coverage for the driver's own car exists in the app company's policy. Real policies may carry more.

The illustration shows two things that surprise drivers. The required rideshare liability can be higher than the driver's own personal liability limit, so in some respects the app period carries more protection for the other party than the driver's daily policy does. And the driver's own car can be the uncovered item in every app period, which is the reason to look for endorsement or app-company physical damage terms before driving.

What the law requires of the app company

Chapter 1954 puts several duties on the TNC that protect drivers and claimants. If the driver's own coverage has lapsed or does not meet the requirements, the TNC must provide the required coverage beginning with the first dollar of a claim (section 1954.054). The TNC's coverage is not contingent on the driver's personal insurer first denying the claim (section 1954.055), so a claimant does not have to wait for a denial letter before the app company's insurer engages.

After a crash, the TNC and its insurer must help every insurer involved by providing the precise times the driver logged on and off in the 12 hours before and after the accident, and a clear description of the coverage, exclusions and limits under its policy (section 1954.154). If the car is financed and the TNC's insurer pays a claim for a crash during a prearranged ride, it must pay the repairer directly or pay the owner and the lienholder jointly (section 1954.155). The required coverage can be placed with an authorized insurer or an eligible surplus lines insurer (section 1954.051(e)).

Since September 1, 2025, section 1954.003 applies the coverage requirements to automated motor vehicles operating as TNC vehicles as well.

Closing the gap: three routes to ask about

Texas law leaves room for personal insurers to cover rideshare time if they choose. Section 1954.152(b) says the chapter does not prevent an insurer from providing coverage that could be excluded, if it elects to do so in the policy or by endorsement. That opens three routes, and the right one depends on how much you drive and what your insurer offers.

1. A rideshare endorsement on your personal policy. Some personal insurers offer one that extends some or all personal coverages into the logged-on period, and sometimes beyond. Ask exactly which periods and which coverages it extends, especially collision and comprehensive.
2. The app company’s physical damage terms. Read the written disclosure the TNC must give you, and note any conditions, such as carrying collision on your personal policy, and the deductible.
3. A commercial or hybrid policy. A driver who drives many hours, or drives for several apps, may be offered a policy written for business use. Compare it with an endorsement on the same specification.

Whatever you choose, tell your personal insurer that you drive for an app. Driving for hire without telling the insurer is a material fact, and an undisclosed business use can complicate claims even for personal driving if the insurer views it as a misstatement. Ask your insurer in writing how it treats rideshare driving, and keep the answer.

Questions to ask before your first shift

Bring these to your insurer and to the app company's disclosure, and write down the answers with the date.

1. Does my personal policy exclude coverage while I am logged on but waiting? While en route? With a rider?
2. Do you offer a rideshare endorsement in my state, and which periods and coverages does it extend?
3. Does the app company’s policy include collision or comprehensive for my car, and what deductible and conditions apply?
4. If I am hurt, which coverage pays my medical bills in each period, and does the app’s coverage include PIP or uninsured motorist where my state requires them?
5. If my car is financed, does my lender require me to tell it about rideshare use or to carry particular coverage?
6. How do I prove which period I was in after a crash, and how fast will the app provide log-on and log-off times?
7. Will telling you about rideshare driving change my premium, my rating class or my eligibility?

After a crash while driving for an app

The first steps are the same as in any crash: safety, police where required, photos and the other driver's details, as set out in how to file a car insurance claim. Two steps are specific to rideshare driving. Report the crash through the app as well as to your own insurer, because the app company's insurer handles claims during logged-on and ride periods. And note your status at the moment of the crash, logged on, en route or with a rider, because Texas law requires you to disclose it on request, and the answer decides which coverage applies.

Expect the claim to involve more than one insurer: the app company's, your own, and the other driver's. Section 1954.153 gives a personal insurer that pays a claim it could have excluded a right of contribution against the insurer providing the required rideshare coverage, which is one reason insurers sort out between themselves which policy pays. Keep your own record of the shift: screenshots of the app status, ride receipts and messages.

Your own injuries during app time

Injuries to the driver follow a different path from damage to the car. In Texas, the general rule outside rideshare is that personal injury protection and uninsured motorist coverage are part of every auto liability policy unless a named insured rejects them in writing (Insurance Code 1952.152 and 1952.101). Chapter 1954 carries those coverages into app time: both the logged-on minimum in section 1954.052 and the ride minimum in section 1954.053 include uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage where section 1952.101 requires it and personal injury protection where section 1952.152 requires it.

In practice, that means the coverage required during app time must address the same first-party injury coverages Texas expects on any policy, subject to the same written-rejection rules. What you should check is who rejected what. If the app company's policy carries the required coverage, ask whether it includes PIP and uninsured motorist coverage for you as the driver, at what limits, and whether any rejection was signed on your behalf. Your own health insurance may also respond to medical bills, which is worth confirming before an injury rather than after.

Driving for more than one app

Many drivers keep two apps open to reduce waiting time. That complicates the coverage reading, because each app company's coverage attaches to its own logged-on and ride periods. While you are logged on to two apps and waiting, both may treat you as in their logged-on period. Once you accept a ride on one app, that app's ride coverage applies to the trip, while the other app may still show you as available unless you log off it.

The Texas statute's claims-cooperation rule helps sort this out after a crash: each TNC must provide the precise times you logged on and off its network in the 12 hours before and after the accident (section 1954.154). Keeping your own record of which apps were on, and when you accepted a ride, makes that process faster. The cleaner practice is to log off the other app when you accept a ride, which removes the question.

Records to keep for every shift

A crash during app time is resolved faster when you can show which period you were in. Keep these as a habit, not after the fact.

1. A copy of each app company’s written insurance disclosure, with the date you received it.
2. Your personal policy’s declarations page and any rideshare endorsement, showing which periods and coverages it extends.
3. Screenshots or exports of your app status around any incident: logged on, ride accepted, rider picked up, rider dropped off.
4. Ride receipts and in-app messages for the trip in question.
5. Photos of the car at the start of a shift period if you are disputing prior damage.
6. Your proof of insurance for the required coverage, which Texas requires you to carry while using a vehicle in connection with an app (section 1954.056).

When you stop driving for apps

Tell your insurer when you stop. A rideshare endorsement or a commercial policy that you no longer need is a cost with no benefit, and the business-use flag on your policy may also be priced. Ask for the endorsement to be removed from a specific date, confirm the change on the next declarations page, and keep the confirmation in case a later claim raises the question of when you last drove for an app.

Delivery and other gig work

Chapter 1954 is written for passenger rides: its definitions are built around riders and prearranged rides. Renting your car to strangers through an app such as Turo is a third activity with its own statutes in many states, compared in the peer-to-peer car sharing insurance guide. Delivering food, groceries or packages for pay is a different activity, and TDI's guide warns that most personal policies do not cover accidents while delivering items for a fee. Do not assume the rideshare periods or minimums apply to a delivery app. Ask the delivery platform what coverage it provides, and ask your insurer whether your policy excludes paid delivery and whether an endorsement is available. For what DoorDash, Uber Eats and Amazon Flex each publish about coverage by phase, and why the waiting period and your own car are the usual gaps, see delivery driver car insurance. The vehicle matters as well: a golf cart or low-speed vehicle is its own legal class with an insurance rule that varies by state, compared in the golf cart and low-speed vehicle insurance by state guide.

How this fits with the rest of your coverage decisions

Rideshare driving makes your physical damage coverage choices more important, not less. If you rely on an endorsement or the app company's coverage for your own car, those terms often depend on carrying collision and comprehensive on your personal policy; the split between the two is in comprehensive vs collision coverage. The deductible you choose there may also be the one that applies after an app-period crash, which makes how to choose a deductible part of the same decision. A driver tempted to drop to liability-only to save money should read liability-only vs full coverage with rideshare hours in mind, because the car is now a source of income as well as transport.

For Texas drivers, the general rules that apply outside app time, including the 30/60/25 minimum and the claim-handling deadlines, are collected on the Texas car insurance laws page.

Questions readers ask

Before you ask about an endorsement, check which damage collision and comprehensive each pay for, since those are the coverages most at risk during app time.