Rideshare insurance periods in California

Almost every rideshare claim turns on one question that has nothing to do with how the crash happened: what the app was doing at the moment of impact. California built the insurance requirements around that, and the answer decides which policy responds. This is general information, not legal advice.

The three periods

• Period 1 — app off. The driver is not working. They are an ordinary motorist on their personal auto policy, and the platform is out of the picture entirely.
• Period 2 — app on, waiting for a match. Logged in and available but with no ride accepted. California requires a level of commercial coverage here, and it is lower than the level that applies once a ride is under way. This is the period that produces the most disputes, because it is where a personal policy's driving-for-hire exclusion and the platform's lower tier meet.
• Period 3 — from accepting a ride through drop-off. The highest level of required coverage, applying from the moment the driver accepts the request, through the drive to collect the passenger, and until the passenger has left the vehicle.

The statute frames period 3 as beginning at acceptance, not at pickup — which matters, because a driver on the way to collect a passenger is already in the highest-coverage period even though nobody is in the car.

Sources: Pub. Util. Code, § 5433 (transportation network company insurance requirements by app period); § 5431 (definition of a transportation network company). § 5433 was last amended by Stats. 2025, ch. 314 (SB 371), effective January 1, 2026 — a recent amendment, flagged for currency.

This page states the structure rather than the dollar limits, consistent with how the rest of the site handles coverage figures.

What changes at each boundary

The boundaries are instants, not periods, and a crash can land either side of one by seconds. Accepting a request moves a driver from period 2 to period 3. Completing a drop-off moves them back to period 2 if they stay logged in, or to period 1 if they log off. A driver who has just ended a trip and is sitting at the kerb is in a different coverage position from the same driver thirty seconds earlier.

Which is why "the app was off" is a claim to be tested rather than accepted. A driver has an incentive to say it in some situations and the opposite incentive in others.

Proving the period

• Platform trip records. Log-in and log-off times, request, acceptance, arrival, start and end of trip, all timestamped.
• Location data tied to those events.
• The passenger's records. A rider's own trip history and receipt independently corroborate the timeline.
• The driver's phone, showing app state and notifications.
• Dashcam footage, common among rideshare drivers, which often captures the in-app screen.

Platform data is held by the company and is subject to retention schedules, so a preservation request early is worth more than a request later.

Where the personal policy fits

Personal auto policies commonly exclude use of the vehicle to carry passengers for compensation. That exclusion is the reason the statutory commercial requirements exist. A personal insurer denying a claim because the driver was working is not necessarily behaving badly — it is applying the exclusion, and the denial is a signpost toward the platform's coverage rather than a dead end.

Some insurers offer a rideshare endorsement that fills the period 2 gap. Whether one was purchased is a declarations-page question.

How to read a declarations page.

Where you sit in this

• You were the passenger — always in period 3.
• You were the driver — the period decides your own coverage.
• You were hit by a rideshare driver — the hardest position, because you have no access to the app.

Common questions

Why does the app status matter so much?

Because it decides which insurance applies. California sets different coverage requirements for a transportation network company driver depending on whether the app was off, on but unmatched, or matched with a rider through drop-off. The same crash produces very different coverage depending on which period it fell in.

What are the three periods?

App off — the driver is a private motorist on their personal policy. App on and waiting for a match — a lower level of required commercial coverage. From accepting a ride through completing the drop-off — the highest level of required coverage.

How is the period proved if the driver says the app was off?

The platform holds the data. Trip records, match and acceptance times, and location logs establish the period to the second, and they are obtainable. Passenger receipts and the rider’s own app history corroborate it. This is not a matter of taking anyone’s word.

What if the driver’s personal policy denies the claim?

That is normal rather than a surprise. Personal auto policies commonly exclude driving for hire, which is precisely the gap the statutory commercial requirements exist to fill. A denial on that ground points to the platform’s coverage rather than ending the claim.