Your personal auto policy was written for personal driving. For rideshare, California Public Utilities Code 5434 says it provides no coverage from the moment you log on to the app until you log off or your passenger gets out, whichever is later, unless the policy expressly covers that time or you add an endorsement. Once you accept a ride, state law requires $1,000,000 in primary liability, which Uber or Lyft, you or both can carry. While you wait for a request, the minimum drops to $50,000/$100,000/$30,000 primary plus a $200,000 excess layer the company maintains. DoorDash and other delivery apps fall under Proposition 22 instead: $1,000,000 in liability during an active delivery, and only when the car isn’t otherwise covered by a qualifying auto policy. Neither law requires the app company to cover damage to your own car.
What your personal policy leaves out
The Department of Insurance has long said livery, carrying people for hire, is excluded from the personal policies most Californians carry; its notice to rideshare drivers quotes the usual exclusion for use as a public or livery conveyance, other than a share-the-expense car pool. Some newer ISO-based personal auto forms spell it out further: a public or livery conveyance includes any time an insured is logged into a rideshare platform as a driver, or into a rideshare or delivery platform to make deliveries, whether or not a passenger or the order is in the car, and delivering food or goods is excluded separately. Your own policy’s wording controls, so read the exclusions or send it to me.
For rideshare, California doesn’t leave it to the wording. Under Public Utilities Code 5434, from the moment you log on to a rideshare app until you log off or the passenger exits, whichever is later, your personal policy provides no coverage to you, the owner or anyone else and has no duty to defend you, unless it expressly covers that time or is endorsed for it.
What Uber and Lyft have to carry
- App on, waiting for a request or between rides (period 1). Primary liability of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death and injury and $30,000 for property damage, plus a $200,000 per-occurrence excess layer the company maintains. You can supply the primary layer with a rideshare policy; if yours lapses or doesn’t exist, the company’s applies.
- Ride accepted through drop-off (periods 2 and 3). $1,000,000 primary for death, personal injury and property damage, which the company, the driver or a combination can provide.
- Passenger in the car. Since January 1, 2026, the company alone must provide uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage of $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, primary over any other uninsured motorist coverage. SB 371 lowered it from $1,000,000.
The company’s coverage can’t depend on your personal insurer denying a claim first. Section 5433 doesn’t require coverage for damage to your own car, and the Department of Insurance has pointed out that rideshare companies don’t have to provide collision or comprehensive.
Delivery apps follow different rules
DoorDash and other delivery apps are delivery network companies under Proposition 22 (Business and Professions Code 7448 to 7467). Section 5434 and the period limits above are written for rideshare companies, which connect passengers with drivers. Section 7455 requires a delivery company to maintain at least $1,000,000 per occurrence in auto liability for injuries or losses to third parties caused by a driver during engaged time, which runs from accepting a delivery request to completing it. It applies only when the car isn’t otherwise covered by a qualifying auto liability policy (Insurance Code 11580.1(b)). It requires no liability coverage while you wait for an order, and nothing for your car.
If you drive for both kinds of apps, an endorsement written for rideshare may say nothing about delivery. Ask whether yours covers both.
If you’re hurt: Prop 22, not workers’ comp
Under Section 7451, an app-based driver is an independent contractor, not an employee, as long as the company meets conditions on scheduling, accepting requests, working for other apps and outside work. In Castellanos v. State of California, decided July 25, 2024, the California Supreme Court held that Section 7451 does not conflict with the Legislature’s constitutional power over workers’ compensation, so drivers who meet those conditions stay outside the workers’ comp system. It left open whether Prop 22’s limits on later legislative changes are valid. As of October 2026, Sections 7451 and 7455 read as enacted in 2020.
In its place, Section 7455 requires rideshare and delivery companies to carry or make available occupational accident insurance for the time you’re online (able to receive requests, or on a job): medical expenses up to at least $1,000,000, and disability payments of 66 percent of your average weekly earnings from all apps, within Labor Code weekly limits, for up to the first 104 weeks after the injury, plus accidental death coverage for dependents. It isn’t required to cover an accident while you’re on another app’s job or doing something personal.
Rideshare endorsements and what to ask
California lets personal auto insurers, at their discretion, offer a policy or endorsement covering a car that carries eight people or fewer, including the driver, while it’s used on a rideshare app, as long as it expressly covers the app-on period. Products the Department of Insurance approved in 2015 and 2016 varied: some covered the wait for a match (period 1), one covered all three periods, and one kept optional coverages such as collision and comprehensive in force during period 1. Before you sign up, ask:
- Does my policy cover period 1? State law cuts off personal coverage from the moment you log on, and period 1 is where the required limits are lowest.
- Do my collision and comprehensive stay on while the app is on? Ask the platform what it provides for damage to your car and the deductible.
- Does the endorsement cover rideshare, delivery or both, and does it apply only until a ride is accepted or through drop-off?
- Does my umbrella follow along? If you carry an umbrella policy, ask whether it excludes app driving.
A car titled to a business, or deliveries run with your own drivers, is a commercial auto question. See whether a personal policy covers a work truck and hired and non-owned auto coverage. More on the base policy: auto insurance.
Common questions
Does Uber’s insurance cover me when the app is on but I don’t have a ride?
California requires lower limits in that window: $50,000/$100,000/$30,000 in primary liability plus a $200,000 excess layer, and the company’s coverage must apply if you don’t carry rideshare coverage of your own. Your personal policy doesn’t apply then unless it expressly covers app time or is endorsed.
Is DoorDash covered the same way as Uber?
No. Delivery apps fall under Proposition 22, which requires $1,000,000 in liability during an active delivery, and only when the car isn’t otherwise covered by a qualifying auto policy. There is no required liability layer for time spent waiting for an order.
Does Prop 22 still apply after the court challenge?
Yes. On July 25, 2024, the California Supreme Court held that Section 7451 doesn’t conflict with the state constitution’s workers’ compensation clause, so qualifying app drivers remain independent contractors with Prop 22’s occupational accident coverage instead of workers’ comp.
Will the app’s insurance fix my car after an accident?
California’s rideshare and Prop 22 insurance rules don’t require it. Ask the platform what it offers for physical damage and its deductible, and ask your insurer whether your collision and comprehensive stay in force while the app is on.
Who provides uninsured motorist coverage during a ride?
The rideshare company. Since January 1, 2026, it must provide $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident from the moment a passenger enters the car until the passenger exits, primary over other uninsured motorist coverage.
Sources
- California Public Utilities Code 5433: TNC insurance requirements (as amended by SB 371, effective 1/1/2026)
- California Public Utilities Code 5434: personal auto policies during TNC app use
- California Public Utilities Code 5431: TNC definitions
- SB 371 (2025, Ch. 314): TNC uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage
- California Business and Professions Code 7455 (Proposition 22): loss and liability protection
- California Business and Professions Code 7451 (Proposition 22): app-based driver status
- California Business and Professions Code 7463 (Proposition 22): definitions
- Castellanos v. State of California (Cal. Supreme Court, S279622, July 25, 2024)
- California Department of Insurance: notice to transportation network company drivers (livery exclusion)
- California Department of Insurance: ride-share insurance law takes effect (July 1, 2015)
- California Department of Insurance: rideshare product covering all three periods (Oct. 12, 2015)
- California Department of Insurance: rideshare product keeping optional coverages in period 1 (Jan. 21, 2016)
- North Carolina Rate Bureau circular A-21-2: ISO-based personal auto amendatory endorsement wording (example of newer form language)
General information about California rideshare and delivery driver insurance rules as of October 2026, not legal advice; Public Utilities Code 5430 and following, Business and Professions Code 7448 to 7467, and your policy’s wording control. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.