After an Uber or Lyft crash in Kentucky, the size of a settlement is not a mystery. It comes down to three concrete things: which insurance policy is on the hook, whether your injuries clear the state's no-fault threshold, and how fault gets divided. Kentucky statutes set the outer limits on each of those, so knowing the numbers tells you roughly where a fair result should land. This page sticks to what is specific to Kentucky; the general mechanics of a rideshare claim live on the hub above.
The insurance that actually pays
Rideshare coverage in Kentucky depends on what the driver's app was doing when the crash happened. State law splits the app-on time into stages, and the dollar figures jump between them.
While a driver has the app open but has not accepted a ride yet, the "pre-trip acceptance" period, Kentucky requires liability limits of $50,000 for death or injury to one person, $100,000 per incident, and $25,000 for property damage.1 Once the driver accepts a request and is heading to the pickup or carrying a passenger, a "prearranged ride," the statutory minimum climbs to the level Kentucky sets for vehicles that carry people for hire: $100,000 per person, $300,000 per incident, and $50,000 in property damage.1 Those minimums took their current form on July 15, 2024.1
The statutory floor, though, is not what the companies actually carry. Uber and Lyft both keep at least $1,000,000 in liability coverage once a trip is underway.23 During the app-on-and-waiting stage they carry the same $50,000/$100,000/$25,000 the statute describes, and that coverage is contingent, meaning it sits behind the driver's own auto policy.2 So an injured passenger during an active ride is looking at a million-dollar policy, while a person struck by a driver who was only logged in and waiting is looking at a fraction of that.
Kentucky's rideshare regulation, 601 KAR 1:113, adds two things that help claimants. It requires these policies to include no-fault benefits and both uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage in every period, and it makes the company's coverage pay from the first dollar when the driver's personal insurance has lapsed.4
No-fault comes first, even in an Uber
Kentucky is a choice no-fault state, which shapes the early money in every rideshare claim. Basic Reparation Benefits, the state's version of PIP, are mandatory and pay up to $10,000 per person for medical bills, lost wages up to $200 a week, and replacement services, no matter who caused the crash.5 As an injured passenger, that is usually the first source you draw on while the liability side develops.
BRB carries a deadline of its own. A payment is overdue if the insurer does not pay within 30 days of receiving reasonable proof of the loss, and an overdue amount collects 12% interest, which rises to 18% plus attorney's fees when the delay had no reasonable foundation.6
To step outside no-fault and sue the at-fault party for pain and suffering, your case has to clear Kentucky's tort threshold: more than $1,000 in medical expenses, or a fracture, permanent injury, permanent disfigurement, or death.7 Most rideshare crashes with real injuries clear it. A minor knock that heals on its own may not, and those stay inside the BRB system.
Kentucky sets no ceiling on what you can recover
Once you are past the threshold, Kentucky does not cap your damages. Section 54 of the state constitution bars the legislature from limiting what an injured person recovers for injury or death, and the Kentucky Supreme Court has enforced that bar.8 There is no cap on pain and suffering and none on punitive damages. In a rideshare case that means the practical ceiling is the amount of insurance available, the million-dollar trip policy plus any other coverage that applies, rather than a number the legislature picked.
Punitive damages can enter the picture when the at-fault driver was drunk or grossly reckless, and Kentucky sets no dollar limit on them.8 If a bar or restaurant served a driver who a reasonable seller would have known was already intoxicated, that business can share liability under Kentucky's dram shop statute.9
How your share of fault changes the number
Kentucky follows pure comparative negligence.10 Your recovery drops by your percentage of fault, but it is never wiped out, even if you were mostly to blame. A passenger is rarely assigned any fault, so this matters most when the rideshare driver and another motorist both contributed, or when you were a pedestrian or another driver hit by the Uber. If a claim is worth $100,000 and you are found 20% responsible, you collect $80,000. Adjusters lean on this rule hard in negotiations, so how fault is documented in the crash report moves real dollars.
When the other driver has no insurance
If a private motorist caused your crash rather than the rideshare, you are often looking at Kentucky's minimum liability limits of 25/50/25: $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage.11 That runs dry fast in a serious injury. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is what fills the gap. Kentucky makes UM coverage automatic on every auto policy unless the insured rejected it in writing,12 and the rideshare companies' trip policies carry UM and UIM as well.43 Stacking those layers is often how a badly hurt passenger reaches a full recovery.
The deadline that can end the claim
You have two years to file a car-accident injury lawsuit in Kentucky, measured from the crash date or from the last BRB payment, whichever comes later.13 This motor-vehicle deadline replaces the general one-year limit for personal injury, but it is still firm. Miss it and even a strong claim is gone. Because a late BRB payment can quietly reset the clock, pin down your exact date early rather than assuming it.
What to do next
Start with the official crash report, since the fault findings in it drive every settlement conversation that follows; Kentucky's process for getting one is covered on our Kentucky crash reports page. If you were another driver hit by a rideshare car and your vehicle lost resale value even after good repairs, that loss is a separate claim, explained in our Kentucky diminished value guide. And because these cases layer several policies and run on a two-year clock, it helps to have a lawyer read the facts early; you can find one through our legal directory.
This is general information about Kentucky law, not legal advice.
Sources
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Kentucky Revised Statutes 281.655, Bonds or insurance policies (TNC pre-trip acceptance and prearranged ride minimums, effective July 15, 2024). https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=55499
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Uber, driver auto insurance coverage while available and on trips. https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/insurance/
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Lyft, driver insurance policy coverage. https://www.lyft.com/driver/insurance
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601 KAR 1:113, Transportation network company. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/kar/titles/601/001/113/
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Kentucky Revised Statutes 304.39-020, Definitions for subtitle (Basic Reparation Benefits). https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=48634
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Kentucky Revised Statutes 304.39-210, Obligor's duty to respond to claims (overdue benefits and interest). https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=30050
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Kentucky Revised Statutes 304.39-060, Acceptance or rejection of partial abolition of tort liability. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=30030
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Kentucky Constitution, Section 54. https://legislature.ky.gov/Law/Constitution/Constitution/ViewConstitution?rsn=58
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Kentucky Revised Statutes 413.241, Liability of licensed sellers or servers of alcoholic beverages. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=42540
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Hilen v. Hays, 673 S.W.2d 713 (Ky. 1984). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2455891/hilen-v-hays/
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Kentucky Revised Statutes 304.39-110, Required minimum tort liability insurance. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=46758
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Kentucky Revised Statutes 304.20-020, Uninsured vehicle coverage. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=45815
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Kentucky Revised Statutes 304.39-230, Limitations of actions. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=45816