If you were hurt in an Uber or Lyft crash in Montana, the first thing to understand about settlement value is that there's no meaningful "average." A rideshare claim settles for whatever the available insurance, your medical costs, and the fault split will support. Any page that promises you a typical dollar figure is guessing. What actually moves the number in Montana is a specific set of state rules, and most of them turn on one question: what was the driver doing in the app at the moment of impact?
That single fact can swing the money available by a factor of forty. Here's how.
The coverage tier that sets the ceiling
Montana ties rideshare insurance to the driver's status in the app under Mont. Code Ann. 69-12-343.1 The state's code calls Uber and Lyft "transportation network carriers," but the rules are the ones you'd expect, split into three situations.
When the app is off, the driver is a private motorist and only a personal auto policy applies. Montana's floor for that policy is 25/50/20: $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per crash, and $20,000 in property damage, set by Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-103.2 Once the driver logs on and is waiting for a request, the company must provide at least $50,000 per person, $100,000 per crash, and $25,000 in property damage, plus uninsured motorist coverage.1 From the moment a ride is accepted through drop-off, what the statute calls a prearranged ride, the required coverage climbs to at least $1 million for death, bodily injury, and property damage, again with uninsured motorist coverage.1
So two nearly identical crashes can settle a world apart. A pedestrian struck by an idle Lyft driver faces a $25,000 personal policy. The same pedestrian struck thirty seconds later, after that driver accepts a fare, is dealing with a $1 million commercial policy. The injuries are the same; the ceiling is not.
The gap in the waiting period
The middle tier hides a trap. Under Mont. Code Ann. 69-12-345, a Montana insurer is allowed to exclude every kind of coverage on a personal auto policy while the driver is logged on to the app or carrying a passenger, including liability, uninsured motorist, medical payments, collision, and comprehensive.3 Most personal policies contain exactly that "livery" exclusion.
That's why the waiting-period figures matter so much. If a driver who's logged on but hasn't accepted a ride causes a crash, and their personal insurer invokes the exclusion, the $50,000-per-person figure from the company's contingent policy may be the entire pool.1 For a serious injury, that runs out fast.
How fault changes the math
Montana is an at-fault state, so the driver who caused the crash (and their insurer) pays. It also follows modified comparative negligence under Mont. Code Ann. 27-1-702: your damages drop by your share of the blame, and if your share is greater than the other side's, you recover nothing.4 In practice that's a 51% bar. If you're found 20% at fault on a $100,000 claim, you collect $80,000. If you're found 51% at fault, you collect zero.
Insurers know this rule and lean on it. In a rideshare case, expect the company's adjuster to argue you share blame, because every percentage point they pin on you is money off the settlement.
Medical bills without PIP
Montana has no personal injury protection (PIP) requirement and no mandatory medical payments coverage. The mandatory-insurance statute requires only liability coverage and, on request, uninsured motorist coverage.2 There's no no-fault system paying your medical bills up front. You recover those costs from the at-fault driver's liability insurance, from the rideshare company's policy, or from your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.
That makes UM/UIM the quiet workhorse of a Montana rideshare claim, especially given the waiting-period gap and the number of drivers carrying only the 25/50/20 minimum. Under Mont. Code Ann. 33-23-201, insurers must offer UM/UIM matching your liability limits, but you can reject it in writing, and that rejection carries over to every renewal until you ask for it back in writing.5 Plenty of people rejected it years ago and forgot. Before you assume you're covered, pull your declarations page and check.
What Montana caps, and what it doesn't
There's no cap on compensatory damages in an ordinary Montana car crash. Your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering are limited by the available insurance and the evidence, not by a statute. The $300,000 noneconomic cap people sometimes cite (rising to $350,000 in 2026) belongs to medical malpractice law and has nothing to do with a rideshare wreck.
Punitive damages are different. They're available only on clear and convincing evidence of actual malice or actual fraud under Mont. Code Ann. 27-1-221, the kind of conduct you might see if a rideshare driver was drunk or fleeing.6 When they apply, Mont. Code Ann. 27-1-220 caps them at the lesser of $10 million or 3% of the defendant's net worth.7
The distracted-driving wrinkle
Montana is the only state in the country with no statewide ban on texting while driving. The Governors Highway Safety Association counts 49 states, plus D.C. and the U.S. territories, with texting bans for all drivers.8 Montana is the one that doesn't. The last serious attempt to change that, Senate Bill 359, nicknamed "Chloe's Law," passed the Montana Senate 34 to 16 on March 3, 2025, then died in the House on May 23, 2025.9
For your claim, that means there's no easy per se violation to point to when a rideshare driver was on the phone. You prove distraction the ordinary way, through phone records, app data, and witness accounts, as evidence of negligence. Some Montana cities and counties do have their own handheld or texting ordinances, so a local citation can still help.
Deadlines that can end a claim
Montana gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit under Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-204; a wrongful death claim also runs three years, or ten years if the death resulted from a homicide.10 The clock for vehicle and other property damage is shorter, two years under Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-207.11 That two-year window covers your car, including any diminished value claim after repairs.
Whatever the timeline, get the paperwork early. You'll want the Montana crash report and your own medical records lined up long before any deadline gets close, because talks with a rideshare insurer can drag.
Putting a real number on it
No table gives you a Montana rideshare settlement figure. The number is the product of which insurance tier was live under 69-12-343, how much coverage sits behind it, what your injuries and lost income total, and how the fault split lands under the 51% rule. Get those four things right and the number follows.
Because the coverage picture shifts second by second in these cases, and because a large commercial insurer is on the other side, it helps to have someone who handles them. You can find a Montana attorney here.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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Mont. Code Ann. 69-12-343, Insurance requirements of transportation network carriers. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0690/chapter_0120/part_0030/section_0430/0690-0120-0030-0430.html
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Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-103, Mandatory liability insurance. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0060/part_0010/section_0030/0610-0060-0010-0030.html
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Mont. Code Ann. 69-12-345, Motor vehicle liability insurance provisions. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0690/chapter_0120/part_0030/section_0450/0690-0120-0030-0450.html
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Mont. Code Ann. 27-1-702, Comparative negligence. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0010/part_0070/section_0020/0270-0010-0070-0020.html
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Mont. Code Ann. 33-23-201, Motor vehicle liability policy uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0330/chapter_0230/part_0020/section_0010/0330-0230-0020-0010.html
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Mont. Code Ann. 27-1-221, When punitive damages allowed. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0010/part_0020/section_0210/0270-0010-0020-0210.html
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Mont. Code Ann. 27-1-220, Limitation on award of punitive damages. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0010/part_0020/section_0200/0270-0010-0020-0200.html
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Governors Highway Safety Association, Distracted Driving state laws. https://www.ghsa.org/state-laws/issues/distracted%20driving
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Montana Senate Bill 359 (2025 regular session), bill history and votes. https://legiscan.com/MT/bill/SB359/2025
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Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-204, Tort actions (three-year limitation). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0020/part_0020/section_0040/0270-0020-0020-0040.html
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Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-207, Actions for injury to property (two-year limitation). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0020/part_0020/section_0070/0270-0020-0020-0070.html