Rideshare accident settlement amounts in New York

Getting hurt in an Uber or Lyft is not an ordinary fender bender. In New York, the money available after a rideshare crash turns on two things most people never think about until they need to: whether the driver's app was on and carrying a passenger at the moment of impact, and whether the trip happened in New York City or anywhere else in the state. Those two facts can move the value of a claim by more than a million dollars.

New York City is where most of these crashes happen. The city logged 6,625 reported motor vehicle crashes in April 2026 alone, and the monthly count has held near that level all year, with 6,773 in January and 6,488 in February.¹² Rideshare cars move a large share of that traffic, and when one of them crashes, the rules below decide what a claim is actually worth.

The insurance pool depends on the driver's app status

Outside New York City, Uber and Lyft operate as Transportation Network Companies under Article 44-B of the Vehicle and Traffic Law. The coverage a TNC has to carry changes with what the driver was doing at the time.

When the driver is logged into the app but has not yet accepted a ride, the required liability coverage is $75,000 for injury or death to one person, $150,000 for two or more people, and $25,000 for property damage.³⁴ Once the driver accepts a request and starts toward the pickup, and for the whole time a passenger is in the car, the requirement jumps to at least $1,250,000 in combined coverage for injury, death, and property damage, plus $1,250,000 in supplementary uninsured and underinsured motorist (SUM) protection.³⁴ That $1.25 million figure is the ceiling most serious rideshare injury claims are measured against outside the city.

If the app was off and the trip was personal, only the driver's own private auto policy applies, and in New York that can be as low as the state minimum of 25/50/10.

New York City plays by different rules

Here is the part almost every national guide gets wrong. Article 44-B does not apply to a prearranged trip that starts in New York City.⁴ Inside the five boroughs, Uber and Lyft cars are for-hire vehicles licensed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, not TNCs, and the $1.25 million rule does not reach them.

TLC-licensed vehicles carry commercial coverage that runs 24 hours a day, so the app-status question that matters upstate barely applies in the city.⁵ Every taxi and for-hire vehicle has to keep bodily injury liability of at least $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident, plus $10,000 for property damage.⁵ That minimum sits well below the $1,250,000 a TNC must carry during an active trip elsewhere in the state, so the same injury can reach a very different pool of money depending on which side of the city line the ride began.

No-fault coverage in the city was just cut. Under Local Law 90 of 2025, the TLC lowered the personal injury protection requirement for taxis and for-hire vehicles from $200,000 to $100,000 per person, effective March 1, 2026.⁶⁷ That is still double the $50,000 an ordinary New York driver carries, so an injured rideshare passenger in the city keeps a bigger no-fault cushion than almost anyone else on the road.⁶

No-fault pays first, and it decides whether you can sue

New York is a no-fault state. After any rideshare crash, your first medical bills and lost wages come from personal injury protection no matter who caused the wreck. Statewide the basic amount is $50,000 per person, covering medical care with no time limit, lost earnings up to $2,000 a month for three years, and $25 a day for other expenses for up to a year.⁸⁹ In a New York City rideshare, that PIP figure is $100,000.⁶

No-fault is also a gate. To step outside it and sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering, your injury has to meet the serious injury definition in Insurance Law 5102(d): death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, a bone fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss or limitation of a body function, or an injury that keeps you from your normal daily activities for at least 90 of the 180 days after the crash.⁹¹⁰ Fall short of that line and your recovery stays inside no-fault. Clear it, and the full liability coverage described above comes into play.¹⁰

In practice a New York rideshare claim can run through three layers: no-fault benefits that pay your early bills automatically, a liability claim against whoever was at fault once your injury clears the threshold, and SUM coverage if that at-fault driver turns out to be underinsured. Which of those layers actually holds real money is exactly what the app-status and NYC questions above decide.

How fault cuts your recovery

New York changed its comparative fault rule in 2026. For motor vehicle personal injury claims, a modified comparative negligence standard now applies: if your share of the fault is greater than the other side's, you recover nothing, and if it is 50 percent or less, your damages drop by your percentage of fault (CPLR 1411(b), effective May 26, 2026).¹¹ Pure comparative negligence still governs wrongful death and property damage claims from a crash, where any recovery is simply reduced by your share.¹¹

One narrow cap arrived with the same reform. Insurance Law 5104(d) now limits non-economic damages to $100,000, but only for an at-fault claimant who was driving uninsured, was convicted of DUI, or was committing or fleeing a felony at the time.¹² It does not touch death claims or an ordinary injured passenger.¹²

Deadlines that can end a claim before it starts

The statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit in New York is three years from the date of the crash under CPLR 214(5), and property damage claims get the same three years under CPLR 214(4).¹³

The no-fault deadlines are far shorter and catch people off guard. Under Regulation 68, you have to give the insurer written notice of the claim within 30 days of the accident, submit medical bills within 45 days, and file lost-wage claims within 90 days.⁸ Miss those and the benefits that pay your early bills can be denied.

Uninsured and underinsured coverage matters too. New York requires UM coverage matching the 25/50 minimum, and it cannot be waived.¹⁴ During an active out-of-city rideshare trip, the SUM protection is $1.25 million, which is what you look to if the driver who struck the Uber has little or no insurance of their own.³

If you need the crash report to document any of this, our New York crash reports page covers how to get it; a crash is reportable when it causes injury, death, or more than $1,000 in property damage.¹⁵ For loss of value to your own vehicle beyond those property limits, see our New York diminished value guide.

Because the numbers turn on details you cannot see from the back seat, whether the app was on, where the trip started, and whether the injury clears the 5102(d) line, it helps to have someone sort out which policy applies before you accept any offer. You can find a New York attorney here.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

thatcarhitme.com, New York Crash Report, April 2026. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/new-york/new-york/april-2026-report
thatcarhitme.com, New York Crash Report, January 2026. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/new-york/new-york/january-2026-report
New York State Senate, Vehicle and Traffic Law 1693, Financial Responsibility of Transportation Network Companies. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/VAT/1693
New York State Department of Financial Services, FAQs About Transportation Network Companies (Ride Sharing). https://www.dfs.ny.gov/apps_and_licensing/property_insurers/trans_network_co_ride_sharing_faqs
New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, Notice of Promulgation, Vehicle Insurance Requirements, 35 RCNY 58-13(d). https://www.nyc.gov/assets/tlc/downloads/pdf/insurance_rule.pdf
New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, Amendment of Rules Relating to Insurance Coverage (Local Law 90 of 2025; effective March 1, 2026). https://www.nyc.gov/assets/tlc/downloads/pdf/amendment_of_rules_relating_to_insurance_coverage.pdf
Office of the Mayor of the City of New York, Mayor Adams Signs Legislation to Put Money Into Pockets of Taxi and For-Hire Vehicle Drivers (Intro. 1050 / Local Law 90 of 2025). https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2025/07/mayor-adams-signs-legislation-put-money-pockets-taxi-for-hire-vehicle-drivers
New York State Department of Financial Services, No-Fault (Regulation 68) FAQ. https://www.dfs.ny.gov/apps_and_licensing/property_insurers/nofault_faqs_reg68
New York State Senate, Insurance Law 5102, Definitions (basic economic loss and serious injury). https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ISC/5102
New York State Senate, Insurance Law 5104, Causes of action for personal injury. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ISC/5104
New York State Senate, CPLR 1411, comparative negligence (subdivision (b) added by L.2026, ch.58, Part EE). https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP/1411
New York State Senate, Insurance Law 5104(d), non-economic damages cap (added by L.2026, ch.58, Part EE). https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ISC/5104
New York State Senate, CPLR 214, actions to be commenced within three years. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP/214
New York State Senate, Insurance Law 3420, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ISC/3420
New York State DMV, File a Motorist Crash Report (VTL 605). https://dmv.ny.gov/records/file-a-motorist-crash-accident-report

Rideshare Accident Settlement Amounts in New York