Getting hurt in an Uber or Lyft crash brings a question no one plans for: what is the claim actually worth? In Tennessee there is no single average that answers it. What you can recover turns on three things the state controls. Which insurance policy was in force at the second of the crash, how much the law allows you to claim, and how quickly you file. All three are stricter here than most drivers expect.
Tennessee is an at-fault, or tort, state, and it has no no-fault PIP system.1 An injured rider or driver collects from whoever caused the crash and that party's insurer, not from a personal injury protection policy. So the first question in any rideshare case is whose insurance is on the hook, and for how much.
Which insurance applies decides most of the number
Tennessee treats a rideshare trip as a set of phases, and the required coverage changes at each one. The rules are in Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-12-141, effective January 1, 2016.2
With the app closed, the driver is a regular motorist, and only a personal auto policy applies. Tennessee's minimum is 25/50/25: $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per crash, and $25,000 for property damage. The property-damage floor rose from $15,000 to $25,000 for policies issued or renewed after December 31, 2022.1
Once the driver logs into the app but has not yet accepted a ride, the transportation network company must carry liability coverage of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per crash for bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage.2
The number jumps the moment a ride is accepted. While the driver is "engaged in a prearranged ride," the company's policy has to provide at least $1,000,000 in combined coverage for death, bodily injury, and property damage.2 The statute defines that window precisely: a prearranged ride begins when the driver accepts your request through the app and does not end until the last passenger has left the car.2 The timing is everything. A passenger hurt mid-trip, or a pedestrian struck by a driver who is carrying a fare, is claiming against a million-dollar policy, not a $25,000 one.
The coverage gap the state insurance regulator flags
This is where Tennessee rideshare claims get complicated. A separate statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-1119, lets personal auto insurers exclude every kind of coverage (liability, uninsured motorist, medical payments, comprehensive, and collision) for any loss that happens while a driver is logged onto the app or giving a prearranged ride.3 The driver's own policy often will not respond during those periods, so the only coverage left is whatever the rideshare company provides.
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has warned about exactly this gap. In a 2017 notice the department said at least one company opts out of uninsured motorist coverage during the logged-in-but-waiting phase, and urged drivers to "review their coverage options to ensure that they are protected for the totality of their driving needs, including when they are logged into the TNC application but have not yet accepted a ride."4 For an injured passenger or another motorist, the lesson is blunt. The phase of the trip can be the difference between a $50,000 ceiling and a $1,000,000 one.
What Tennessee law lets you collect
The applicable policy sets the outer limit on a settlement. Tennessee's damage rules set the inner one.
Economic damages, meaning medical bills, future care, lost wages, and lost earning capacity, are not capped.5 Noneconomic damages for pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life are capped at $750,000, rising to $1,000,000 for a catastrophic injury such as paralysis, amputation, severe burns, or the wrongful death of a parent of a minor child. The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld that cap in McClay v. Airport Management Services, LLC.5 One exception matters after a rideshare crash: the noneconomic cap is lifted entirely if the driver who caused the wreck was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.5
Punitive damages, which a court may add to punish reckless or intentional conduct, carry their own limit: the greater of $500,000 or two times the compensatory award.6
How fault changes the figure
Tennessee follows modified comparative fault, the rule the state Supreme Court adopted in McIntyre v. Balentine.7 You can recover only if you are less than 50 percent responsible, and your award drops by your own share of the blame. A passenger is rarely faulted. The rule bites more often when a crash involves several vehicles and the insurers fight over who did what, because every percentage point assigned to you comes straight off the settlement.
When the at-fault driver has too little insurance
Many rideshare crashes are caused by a third driver, not the Uber or Lyft driver. If that driver has no insurance, or not enough to cover your injuries, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is what fills the gap. Tennessee requires insurers to offer UM/UIM equal to your liability limits, though the policyholder can reject it or pick lower limits in writing.8 Whether UM/UIM is available in a specific rideshare crash again comes back to which policy applies and what was actually bought.
One year, and the clock is already running
Tennessee gives you less time than nearly any other state. A personal injury claim from a car or rideshare crash generally has to be filed within one year of the crash under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104.9 Miss that date and the claim is gone, no matter how clearly the other side was at fault. Property damage claims get longer, three years under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105.10
That short window is the strongest reason to act early. Pull the official Tennessee crash report and keep every medical record and receipt. If your vehicle was totaled or lost resale value, that is a separate diminished value claim under the three-year deadline. And because these cases involve layered policies, corporate insurers, and a hard one-year cutoff, it is worth speaking with a Tennessee injury attorney well before the deadline, not after.
Settlement value in a Tennessee rideshare case is not a number you look up in a chart. It is the policy limit that applies to the phase of the trip, reduced by your share of fault, held under the state's damage caps, and collectible only if you file in time.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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Tennessee Department of Revenue, Drive Insured Tennessee (financial responsibility law, minimum liability limits, at-fault system). https://www.tn.gov/revenue/title-and-registration/drive-insured-tennessee/why-you-should-have-insurance.html
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-12-141, automobile insurance coverage for transportation network company drivers. https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-55/chapter-12/part-1/section-55-12-141/
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-1119, exclusion of coverage while logged onto a TNC digital network or providing a prearranged ride. https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-56/chapter-7/part-11/section-56-7-1119/
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Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance, "Ridesharing Drivers Should Check Insurance Coverage for Gap" (Apr. 28, 2017). https://www.tn.gov/commerce/news/2017/4/28/tdci-ridesharing-drivers-should-check-insurance-coverage-for-gap.html
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102; McClay v. Airport Management Services, LLC (Tenn. 2020), Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. https://www.tncourts.gov/press/2021/06/02/tennessee-supreme-court-holds-statutory-cap-noneconomic-damages-limits-recovery
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-104, punitive damages cap. https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-29/chapter-39/section-29-39-104/
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McIntyre v. Balentine, 833 S.W.2d 52 (Tenn. 1992). https://law.justia.com/cases/tennessee/supreme-court/1992/833-s-w-2d-52-2.html
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-1201, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-56/chapter-7/part-12/section-56-7-1201/
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104, one-year limitation for personal injury actions. https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-28/chapter-3/part-1/section-28-3-104/
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Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-105, three-year limitation for injury to personal property. https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-28/chapter-3/part-1/section-28-3-105/