Rideshare Accident Settlement Amounts in Texas

A rideshare crash in Texas gets settled against one specific insurance policy, and which policy applies turns on a single fact: what the Uber or Lyft driver was doing on the app when the crash happened. That status sets the ceiling on your recovery before anyone looks at your injuries. Texas put these rules in statute in 2017, and they behave differently from a normal two-car wreck.

Texas is an at-fault state, so you claim against whoever caused the crash and their insurer.¹ With a rideshare, "their insurer" might be the driver's personal carrier, the driver's own coverage through Uber or Lyft, or a third party who hit the car you were riding in. The general mechanics are covered on the national guide; below is what's specific to Texas.

The policy that applies depends on the driver's app status

Texas regulates Uber, Lyft, and other transportation network companies under Chapter 2402 of the Occupations Code, added by House Bill 100 and in effect since September 1, 2017.² A Texas rideshare driver counts as an independent contractor, not an employee, when the driver and company agree to that in writing and the company doesn't set fixed hours or block outside work (Occ. Code Section 2402.114).² That classification is the reason you generally recover from the commercial policy attached to the trip instead of suing the company as an employer.

The dollar amounts live in Chapter 1954 of the Insurance Code, and they climb through three stages:

App off. The driver is on personal time, so their own auto policy applies, and Texas only requires 30/60/25 coverage: $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per crash, and $25,000 in property damage (Transp. Code Section 601.072).³
App on, waiting for a request (Period 1). The company must carry contingent liability coverage of at least $50,000 per person, $100,000 per crash, and $25,000 for property damage (Ins. Code Section 1954.052).⁴
Ride accepted through drop-off (Periods 2 and 3). From the second the driver accepts the request until the trip ends, a $1,000,000 total aggregate policy covers death, bodily injury, and property damage per incident (Ins. Code Section 1954.053).⁵

The jump from $50,000 to $1,000,000 is the biggest single factor in a Texas rideshare settlement. A passenger hurt during an active trip has a seven-figure limit to work with. A pedestrian struck by a driver who had the app open but no fare accepted is working against a small fraction of that. Periods 2 and 3 draw on the same $1 million policy: Period 2 runs from the moment a driver accepts your request until you are picked up, and Period 3 covers you while you are in the car, so a passenger and a person the driver was on the way to collect reach the same limit. And if a separate driver caused the crash while you were a passenger, that driver's own policy comes first, often at the state-minimum 30/60/25, with the rideshare coverage or your own UM/UIM sitting behind it.

Texas rules that raise or lower the final figure

A policy limit caps what's available. It doesn't guarantee a payout. A few Texas rules decide how close you actually get.

Texas puts no cap on compensatory damages in an ordinary vehicle case. Medical bills, lost income, future care, and pain and suffering are recoverable in full up to the coverage available, and the medical-liability caps in Chapter 74 don't apply to car or rideshare cases. Exemplary (punitive) damages are the one exception. Section 41.008 limits them to the greater of $200,000, or two times economic damages plus non-economic damages up to $750,000.⁶ That limit disappears when the at-fault driver's conduct rises to a felony, such as intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter.

Fault is the other big lever. Texas uses modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 33.001).⁷ If you're assigned part of the blame, your recovery drops by that percentage, and at 51% or more you recover nothing. Say your damages total $100,000 and an adjuster pins 20% of the fault on you; your recovery caps at $80,000, and if that share is pushed to 51%, the insurer owes nothing. Expect an argument that you share fault, because a few percentage points can swing a settlement by thousands.

When the driver who caused the crash has no insurance or not enough, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage fills the gap. Texas requires insurers to include UM/UIM in every auto liability policy unless the named insured rejects it in writing on a form set by the Department of Insurance (Ins. Code Sections 1952.101 and 1952.104).⁸ Depending on who was at fault and their app status, a rideshare passenger may reach the driver's coverage, the at-fault party's coverage, or their own.

Deadlines that can end the claim

You get two years from the date of the crash to file suit for personal injury and for property damage (Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 16.003(a)).⁹ Once it passes, the claim is gone regardless of how strong it was. Rideshare cases often involve two or three insurers pointing at each other, so that time goes faster than people expect.

Two records carry most Texas rideshare claims. The official crash report is filed through TxDOT's Crash Records Information System, and it's where insurers start; you can pull yours from our Texas crash reports page.¹⁰ Report the crash to the rideshare company inside the app and save your trip receipt and the driver's status screen, because those records are what fix which coverage period applies. If your car was damaged, its resale value can drop even after a proper repair, and Texas treats that as its own claim; our Texas diminished value guide explains how it's measured.

When a drunk driver is involved

An intoxicated at-fault driver opens another door in Texas. The Dram Shop Act makes a bar, restaurant, or store liable when it serves alcohol to someone already obviously intoxicated to the point of clear danger and that intoxication causes the crash (Alco. Bev. Code Section 2.02).¹¹ Paired with the felony exception to the exemplary-damages cap, a drunk-driving rideshare crash can be worth more than the raw policy limits suggest.

What the local numbers look like

Crash volume in Texas is high, which is part of why coverage fights are so common. thatcarhitme.com's own data for Austin recorded 11,937 crashes across the city in 2025,¹² and 902 in a single month, May 2026.¹³ Each one is a potential insurance claim, and the rideshare slice grows with every added trip.

If you were hurt in an Uber or Lyft crash and need help working out which policy applies, you can find a Texas attorney through our legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

Texas Department of Insurance, Auto Insurance Guide (Consumer Bulletin CB-020). https://www.tdi.texas.gov/pubs/consumer/cb020.html
Texas Occupations Code Chapter 2402, Transportation Network Companies (Sections 2402.101, 2402.114). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/OC/htm/OC.2402.htm
Texas Transportation Code Section 601.072, minimum liability limits. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.601.htm
Texas Insurance Code Section 1954.052, coverage while logged in without an accepted ride. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1954.htm
Texas Insurance Code Section 1954.053, coverage during a prearranged ride. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1954.htm
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 41.008, limitation on exemplary damages. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.41.htm
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 33.001, proportionate responsibility. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.33.htm
Texas Insurance Code Sections 1952.101 and 1952.104, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.1952.htm
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003(a), two-year limitations period. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.16.htm
TxDOT Crash Records Information System (CRIS). https://cris.dot.state.tx.us/public/Purchase/
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Section 2.02, Dram Shop Act. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/AL/htm/AL.2.htm
thatcarhitme.com, Austin 2025 annual crash report. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/texas/austin/2025-annual-report
thatcarhitme.com, Austin May 2026 crash report. https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/texas/austin/may-2026-report