Unfair rideshare insurance requirements raise costs for riders and affect drivers’ ability to earn

State laws around the US require rideshare drivers to have commercial auto insurance. This is necessary because personal auto insurance typically doesn’t cover accidents that occur while earning on platforms like Uber. Each state sets its own commercial auto insurance requirements, which vary dramatically by state. While most states permit the driver, Uber, or a combination of both to satisfy these requirements, Uber buys commercial auto insurance for drivers so they don’t have to pay for expensive annual policies themselves. Learn more about Uber’s insurance coverage here.

Rideshare drivers commonly have higher commercial auto insurance coverage requirements than other vehicles on the road, including taxis, limousines, and commercial livery vehicles. In California, for example, the $1 million liability coverage requirement imposed on Uber and other TNCs (transportation network companies) is currently more than 30 times that of personal vehicles on the road, which is required at just $30,000 per person. It’s also far higher than that required of taxis, at 10 times the LA and San Francisco coverage requirements per person (taxi requirements change from city to city). In 2020, the City of San Francisco temporarily lowered the liability insurance requirements for taxis from $1 million to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident to help with pandemic recovery, and it has not yet reverted to previous levels. In New Jersey, TNC trips are required to have $1.5 million in liability coverage, which is 30 times the $50,000 requirement per incident for personal vehicles. It’s also significantly larger than the $1 million liability coverage requirement for rideshare trips in most other states.

Riders feel the impact directly through the cost of their trips, and riders in states with very high insurance requirements pay more than riders do in states with more reasonable requirements. In New Jersey, for example, nearly one-third of the rider’s fare goes to pay for state-mandated insurance costs. More than half of that total is due to the UM/UIM requirement alone. In New York State, where the TNC liability requirement matches the UM/UIM requirement at $1.25 million, 28% of the rider’s fare on average goes to mandatory insurance costs. In comparison, in places like Washington, DC, and Massachusetts, less than 5% of a rider's fare goes to mandatory insurance costs.²

Over the years, we’ve consistently raised the bar on safety by developing industry-first features; comprehensive education for our users, and close partnerships with experts, including advocates and law enforcement, who help guide our decisions.

Uber has already invested in safety innovations like left-turn reductions, partially controlled intersection alerts, and seat-belt alerts, with the goal of minimizing risk from crashes. Uber has also launched Driving Insights, a dashboard that provides drivers with visibility into their driving habits and tips to improve their driving safety. There's a strong body of research that points to TNC drivers being safer than the average driver, contributing to road safety. Per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, Uber’s motor vehicle fatality rate is significantly lower than the national average, and 99.9% of Uber trips occur without any safety-related incident at all.

Studies have also shown that Uber’s presence in a city reduces the rate of drinking-and-driving crashes. And because of ridesharing, traffic fatalities on nights and weekends have decreased. A national study published in The Review of Economics and Statistics showed that Uber reduced overall traffic fatalities in the US by 5.2%, equating to 627 lives saved in 2019 alone. Finally, according to a Mothers Against Drunk Driving survey, 78% of people agree that their friends are less likely to drive drunk if ridesharing is available.³

Uber is leading advocacy efforts across the country to push for and pass commonsense legislative changes that keep all trips covered while bringing down costs so more of the rider’s fare ends up where it belongs: in the driver’s pocket. By rationalizing TNC insurance requirements, we’ll be able to ensure that consumers are paying only for the protections they need.

Over the past 2 years, some states have made real progress in bringing down the cost of insurance, while others have gone in the wrong direction. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana stand out as the biggest winners, climbing out of the top tier of most expensive markets thanks to reforms and stronger enforcement. By contrast, New Jersey and New York have surged to the top of the rankings, with costs fueled by high UM/UIM requirements, litigation abuse, staged accidents, and runaway verdicts. States like California and Nevada are expected to see costs fall over the coming months as reforms passed in 2025 are phased in. In 2025, the California legislature voted to reduce California’s UM/UIM requirement for TNCs from $1 million per trip when a passenger is in the vehicle to $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, effective January 1, 2026. The gap is clear: States that tackle fraud and reform broken systems are delivering relief to riders, while those that don’t are saddling families with higher fares and fewer transportation options.