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If you were a passenger in an Uber or Lyft that crashed in New Jersey, or your own car was hit by a rideshare vehicle, the first question is usually simple: who pays? The honest answer is that it depends — on who caused the crash, what the rideshare driver was doing in the app at the moment of impact, and which insurance policies were in force at that second. New Jersey law answers some of those questions in advance, through the Transportation Network Company Safety and Regulatory Act, N.J.S.A. 39:5H-1 et seq. Other questions turn on evidence that can be hard to get if nobody asks for it early.
This page explains liability from the passenger and third-party point of view: who may be responsible, the insurance tiers for each stage of a trip, and the steps that protect a claim. Our New Jersey rideshare accident lawyer page covers the broader claims process.
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More than one party can share responsibility for the same crash, and each may carry a different insurance policy. The most common possibilities are these.
The rideshare driver. A driver who speeds, follows too closely, runs a light, or drives distracted is responsible for the harm that negligence causes, just like any other motorist. The duty is the same as any motorist’s: reasonable care for passengers and everyone else on the road.
The transportation network company (TNC). Uber and Lyft are transportation network companies under New Jersey law. As explained below, the TNC’s insurance is often the largest policy in the case, and in some situations a claim may also be brought against the company itself. That is a separate and harder question than simply collecting under its insurance policy.
Another motorist. If a different driver caused the collision — rear-ending your rideshare, turning across its path, or running a stop sign — that driver and their insurer are responsible for their share of fault. Your claim then runs against that driver, with the rideshare coverages discussed below sometimes filling gaps.
A vehicle owner or an employer. Sometimes the person driving is not the only person legally connected to the vehicle. A claim may also involve the owner who entrusted the car to someone unfit to drive it, or an employer whose employee was driving within the scope of a job — for example, a delivery or company driver who collides with your rideshare. These claims are fact-specific, but they should be checked, because they can bring another policy into the case.
Under N.J.S.A. 39:5H-10, the insurance that must be in force changes with the driver’s app status. Lawyers often describe three periods, although the statute itself is written around what the driver was doing, and that activity — not the label — controls.
App off. When the driver is not logged on to the network, the trip is not a rideshare trip at all. Only the driver’s personal auto policy applies, and the TNC’s coverage plays no role.
App on, waiting for a request. When the driver is logged on and available but has not yet accepted a ride, N.J.S.A. 39:5H-10(b) requires primary liability coverage of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death or bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage. Personal injury protection (PIP) benefits and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage are also required in this period. That coverage may be maintained by the driver, the TNC, or a combination of the two.
Trip accepted or passenger on board. Once the driver is providing a prearranged ride — which begins when the driver accepts a request and continues until the last rider gets out — N.J.S.A. 39:5H-10(c) requires primary liability coverage of at least $1,500,000 for death, bodily injury, and property damage, and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage of at least $1,500,000. The statute also requires medical payments coverage of at least $10,000 per person per incident, but that benefit applies only to the rideshare driver, not to passengers.
Two further points help injured people. If the driver’s coverage has lapsed or falls short, the TNC’s insurance must provide the required coverage from the first dollar, and the TNC has the duty to defend the claim. TNC coverage does not depend on the driver’s personal insurer denying the claim first. When the other driver has no insurance, or too little, that $1.5 million UM/UIM tier can become central — our page on uninsured and underinsured motorist accidents explains how those claims work.
The difference between the waiting tier and the trip tier is the difference between $100,000 per incident and $1,500,000. Insurers therefore dispute app status more than almost any other fact in these cases. A driver may say the trip had not started; a passenger may remember accepting, riding, and paying. The records, not anyone’s memory, usually settle it.
The evidence that proves app status includes the trip record in your own app — the request, acceptance, pickup, and drop-off times, the route map, and the fare — as well as the electronic receipt the TNC must send after a prearranged ride, which lists the origin, destination, total time and distance, and fare. Screenshots taken the same day preserve details that can later disappear from an app view. On the other side, the TNC and the driver hold the driver’s log-on records, acceptance timestamps, and trip data, which can be requested and, in a filed case, obtained through discovery.
Other evidence supports both fault and timing: the police report, photographs, dashcam or nearby camera footage, and witness names. Save everything, including messages from the driver. If a loved one was killed in a rideshare crash, the same records anchor the family’s claim — see our guide to pursuing a wrongful death claim after a rideshare accident in New Jersey.
Personal auto policies are priced for personal use, and they commonly exclude coverage while the vehicle is being used to carry passengers for pay — the so-called livery or commercial-use exclusion. That exclusion is why the app-off period is risky: outside the statutory tiers, an injured person may be left with a personal policy that disputes coverage, limits far below the trip tier, or both.
The exclusion fight also appears inside the waiting period, where a personal insurer may argue the driver was engaged in commercial activity while the TNC points back at the driver. New Jersey’s statute is designed to keep an injured person from being trapped between those positions: coverage for the logged-on periods must exist, supplied by the driver, the TNC, or both, and the TNC steps in from the first dollar if the driver’s coverage fails. Drivers face their own version of this problem, described in our article on being injured while driving for rideshare in New Jersey.
Many rideshare crashes are not one driver’s fault alone. Your rideshare driver may have been following too closely while another driver changed lanes without signalling. When fault is split, New Jersey’s Comparative Negligence Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1, controls how damages are allocated. A claimant’s recovery is reduced by their own percentage of fault, and recovery is barred only if the claimant’s negligence is greater than the negligence of the person or persons against whom recovery is sought — the rule often called the 51% bar.
For a passenger, comparative negligence is usually favourable ground: a passenger rarely controls the vehicle, so fault is typically divided between the drivers, and the passenger can pursue each at-fault driver and the policies behind them. Percentages still matter, because each defendant’s share affects what can be collected from that defendant.
Fault questions get more complicated when the other vehicle is registered or insured in another state — common on Bergen County roads. Our article on a rideshare accident with an out-of-state driver in New Jersey explains the jurisdiction and insurance issues that follow.
It helps to separate two different things. Collecting under insurance the TNC maintains under N.J.S.A. 39:5H-10 is routine — it does not require proving the company itself did anything wrong. Suing the TNC for its own negligence is different. Rideshare drivers are generally treated as independent contractors rather than employees, so the usual rule that an employer answers for an employee’s driving does not apply in the straightforward way it would for a company vehicle.
A direct claim against a TNC therefore has to identify something the company itself did or failed to do — for example, a claim framed around how it screened, retained, or responded to complaints about a driver, or around its own systems. Whether such a claim can proceed depends heavily on the facts, the evidence about what the company knew, and defences the company will raise, including the driver’s contractor status. These claims are evaluated case by case, and the company can be expected to contest them vigorously. The claim against the driver and the insurance claims should be built carefully either way, because they do not depend on winning the harder argument against the company.
New Jersey is a no-fault state for medical bills. Personal injury protection, required under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-4, pays covered medical expenses regardless of who caused the crash, and a standard policy provides medical expense benefits up to $250,000 per person per accident, subject to the benefit level actually selected and the policy’s terms. Which PIP policy responds for a rideshare passenger depends on the passenger’s own coverage and household situation — one reason the coverage analysis should be done early, while treatment is ongoing.
PIP pays medical bills and certain related benefits; it does not pay for pain and suffering. A claim for non-economic loss against an at-fault driver can also be limited by the limitation on lawsuit option — often called the verbal threshold — under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8, if that option applies to the injured person. Under that option, a suit for non-economic loss requires an injury within the statute’s categories, such as death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement or scarring, a displaced fracture, loss of a fetus, or a permanent injury as the statute defines it. Whether that threshold applies, and whether an injury meets it, are medical and legal questions that should be assessed on the actual records rather than assumed.
At the scene. Call 911 and accept medical attention — some injuries declare themselves hours later. Get the rideshare driver’s name, the other driver’s name, licence, and insurance information, and photograph the vehicles, plates, damage, and the ride screen in your app before the trip closes out. Ask witnesses for names and numbers, and make sure a police report is made.
In the first days. Screenshot the full trip detail and save the electronic receipt. Report the crash through the app and to the insurer that may provide your PIP benefits, get follow-up medical care promptly, and keep every bill and record. Write down what you remember while it is fresh.
What to avoid. Be careful with recorded statements and quick settlement offers before the coverage picture is clear. An adjuster’s first question is often app status, answered before anyone has seen the trip records. Also watch the calendar: a personal injury action in New Jersey generally must be filed within two years under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2, and claims involving public entities can carry much shorter notice deadlines, so the date should be calculated for your specific case early rather than late.
The Epstein Law Firm can review the evidence, insurance issues, and next steps that may matter in your rideshare accidents claim.
Liability is one part of a larger picture. Drivers hurt on the job face different insurance and classification questions, covered in our article on being injured while driving for rideshare in New Jersey. Families dealing with a fatal crash can read about how to pursue a wrongful death claim after a rideshare accident in New Jersey, and passengers hit by a driver from another state will find the jurisdictional issues in our guide to a rideshare accident with an out-of-state driver in NJ.
For the full claims overview, visit our New Jersey rideshare accident lawyer page, and for the coverage that applies when the at-fault driver has no insurance or too little, see our page on uninsured and underinsured motorist accidents. The Epstein Law Firm, P.A., in Rochelle Park offers a free case evaluation and handles injury cases on a contingency fee — call (201) 231-7847 to discuss what happened.
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Selected case results obtained by The Epstein Law Firm include a $10 million settlement, obtained working as local counsel with a Baltimore firm, for a Maryland woman who lost both of her legs after being struck by an NJ Transit bus in Lakewood, New Jersey; a $13.585 million confidential settlement; and a $4.25 million confidential settlement in a wrongful death and survival action arising from a motor vehicle crash. Every case is different, and these results do not guarantee a similar outcome in any other matter.
Below are answers to common questions about who is responsible and who pays after a New Jersey rideshare accident. This information is general and not legal advice — contact our office for advice about your specific situation.
Liability follows fault. The rideshare driver is liable if their negligence caused the crash, another motorist is liable for their share if they caused or contributed to it, and in some cases a vehicle owner or an employer connected to a vehicle can also be responsible. A passenger can pursue every party whose negligence contributed to the collision.
Behind each party stands insurance. When the crash happens during a prearranged ride, the transportation network company’s coverage under N.J.S.A. 39:5H-10 is usually the largest policy available, which is why identifying every at-fault party — and the correct app-status period — matters from the start.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 39:5H-10; New Jersey Rideshare Accident Lawyer
Your primary claim then runs against the driver who hit you, under that driver’s liability policy. The rideshare driver and the network company’s coverage do not disappear from the case: fault can be shared, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage connected to the rideshare trip may respond if the at-fault driver’s policy is missing or too small.
Preserve the same evidence either way — the police report, both drivers’ information, photographs, and your trip record. Which policy pays first, and how the policies layer, depends on fault and on the limits involved, so the other driver’s coverage should be verified rather than assumed to be adequate.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1; Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Accidents
It depends on the driver’s app status. During a prearranged ride — from acceptance until the last passenger gets out — N.J.S.A. 39:5H-10 requires primary liability coverage of at least $1,500,000 and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage of at least $1,500,000. Those are statutory minimums for the coverage that must be maintained, not a prediction of what any individual claim is worth.
In the earlier logged-on, waiting period, the required liability limits are lower: at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death or bodily injury, and $25,000 for property damage. With the app off, only the driver’s personal policy applies. A consumer with a coverage dispute can also contact the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 39:5H-10; NJ Department of Banking and Insurance — Consumer Assistance
Yes — it is often the single most important coverage fact in the case. Acceptance starts the prearranged ride under New Jersey law, and with it the $1,500,000 liability and UM/UIM tier. Before acceptance, while the driver is only logged on and waiting, the lower $50,000/$100,000/$25,000 tier applies instead.
Because the difference is so large, app status is frequently disputed. Your app’s trip record, the electronic receipt with the ride’s origin, destination, time, and distance, and the company’s own log-on and acceptance records are the evidence that resolves the dispute, which is why they should be saved immediately.
In most cases, compensation is pursued through insurance — the driver’s, the other motorist’s, and the insurance the network company maintains — without needing to prove the company itself was negligent. A direct claim against the company is a separate theory that must point to the company’s own conduct, such as how it screened or responded to complaints about a driver.
Those claims are fact-specific and are usually contested, in part because drivers are generally treated as independent contractors rather than employees. Whether a direct claim is viable in your case requires a review of the specific facts, and it is separate from the insurance claims, which should be pursued either way. Civil claims of this kind are filed in the Superior Court system.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 39:5H-10; NJ Courts — Civil Practice Division
With the app off, the driver is treated like any other private motorist: the claim runs against the driver and their personal auto policy, and the network company’s statutory coverage does not apply. That can leave much less insurance in the case, particularly for serious injuries.
One complication is that personal policies commonly exclude carrying passengers for pay, so disputes can arise if a driver was working informally or between trips. Your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may also be worth examining. App status should be proved from records, not taken from any driver’s statement at the scene.
New Jersey follows modified comparative negligence under N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1. Fault is allocated by percentage, a claimant’s damages are reduced by their own percentage, and recovery is barred only if the claimant’s fault is greater than the combined fault of those they seek recovery from — the 51% bar.
A passenger usually has little or no fault to allocate, so split fault between drivers mainly affects which insurers pay and in what proportion. Expect each insurer to argue for a larger share against the other driver; the police report, witness accounts, and vehicle damage help keep those percentages honest.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1; New Jersey Rideshare Accident Lawyer
New Jersey’s no-fault system pays medical bills first through personal injury protection, regardless of fault. Under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-4, a standard policy provides PIP medical expense benefits up to $250,000 per person per accident, subject to the benefit level selected in the policy. Which policy provides your PIP depends on your own auto coverage and household circumstances.
PIP does not cover pain and suffering. A claim for non-economic loss against an at-fault driver may also face the limitation on lawsuit option under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8, which requires an injury in one of the statute’s categories. Both questions should be reviewed against your actual policy and medical records.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 39:6A-4; N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8
A personal injury lawsuit generally must be filed within two years of the accident under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2. Missing that deadline usually ends the claim, however strong the liability case is, so the date should be confirmed for your case rather than estimated.
Some situations shorten the practical timeline: claims involving public entities can require notice far sooner, evidence such as app and trip records is easier to obtain early, and insurance claims should be reported promptly even though the lawsuit deadline is two years. If a case must be filed, it proceeds through the New Jersey Superior Court’s civil system.
Sources: N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2; NJ Courts — Civil Practice Division
Report the crash promptly — to the police, through the app, and to the insurer that may owe you PIP benefits — but a detailed recorded statement to another party’s insurer is different. Adjusters ask early about app status, fault, and injuries, before the trip records are available and before the extent of an injury is known, and the recording can be used later to dispute both.
It is reasonable to provide basic identifying and claim information, keep copies of everything you submit, and get advice before giving a recorded account or signing releases. If an insurer refuses to address a coverage problem, consumers can also seek help from the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance.
Sources: NJ Department of Banking and Insurance — Consumer Assistance; New Jersey Rideshare Accident Lawyer
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Related: our New Jersey car accident lawyers · New Jersey man charged in crash that killed Florida woman · When a person should seek medical treatment after a head injury
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