Whose Insurance Pays After an Uber or Lyft Accident in South Carolina?

After an Uber or Lyft accident in South Carolina, which insurance policy covers you comes down to what the driver's app was doing when the crash happened. If a ride had been accepted or you were already in the car, there is at least $1 million in rideshare coverage. If the app was on but no ride had been accepted, a smaller policy applies. If the app was off, only the driver's personal car insurance applies.

Being hurt in a rideshare crash can be more confusing than a regular wreck, whether you were a passenger or driving your own car, because there's more back and forth between insurance companies. Once you know what the driver was doing at the time of the accident, the picture gets clearer. If you were injured in an Uber or Lyft accident, the team at Armada Law Injury Attorneys is here to help.

Uber and Lyft Accident Insurance Depends on What the App Was Doing

South Carolina treats Uber and Lyft as transportation network companies, which is the legal term for a service that connects riders to drivers through an app. State law sets a minimum amount of insurance that has to be in place, and that amount changes with what the driver was doing when the crash happened:

South Carolina's rideshare insurance law protects you if the driver's own insurance falls through. If the driver let their policy lapse or doesn't carry enough, Uber's or Lyft's insurance has to pay the claim itself and cover the legal defense that comes with it. Just as important, Uber's or Lyft's insurance company can't make you file with the driver's personal insurance and get denied first. In practice, you're not stuck chasing a driver who had no coverage.

What that coverage means for you, though, depends on where you were sitting when the crash happened.

Were You the Passenger, Another Driver, or the Rideshare Driver?

The same three situations decide which policy applies, but your role in the accident changes what to do with that answer:

• If you were the Uber or Lyft passenger. You almost never share fault, so the real question is which policy pays. If your driver caused the crash while carrying you, the rideshare policy for an active ride usually covers your injuries. If another driver caused it, you generally claim against that driver's insurance first.
• If you were in another car the rideshare driver hit. Which policy you claim against depends

• If you were the Uber or Lyft driver. While you are waiting for a request, your personal insurer

• If you were a pedestrian or cyclist. The same three situations decide which policy applies to your injuries, based on what the driver's app was doing when you were hit.

Uber and Lyft usually treat drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, so you're generally not suing Uber or Lyft as a company. Instead, you are reaching the insurance policy South Carolina requires them to carry.

If several insurance companies are already pointing at each other, one of our rideshare accident lawyers can sort out which policy applies to your situation and handle the calls, so your focus can stay on getting better.

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What If the Other Driver Had No Insurance or Not Enough?

If the driver who caused your rideshare crash had no insurance or too little to cover your injuries, uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage (UM/UIM) may fill the gap:

• Uninsured coverage is built into the rideshare policy. State law requires it both while the driver is waiting for a request and during an active ride, so an injured passenger isn't left empty-handed when the driver who caused the crash turns out to have no coverage at all.
• Underinsured coverage is optional. Insurers here have to offer it, but drivers aren't required to buy it, so it may or may not be there. That's often what decides what happens when the other

• Your own underinsured coverage can sometimes reach a crash in someone else's car.

If You Drive for Uber or Lyft, Check Your Own Policy

Your personal UM/UIM may not apply while the app is on, and if you signed South Carolina's optional coverage form and turned down underinsured coverage, the law treats that as a knowing choice. It's worth pulling your own policy and checking what you have before you need it.

Who Actually Pays Your Medical Bills While Your Claim Is Pending?

The $1 million figure is a ceiling on what the policy could pay, not a check that arrives right after the crash. The rideshare policy usually pays once, at the end, so it doesn't cover your bills as you go.

What usually fronts those bills is your own health insurance, plus medical payments coverage (MedPay) on your personal car policy if you carry it, which pays regardless of who was at fault. South Carolina doesn't require MedPay, so check your policy rather than assuming it's there.

If your health plan or Medicare pays your accident-related bills, it often has a right to be paid back out of your settlement. That's why the money you keep isn't the same as the policy limit. Knowing which policy applies is only the first step, but knowing who covers the bills in the meantime is what protects the money in your pocket.

Does This Cover Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Other Delivery Apps?

South Carolina's rideshare insurance law covers transporting passengers, not food or packages. This means the $1 million requirement doesn't reach a driver who was dropping off an order.

Delivery platforms run on their own coverage instead. Uber Eats, DoorDash, Instacart, and Amazon Flex generally cover injuries to other people only while a delivery is in progress, and that coverage is often backup to the driver's own policy rather than primary. The details vary by platform, so check that specific app's policy rather than assuming it matches Uber or Lyft.

How South Carolina's Fault Rule Changes What You Can Collect

Finding the right policy is only half the story. South Carolina uses a shared-fault rule that protects injured people, so you can still recover money even when part of the crash was your doing. However, what you recover drops by your share of the blame, and if you are found more than 50 percent responsible, you generally recover nothing.

This matters more in a rideshare crash than in an ordinary two-car wreck. With several drivers and several insurance companies involved, each company has a reason to push a share of the blame somewhere else. A passenger is rarely at fault, but another driver in the crash could be.

What Happens If You Were the Uber or Lyft Driver but Not at Fault for the Accident?

If another driver caused the crash while you were working, you have more than one place to turn:

• The other driver's insurance comes first. Your claim runs against the driver who hit you, the same as it would if you were in your personal car and not working.
• The rideshare policy's uninsured motorist coverage backs you up. If that driver had no insurance or too little, South Carolina requires uninsured coverage on the rideshare policy any time the app is on.
• Repairs to your own car usually run through the other driver. Their property damage coverage is the first place to file. Uber's and Lyft's own coverage for your car is only a fallback, it applies once you have accepted a ride, and it carries a $2,500 deductible.
• Lost income is not part of the rideshare policy. Time off the road belongs in your claim against the driver who caused the crash.

Sorting out three or four claims at once, while your car is in the shop and you are not earning, is where this gets overwhelming.

Talk to Armada Law Injury Attorneys When You're Ready

You don't have to figure out the aftermath of a rideshare accident alone. Our team at Armada Law Injury Attorneys helps injured South Carolinians sort out who is responsible and which policy covers them. Give us a call at 833-332-3128 or reach us through our contact page, and we'll guide you through what to expect.