Whose insurance pays after an Uber or Lyft crash depends on what the app was doing at impact.

The three-period framework -- N.J.S.A. 39:5H-1.

Under the New Jersey Transportation Network Company Safety and Regulatory Act, N.J.S.A. 39:5H-11 et seq., every Uber and Lyft trip in New Jersey falls into one of three coverage periods:

• Period 0 -- App off. The driver is using the vehicle for personal purposes. Personal auto insurance applies. Most personal policies exclude commercial use; many TNC drivers carry a rideshare endorsement to fill the gap, but not all do.
• Period 1 -- App on, no ride matched. The driver is logged in to the TNC app and available, but has not accepted a ride. Under N.J.S.A. 39:5H-102, the TNC must provide at least $50,000 per person / $100,000 per occurrence bodily-injury liability and $25,000 property-damage liability -- contingent on the driver's personal coverage not applying.
• Period 2 -- Ride accepted, en route to pickup. The TNC must provide at least $1,500,000 in liability coverage, applicable from acceptance of the ride request through arrival at the passenger pickup location.
• Period 3 -- Passenger in vehicle. Same $1,500,000 minimum liability. Applies from passenger pickup through passenger drop-off.

The coverage difference between Period 1 ($100,000) and Periods 2/3 ($1,500,000) can be the most consequential coverage fact in a serious rideshare case. The app status at impact is therefore a gating discovery question. TNC records may include app status, GPS location, ride request and acceptance times, and passenger pickup or drop-off events. Preservation letters and, when needed, subpoenas are used to secure the record.

Passenger claims -- three potential coverage layers.

A passenger injured in an Uber or Lyft crash (Period 2 or 3) typically has three layers of coverage available:

1. Your own PIP under N.J.S.A. 39:6A-41. Pays your medical bills regardless of fault, up to your policy's PIP limit (standard $250,000; can be reduced by election). This is the first-line coverage for medical expenses.
2. The TNC's $1,500,000 liability coverage. If the rideshare driver was at fault -- running a red light, distracted, driving while fatigued -- the TNC carrier responds. The $1.5M is materially higher than most personal auto policies.
3. The other driver's bodily-injury liability coverage. If a third driver caused the crash -- the other car ran the light -- that driver's policy pays. The TNC's UM/UIM coverage in Periods 2 and 3 fills the gap if the other driver was uninsured or underinsured.

The structure means a rideshare passenger case may have more coverage available than a typical motor-vehicle case, but only if the coverage is identified and noticed correctly. Policy notice windows vary, and missed UM/UIM notice can create avoidable coverage disputes.

Pedestrian and third-party claims -- the TNC pays for the driver\'s negligence.

TNC liability coverage in Periods 2 and 3 protects people harmed by the driver's negligence, not just the passenger. A pedestrian hit by an Uber driver who was carrying a passenger may have access to the same statutory policy layer that covers the passenger. A driver in another vehicle struck by a Lyft driver in Period 2 may have the same coverage question. The threshold inquiry is the rideshare driver's app period at impact and the fault evidence, not only the identity of the injured party.

From the third-party plaintiff's side, the case is built like a standard negligence claim against the TNC driver -- with the difference that the responding carrier is the TNC's $1.5M insurer, not the driver's personal auto policy. The pedestrian framework under N.J.S.A. 39:4-361 (driver's duty to stop and remain stopped in a marked crosswalk) applies to TNC drivers identically. Comparative-negligence analysis under N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.12 applies the same.

Period 1 cases -- the coverage gap that catches drivers unprepared.

Period 1 -- app on, no ride matched -- is the highest-risk period for everyone involved. The driver may believe they're "available for work" but functionally driving personally; the personal auto carrier may treat the time as commercial use and deny coverage; the TNC's contingent layer ($50K/$100K) is the only coverage that may respond.

For seriously-injured plaintiffs in Period 1 crashes, the coverage gap between Period 1 and Periods 2/3 is often the case-defining limitation. We identify every potential layer:

• Driver's personal auto policy -- may respond if the policy lacks a TNC exclusion or if the driver has a rideshare endorsement.
• TNC contingent Period 1 coverage ($50K/$100K BI, $25K PD).
• UM/UIM layers in any of the above policies or in the passenger's own personal policy.
• Umbrella policies carried by the rideshare driver (uncommon but worth pulling).

The total available coverage in Period 1 cases may be significantly less than the underlying damages. Settlement valuation can be constrained by policy limits as much as by injury severity. We identify the policies and endorsements early so the family understands the practical recovery picture.

Evidence -- TNC trip records, app data, dash cams.

Rideshare cases turn on documentary evidence that has no equivalent in non-rideshare motor-vehicle cases. Uber and Lyft both maintain:

• Timestamped app-status logs. Driver login, available/unavailable status, ride-request events.
• GPS trip records. Vehicle location at every moment during the trip, typically at high resolution (second-by-second or finer).
• Ride acceptance and route data. Time of ride request, time of acceptance, time of passenger pickup, time of drop-off.
• Passenger ride history. The passenger's account log of past rides, useful for confirming the passenger's identity and the specific trip.
• Driver background and rating history. Sometimes useful for negligent-retention theories where the TNC continued the driver despite documented safety issues.

Some rideshare drivers run dash cameras, and recordings may be stored locally or in cloud accounts. Preservation letters to the TNC and the driver, sent early, help protect evidence before retention windows close. The goal is to prevent the coverage and fault questions from turning into a memory contest.

How fees work in rideshare-accident cases.

These matters are handled on a contingency-fee basis -- there is no upfront attorney fee, and no attorney fee at all unless we recover for you. For tort cases, New Jersey Court Rule 1:21-71 sets a tiered fee schedule, calculated on the net recovery (after the case costs and expenses the firm advances). The schedule steps down in stages as the recovery grows -- a built-in client protection that caps the standard fee -- and it works hand in hand with the rest of the Rule. Serious injury and tort cases often run for years and require the firm to advance substantial costs -- expert witnesses, depositions, medical records, and litigation expenses that regularly reach tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, entirely at the firm's risk. Rule 1:21-7(f) recognizes that: where a case has demanded that kind of time, expense, and complexity, the firm may apply -- on written notice to you -- to the Assignment Judge, who determines a reasonable fee in light of all the circumstances. In other words, on the hardest-fought cases a judge, not the firm alone, decides what is fair. We walk you through exactly how your fee is calculated, and set it out in your written fee agreement, before you sign.

What to do in the next 48 hours.

1. Get medical care today -- even if you "feel fine."

Adrenaline masks symptoms for 24-72 hours after a collision. Concussions, soft-tissue injuries, and internal bleeding can present hours or days later. The ER or urgent-care visit creates a contemporaneous medical record dated to the crash.

2. Screenshot everything in the rideshare app.

The trip receipt with timestamps, the driver's name and license-plate information, the route map, the fare breakdown. Screenshot it all before the data refreshes or the app cycles out the trip. Email the screenshots to yourself with the date and time.

3. Document the driver and any other parties at the scene.

Photograph the driver's license, the vehicle's license plate, the insurance card if produced, and any other vehicles involved. Get names and contact information for any passengers in any vehicle and any witnesses.

4. Call the police -- request a report.

Police reports are essential in rideshare cases. They document the crash sequence, the at-fault driver, the vehicle identification, and the contemporaneous statements of everyone involved. Get the report number at the scene; request the full report from the police department in the days that follow.

5. Photograph injuries -- at the scene, in the hospital, and over the recovery period.

Bite marks and cuts heal. Bruising emerges and peaks days after impact. The carrier will see your scars years later; the only images of the actual injury are the ones taken now. Date-stamp on a phone, locked to a cloud account.

6. Save the rideshare app receipt -- and don't delete the account.

The trip receipt is permanent evidence of the ride and the timestamp. Don't delete your rideshare account; the trip history becomes important documentary evidence. If you can, take a screenshot of your full trip history before any subsequent ride.

And the one thing not to do -- don't talk to Uber, Lyft, or any insurance carrier without counsel.

The TNC's claims department or an insurance adjuster may call early. A recorded statement can shape the carrier's defense, especially before the app-period records and medical picture are complete. Politely decline a recorded statement until you have legal advice, and do not rush into a quick settlement before the injuries and coverage layers are understood.