Uber/Lyft Accidents Lawyer In Beverly Hills, CA
An uninsured driver who hurts you inside an Uber or Lyft in California used to trigger up to $1 million in coverage. Since January 1, 2026, that figure is $60,000. The cut came from Senate Bill 371, and most rideshare-injury pages still quote the old million-dollar number.
That gap decides how much of a serious injury actually gets paid. Alpha Law PC handles Uber and Lyft accident claims from 9701 Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills.
What changed for rideshare crashes in 2026
California cut the uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage that Uber and Lyft must carry during a ride from $1 million to $60,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. It took effect January 1, 2026, under Senate Bill 371.
Here is what that looks like in a real crash. You are riding in a Lyft. Another driver blows a red light, hits your car, and turns out to carry no insurance. Before 2026, the rideshare company’s uninsured-motorist coverage could pay up to $1 million toward your injuries. Now it pays up to $60,000. One surgery and a few months of physical therapy can pass that in a hurry.
The million dollars did not vanish from the whole policy. Third-party liability, the coverage that pays when the rideshare driver is the one who caused the crash, is still $1 million during an active ride. SB 371 cut the uninsured-driver layer, not the at-fault-driver layer. That single distinction decides which policy you look to first, and it is the part the ranking pages have not caught up to.
Which insurance pays after an Uber or Lyft crash: the four-period coverage map
Which policy pays depends on what the driver’s app was doing at the exact moment of impact. California sorts every Uber and Lyft trip into four periods. Read your crash against this map first.
Period 0
App off
Liability: driver’s personal policy only
Minimums: $30,000 / $15,000 property
UM/UIM: personal policy only
Period 1App on, waiting
Liability: $50,000 / $100,000 / $30,000Contingent: pays only if personal insurer denies firstUM/UIM: personal policy first
Period 2
En route to pickup
Liability: $1,000,000 third-partyUM/UIM: $60,000 / $300,000 (SB 371)
Period 3Passenger in car
Liability: $1,000,000 third-partyUM/UIM: $60,000 / $300,000 (SB 371)
The threshold fight in most rideshare claims is proving which period was active. The app’s own GPS and timestamp data settles it, and that data can be requested and preserved. Screenshot your trip receipt at the scene, because it is your copy of the record and it does not depend on the company handing anything over.
Why your own car policy may now be your biggest source of recovery
After SB 371, your own auto insurance is often the largest source of money in a serious rideshare injury, and most riders do not know they are covered.
If you own a car in California, your policy can carry uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. When you are hurt as an Uber or Lyft passenger and the at-fault driver has too little insurance, your personal UM/UIM can stack on top of the rideshare company’s now-smaller layer. Most California auto policies also include $5,000 to $10,000 in medical payments coverage that pays your bills no matter who caused the crash, and it does not reduce your injury settlement.
Pull your own declarations page before you assume the rideshare policy is your only option. The coverage you already pay for every month may be worth more than what SB 371 left behind.
The California rules that decide what a rideshare claim is worth
Past which policy pays, a few California rules set the ceiling and the floor on a claim. People usually hear the opposite of what these rules actually say, and usually from an adjuster.
You can be partly at fault and still recover
California uses pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab Co., 1975). Your recovery drops by your share of fault, but it does not disappear. If your damages come to $100,000 and a jury finds you 20% at fault, you collect $80,000. An adjuster who tells you that any fault ends your claim is negotiating, not stating the law.
What you actually recover for medical bills
If your health insurer paid for your treatment, you recover the amount actually paid, not the higher amount the hospital first billed (Howell v. Hamilton Meats, 2011). A $90,000 bill that an insurer settled for $28,000 is a $28,000 medical damage. Treatment on a lien works on different math, and for 2027 crashes SB 623 changes that math again. Which route you take affects the final number, so raise it early with a lawyer.
The deadline, and the six-month trap
You generally have two years from the date of the crash to file suit in California (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1). One exception quietly ends cases. If a government vehicle or public entity is involved, a city bus, a Metro vehicle, a driver working for a public agency, you may have only six months to file a formal claim first (Government Code section 911.2). Rideshare trips share Los Angeles streets with public transit all day. If a public vehicle was part of your crash, treat the deadline as six months, not two, and get advice fast.
First steps after an Uber or Lyft crash in Beverly Hills
Do these in roughly this order and the claim gets easier to prove.
Report the crash inside the Uber or Lyft app before you leave the scene. That locks in the trip record and the timestamps that later prove which coverage period was active. Get medical care the same day, even if you feel fine. Adrenaline hides soft-tissue and head injuries for a day or two, and the gap before your first visit is the first thing an adjuster points to when arguing you were not hurt.
Photograph the vehicles, the street, the app screen showing your active trip, and your injuries. Collect names and numbers for every driver and any witness. Screenshot your trip receipt and ride history. Do not give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement before you talk to a lawyer, because those early answers get read back to you during negotiation.
If you were a passenger, you did nothing wrong by definition, and your job is simple: document the ride and get looked at by a doctor. The fault fight is between the drivers and their insurers.
Related practice areas
Rideshare accident questions Beverly Hills riders ask
Yes, for one layer. Senate Bill 371 cut the uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage Uber and Lyft carry during a ride from $1 million to $60,000 per person and $300,000 per accident, effective January 1, 2026. The $1 million third-party liability coverage for an at-fault rideshare driver is unchanged.
During an active trip (request accepted or passenger aboard), the rideshare company’s $1 million third-party liability coverage applies. If the driver was only logged in and waiting, the coverage is smaller and contingent on their personal insurer denying first.
This is where 2026 hurts. The rideshare uninsured-motorist layer that pays now tops out at $60,000 per person. Your own auto policy’s UM/UIM coverage, plus any medical payments coverage, often becomes the larger source of recovery. Pull your declarations page.
Usually two years from the crash (Code of Civil Procedure 335.1). If a government vehicle or public entity was involved, you may have only six months to file a claim first (Government Code 911.2). The shorter deadline controls.
Yes. California uses pure comparative negligence, so your recovery is reduced by your share of fault but not eliminated. A passenger is rarely assigned any fault at all.
It does. SB 623’s medical-billing cap applies only to crashes on or after January 1, 2027. A 2026 crash keeps the older medical rules but already faces the reduced uninsured-motorist layer.
Other Beverly Hills injury cases Alpha Law PC handles: car accidents, truck accidents, pedestrian accidents, dog bites, and work injuries.
Talk to a Beverly Hills rideshare accident lawyer
Two things work against you after an Uber or Lyft crash: the clock, and an insurer that already understands the 2026 coverage rules better than you do. Both get worse the longer you wait.
Alexander Khoubian will look at what happened and tell you plainly which policies apply and whether you have a claim worth bringing.