Uber and Lyft Accidents in Los Angeles: LAX, Hollywood, Downtown

Los Angeles is one of the largest rideshare markets in the world, with LAX, Hollywood, downtown, Santa Monica and the Westside generating hundreds of thousands of trips a day. The city’s rideshare collisions involve passengers, other drivers, pedestrians and the rideshare drivers themselves, and the insurance that applies depends on what the driver’s app showed at the moment of the crash.

The three insurance periods

Period	Driver status	Coverage (California law)
Period 0	App off	Driver’s personal auto policy only
Period 1	App on, waiting for a request	Primary liability: $50,000 per person / $100,000 per incident / $30,000 property damage, with a separate $200,000 excess requirement; verify the policy supplying coverage
Period 2	Request accepted, en route to pickup	$1,000,000 primary liability; verify policy-specific UM/UIM and vehicle-damage benefits
Period 3	Passenger in vehicle until exit	$1,000,000 primary liability; SB 371 passenger UM/UIM minimum of $60,000 per person / $300,000 per incident

Public Utilities Code § 5433 governs these requirements. The California Assembly’s enacted-bill summary documents the SB 371 (2025) change to passenger UM/UIM limits, so older $1 million UM/UIM summaries should not be relied on without checking the collision date and policy. Liability and UM/UIM are separate coverages, and statutory minimums are not promised payments. Preserve the trip receipt and request the applicable policy and app-status records through the TNC claims process or counsel.

Where Los Angeles rideshare collisions happen

LAX-it and the airport loop. Since 2019 rideshare pickups have been consolidated at the LAX-it lot; drivers circle the Sepulveda and Century corridors and the staging lot at 96th Street in dense traffic. Rear-end and sideswipe collisions are common, and Period 1 drivers (waiting for a request) are the hardest to insure.
Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset and Highland. Late-night pickups stop in travel lanes, causing rear-end collisions, and pedestrians step between stopped cars.
Downtown (Figueroa, Olive, 7th, the Arts District). Event traffic around Crypto.com Arena and L.A. Live and bar-district pickups.
Santa Monica and Venice. Dense trips with cyclists and scooters in the mix.
The 405, 10 and 101. Rideshare drivers working long shifts are involved in fatigue-related freeway crashes.

Passenger claims

A passenger’s potential claims depend on which driver caused the collision. The rideshare driver’s liability coverage and passenger UM/UIM coverage for an uninsured or underinsured other driver are different policies or coverage parts. Passenger status alone does not determine liability, available limits or payment. Screenshot the trip receipt, driver, vehicle, route and timestamps, and report the incident through the app. Review any proposed release with an attorney before settling.

Third-party claims (other drivers, pedestrians, cyclists)

If a rideshare driver hit you, the applicable coverage depends on the period. Ask the driver whether they were on a trip, and photograph their phone if they show it; otherwise the TNC’s records resolve it. Period 1 collisions are the problem cases: $50,000 per person is quickly exhausted by a serious injury, the driver’s personal policy usually excludes rideshare activity, and your own UIM coverage becomes important. Pedestrians struck by rideshare drivers dropping off in Hollywood or downtown should obtain the TNC claim information at the scene if possible.

Rideshare driver claims

An injured rideshare driver should request the TNC’s policy, any personal rideshare endorsement and information about occupational accident benefits. Do not assume that passenger-period UM/UIM minimums apply while waiting for a request or driving to a pickup, or that occupational accident benefits are the same as workers’ compensation. App status, the collision date, policy language and the cause of injury must be evaluated separately.

Who investigates

LAPD investigates city-street collisions; CHP handles freeways and the airport’s Caltrans right-of-way; Los Angeles Airport Police may respond on LAX property. The report should note that a vehicle was operating as a TNC, but often does not; your own records of the app are the proof.

Next step

If you were hurt in a rideshare collision in Los Angeles, tell us about your accident. See also rideshare accidents and our Los Angeles car accident page.

Los Angeles questions

I was a passenger and the Uber driver caused the crash. Do I claim against Uber or the driver?

Against the TNC’s $1 million commercial policy, which covers the driver during a trip. Report the collision through the app and to the TNC’s claims line; the insurer will contact you. Uber and Lyft contest employer liability (drivers are classified as independent contractors under Proposition 22), but the insurance applies regardless.

A Lyft driver hit my car near LAX and said he was “just waiting for a ride.” What coverage is there?

That is Period 1: $50,000 per person / $100,000 per accident / $30,000 property damage from Lyft’s contingent policy, plus any personal coverage the driver has that does not exclude rideshare. If your injuries exceed that, your own UIM coverage applies.

The driver was not on the app at all. Is Uber or Lyft involved?

No. It is an ordinary claim against the driver’s personal auto insurance. The TNC’s records will confirm the app was off if there is a dispute.

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Sources and official resources

Links go to official government, court and public-health sources. Laws change; verify current text before relying on it.

Uber and Lyft Collisions in Los Angeles