Fair coverage, fair fares: addressing outsize insurance costs
Some states have outsize insurance requirements for ridesharing
State laws around the US require rideshare drivers to have commercial auto insurance. Each state sets its own commercial auto insurance requirements for Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), which vary dramatically by state. While most states permit the driver, Uber, or a combination of both to satisfy these requirements, Uber buys commercial auto insurance for drivers so they don’t have to pay for expensive policies themselves. Across the United States, every Uber TNC trip is covered by at least $1 million in commercial liability insurance coverage when a driver is on the way to pick up a rider or transporting a rider. This coverage helps give riders and drivers peace of mind. Learn more about Uber’s insurance coverage here.
However, the commercial auto insurance requirements imposed on rideshare vehicles are often far higher than those required for taxis, limousines, or personal vehicles. When TNCs have insurance requirements that are significantly higher than those of other vehicles on the road, it can make rideshare vehicles a target for billboard lawyers, who exploit TNC insurance rules for their own gain. This is especially true when it comes to uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance (UM/UIM), which applies when other drivers, rather than the rideshare driver, are at fault.
In New Jersey, the $1.5 million TNC requirement for UM/UIM is 30 times the requirement for personal car owners. And in New York state,¹ the $1.25 million TNC requirement for UM/UIM is 25 times the requirement for personal car owners. These outsize requirements contribute to the increasing burden of high insurance costs on consumers.²
Driving progress: safer roads and successful reforms
Safety and innovation
Over the years, we’ve consistently raised the bar on safety by developing industry-first features, comprehensive education for our users, and close partnerships with experts—including advocates and law enforcement—who help guide our decisions.
Uber has already invested in safety innovations like left-turn reductions, partially controlled intersection alerts, and seat-belt alerts, with the goal of minimizing risk from crashes. Uber has also launched Driving Insights, a dashboard that provides drivers with visibility into their driving habits and tips to improve their driving safety. Research suggests that TNC drivers are safer than the average driver, contributing to safer roads overall. Per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, Uber’s motor vehicle fatality rate is significantly lower than the national average, and 99.9% of Uber trips occur without any safety-related incident at all.
Studies have also shown that Uber’s presence in a city reduces the rate of drinking-and-driving crashes, and because of ridesharing, traffic fatalities on nights and weekends have decreased.
Legislative wins
Across the country, Uber is leading advocacy efforts to pass commonsense legislative changes that keep all trips insured while bringing down costs. Over the past few years, several states—including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New York, Virginia, and Washington—have passed meaningful reforms to either bring down UM/UIM TNC insurance requirements or help curb legal abuse. These reforms are expected to help—or have already helped—stabilize insurance costs. We’ve already seen a more stabilized insurance industry in Florida, for example, where these changes have resulted in $1 billion in refunds from insurers to Florida drivers.
Putting money back in pockets: benefits of fairer insurance policies
Lower fares for riders
When insurance requirements are brought more in line with those for other vehicles, riders pay less per trip. In California, reforms that reduced UM/UIM requirements passed in 2025. As a result, riders saved tens of millions of dollars in Q1 2026 alone and are on track to save hundreds of millions more by year-end.
Tort reforms can help rein in fraud and abuse, stabilize costs for riders, and benefit personal car owners as well. Uber riders in Florida have saved tens of millions of dollars following legal abuse reforms in 2023.
More trips for drivers
In states like California and Florida, where legislative reforms reduced insurance requirements or amended tort law, we’ve seen insurance costs decrease, helping lower prices for riders. This, in turn, has led to more trips, creating more earning opportunities for drivers.
Our continued fight for fair insurance
While progress on insurance reform is significant, many states still have laws that incentivize legal abuse and can lead to runaway verdicts. Along with disproportionately high insurance requirements, this legal abuse continues to fuel high fares in several states.
Our advocacy for reform will continue in states like New Jersey, Colorado, Michigan, and New York, where excessive insurance coverage requirements and high litigation risk consume a significant percentage of the riders’ fares.
In other states, such as Texas and Louisiana, we’re primarily focused on addressing legal abuse, which drives up costs for everyone. According to the American Tort Reform Association, legal abuse costs every Louisiana resident more than $965 annually. To help reduce those costs, we’ll continue to prioritize tort reform.
What can you do?
Our goal is to ensure that consumers pay only for the protections they need. Get involved and join our efforts in advocating for fairer insurance policies in your state.
¹This requirement for TNCs is only while a passenger is in the vehicle.
²Examples of states with high percent of customers’ fares having gone toward covering government-mandated commercial insurance for rideshare/TNC (transportation network company) trips in March 2026: Colorado: ~13%; Louisiana: ~21%; Michigan: ~21%; New Jersey: ~32%; New York excluding New York City: ~29%; Texas: ~17%.
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