Less than you get once you accept a ride \u2014 and often nothing at all for your own car.
While you are logged in and available, the platforms maintain liability coverage for harm you cause to other people. Coverage for damage to your own vehicle generally does not start until you accept a request.
What is covered while you wait
Uber and Lyft both maintain third-party liability coverage during this window. That pays for injury or property damage you cause to someone else. Limits in this period are materially lower than once a trip is accepted.
This is the period the industry calls Period 1. You do not need that label to use the answer, but you will hear adjusters say it.
What about damage to my own car?
This is where drivers get caught. Lyft's insurance page describes contingent comprehensive and collision as applying while you are en route to a passenger or on a ride \u2014 not while you are simply logged in and waiting.
Uber describes its vehicle-damage coverage as applying when you are en route or on a ridesharing trip, and only if you carry comprehensive and collision on your personal policy.
So if someone hits you while you are parked waiting for a ping, your own car may be your own problem unless your personal policy covers you.
Does my personal policy cover me here?
Often not. Standard personal auto policies commonly exclude driving for hire, and being logged into the app can be enough to trigger that exclusion depending on the policy and state.
A rideshare endorsement is what usually fills this specific gap. Not every carrier offers one, and they do not all cover the same things.
What changes once I accept a ride? →My insurer denied my claim →
Waiting-period limits are set by your state. Open your state and jump straight to what we have verified.
Still have questions?
Tell us your state and platform and what you were doing when the crash happened.
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