
Find Your Perfect Policy: 866-843-5386
Insurance for Uber and Lyft drivers is different from personal car insurance.
State Farm combines strong types of coverage, wide availability, and affordable rates, making it our top choice for rideshare drivers.
The only company that covers all three periods without restrictions or limitations, Esurance is our second choice for rideshare drivers. The company has an A+ rating from AM Best, meaning you can trust its ability to pay for a claim.1
Many auto insurance companies require you to purchase rideshare coverage if you plan to drive for Uber or Lyft. To understand why, it helps to know the main “periods” of rideshare work:
Uber, Lyft, and similar services offer some coverage, but it’s limited, especially during the first period. Because you are technically working during the first period, your personal policy will not apply, either, leaving you with a gap in coverage. Further, Uber and Lyft’s first-period liability limits are lower than what most auto insurance experts recommend.
How can you fill the gap and make sure you have full coverage car insurance? The answer is simple: a rideshare endorsement to your personal policy.
Not holding rideshare insurance can leave you with serious financial consequences in the event of an accident, especially one that occurs while you’re waiting to match with a rider. Additionally, if your insurer finds out you were driving without coverage for a rideshare company, your insurer may drop your policy. Despite the risks, more than half of rideshare drivers report not having purchased rideshare coverage, according to market research by the rideshare assistant app Gridwise.
We’re here to walk you through your options so you’re covered on the road.
Insurance company | What it’s best for | Periods covered | Deductible reimbursement | Available discounts | States where rideshare insurance is offered | Review |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
State Farm | Overall | All, except liability for Periods 2 and 3 | Yes | Multivehicle, multiline, track safe driving behavior, accident-free, good driving history, defensive driver course, safe vehicle | All except AK, HI, IL, MA, NC, RI, SD | State Farm review |
Esurance | Periods covered | All | Yes | Multivehicle, multiline, track safe driving behavior, safe vehicle, driver training, good driving history, preferred payment | CA, IL, NJ | Esurance review |
Progressive | Food delivery | Period 1, with roadside assistance and rental reimbursement for Periods 2 & 3 | Yes | Multivehicle, multiline, continuously insured, track safe driving behavior, homeowner, online quote, sign online, auto-pay, pay in full, paperless | All except AK, CA, CT, DE, HI, KS, MD, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OR, SC, VT | Progressive review |
Bristol West | High-risk drivers | Period 1 | No | Multivehicle, multiline (including with Farmers or Foremost), automatic payments, paperless, good record | AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DC, DE, GA, FL, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, MD, MI, MN, MO, MT, ND, NE, NJ, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR, PA, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, WV | N/A |
American Family | Accident forgiveness | Period 1 | No | Multivehicle, loyal customer, early quote, multiline, safe vehicle, defensive driver course, good record, low mileage, track safe driving behavior, auto-pay, pay in full, paperless | CO, GA, KS, MN, WI | N/A |
Best Overall: State Farm
Best for Periods Covered: Esurance
Best for Food Delivery: Progressive
Best for High-Risk Drivers: Bristol West
Best for Accident Forgiveness: American Family
The most popular auto insurance provider in the country, State Farm has expanded its rideshare coverage to most states. With affordable rates and strong customer service, it’s a great choice for rideshare drivers.
With any auto insurance company, available coverages vary by state. For example, a provider might sell policies in a state but not offer specific coverages, such as rideshare coverage.
State Farm offers rideshare insurance in 43 states and Washington, D.C., making it one of the most widely available options for drivers. Typically, adding rideshare coverage to your State Farm policy will increase your premiums by 15 to 20 percent.
Purchasing rideshare coverage extends the protections of your personal policy, including the limits and deductibles, to times when the app is on. Once you’ve matched with a rider, all coverages apply, except liability to others.
Coverage | App is on | Matched with rider | Transporting passenger |
---|---|---|---|
Bodily injury and property damage liability | State Farm | Rideshare company | Rideshare company |
Collision, comprehensive, rental reimbursement, and emergency road service | State Farm | State Farm | State Farm |
Medical payments coverage | State Farm | State Farm | State Farm |
The extra liability coverage in the first period is important. Uber and Lyft’s first-period limits are $50,000 in bodily injury per person, $100,000 in bodily injury per accident, and $25,000 in property damage per accident, which are lower than most auto insurance experts’ recommendations of $100,000, $300,000, and $100,000, respectively. Once you’ve matched with a rider, Uber and Lyft’s liability limits go up to $1 million total. With State Farm, you can increase your liability limits, or lessen your financial responsibilities after a collision.
If you carry comprehensive and collision coverage, Uber and Lyft maintain that coverage on your behalf once you’ve matched with a passenger. In the event of a covered incident, they will pay for damages up to your car’s actual cash value. However, Uber and Lyft have higher deductibles than most personal auto insurance policies.
With State Farm’s rideshare coverage, in the event of a claim, you will pay your State Farm deductible rather than the costlier rideshare company deductible. When you add rideshare coverage to your policy, any deductibles you have for collision and comprehensive coverage will not increase.
Some auto insurance companies offer rideshare insurance through a partner company rather than underwriting the policies themselves. State Farm keeps rideshare coverage in-house. If you have to file a claim for a rideshare-related incident, you will work with State Farm directly rather than with a partner company.
State Farm is known for strong customer service and backs up its reputation with above-average customer satisfaction ratings from J.D. Power.3 Additionally, State Farm holds an A++ financial strength rating from AM Best, so you can count on its ability to pay for a claim.
Owned by Allstate, Esurance offers rideshare coverage through a program it calls ShareSmart. It offers protection across all three rideshare periods, without restriction.
Esurance’s rideshare coverage, known as ShareSmart, extends the protections of your personal policy to all three periods (waiting for a ride, matching with a passenger, and transporting the passenger) across all coverage types, including the following:
Note that to purchase rideshare coverage from Esurance, you must carry collision and comprehensive coverages. You can add rideshare coverage at your next renewal. Esurance offers rideshare coverage only in California, Illinois, and New Jersey, though it plans to expand coverage to additional states soon.
If your car sustains damage while you’re driving for a rideshare company, Esurance will cover the difference between your deductible and the rideshare company’s deductible. You’ll pay the lowest deductible between your personal policy and the rideshare insurance policy, and Esurance will take care of the rest. That way, you’re not on the hook for steep rideshare deductibles, which are often up to $2,500.
For drivers who want to manage their policies via a mobile app, Esurance is a solid choice. The company was one of the first to sell policies online and maintains a good reputation for digital tools.
Esurance’s mobile app holds a 4.4-star rating in the Google Play store and a 4.8-star rating in the App Store. You can use it to manage most of your policy needs, including these tasks:
With over 20 million policies in force, Progressive is the third-largest auto insurer in the U.S.4 It’s a good choice for rideshare drivers, in particular those who want to do food delivery in addition to rideshare driving.
More than half of rideshare drivers also work for delivery services such as Instacart, Grubhub, and DoorDash.5 Maybe you feel safer driving without passengers or simply appreciate the solitude. Even if you’re alone in your car, you’re still working if the app is turned on, meaning you need coverage beyond your personal policy.
You can work with multiple apps on, and food delivery apps don’t penalize you for declining (with the exception of special promotions). That said, if you accept an order on one app, it’s wise to pause the other app while you complete the order. If you don’t, you may end up juggling more orders than you can deliver in time.
Progressive allows you to customize your plan, depending on whether you expect to drive solely for delivery services or for both delivery and rideshare. If rideshare coverage isn’t available in your state, Progressive also offers for-livery hire insurance, which offers similar benefits (though at a slightly higher cost than rideshare coverage).
Progressive will reimburse you for the difference between the deductible on your personal policy and the rideshare company’s deductible. For example, if the rideshare company has a $2,500 deductible and you have a $500 deductible, Progressive will pay you $2,000. That way, you don’t have to worry about a big, unexpected expense at an already stressful time.
Over 60 percent of rideshare drivers regularly put in more than 35 hours behind the wheel each week, and three-quarters of drivers keep close track of their earnings and financial goals. If you’re working toward a savings goal, you want to make sure each dollar you spend is worth it.
Progressive offers a substantial number of discounts that can help you keep insurance costs low, including the following:
Discount | Average savings |
---|---|
Bundle multiple policies | 5% |
Add multiple vehicles to the same policy | 4% |
Be insured continuously | Varies |
Track safe driving | $146 |
Have homeowners insurance (even if you don’t insure your home with Progressive) | 10% |
Get an online quote | 7% |
Sign up online | 9% |
Use a preferred payment method (pay in full, automatic, paperless) | Varies |
A subsidiary of Farmers, Bristol West specializes in selling insurance (including rideshare insurance) to high-risk drivers whom other insurers might turn away. It covers the first period, when the app is on and you’re waiting to match with a passenger.
Bristol West sells insurance to high-risk drivers. Note that Uber, Lyft, and similar platforms conduct a background check when you apply and annually thereafter. Some high-risk designations may disqualify you. For example, Uber and Lyft have the following requirements for drivers:
At the same time, being “high-risk” doesn’t mean you’re a bad driver or automatically disqualified from driving for a rideshare company. You might have trouble finding insurance if:
Bristol West offers rideshare coverage to high-risk drivers, including for delivery services such as Uber Eats. The following coverages are available:
High-risk auto insurance tends to cost more than regular auto insurance, and some high-risk insurers skimp when it comes to discounts. However, Bristol West offers you several ways to save. You’ll earn discounts for:
A company’s financial strength can affect its ability to pay for a claim and how long it takes to get your payment. Sometimes, smaller providers like Bristol West lack the financial strength of big companies. However, because Farmers owns and operates Bristol West, it benefits from the financial power of a larger company. Bristol West has an A rating from AM Best, so you can depend on this insurer to pay for a claim, which is especially important if your car provides your main source of income.
Founded in 1927, American Family Insurance (or AmFam) offers an array of insurance offerings, including rideshare coverage. The company holds an above-average customer satisfaction rating from J.D. Power and stands out for its accident forgiveness coverage.
Accidents happen to anyone, even the most experienced drivers, and extra miles on the road can increase your risk.
Typically, your insurance rates will rise by 40 to 50 percent after an at-fault accident. However, if you purchase accident forgiveness, your premiums won’t go up — and you won’t lose your good driving discount, either.
American Family offers two options for accident forgiveness:
If you purchased accident forgiveness and hit five years without a claim, American Family will swap purchased for earned coverage so you no longer pay for it.
American Family offers rideshare insurance coverage that protects you from the time you turn on the app until you match with a customer. The coverage extends the protections that you purchase on your personal policy, including the following:
Wondering how much rideshare coverage will cost you each month? American Family offers a transparent online tool that lets you estimate the added cost of rideshare insurance based on your ZIP code and current monthly premiums.
Nearly one in five rideshare drivers lease their vehicles, and more than half of drivers purchased their vehicles because they wanted to start rideshare driving. If you recently bought your vehicle for rideshare purposes, you might still have a significant portion of your loan to pay off and even be “underwater” (owe more on the car than it’s worth).
In general, it’s a good idea to consider gap coverage if you leased your vehicle, put less than 20 percent down when you bought it, or financed it for five years or longer. Sometimes, your lender may even require you purchase the coverage. Without gap insurance, if you experience a total loss, you could be on the hook for more money than the car is worth.
It’s more expensive to purchase gap coverage from the dealership, but not all insurance companies offer it. American Family offers gap coverage, and typically, it adds only a few dollars to your monthly premiums. In the event of a total loss, if you owe more on your vehicle than it’s worth, American Family will pay the difference.
State Farm, Progressive, and Mercury offer some of the cheapest rideshare insurance.
Commercial auto insurance is a type of insurance policy that covers vehicles used for business purposes. If rideshare insurance is unavailable or difficult to find in your state, you can purchase a commercial policy instead. However, commercial auto insurance tends to cost more than rideshare coverage.
Legally, you do not need to purchase rideshare coverage — but you should buy it anyway. If your insurance provider discovers that you have been driving rideshare without disclosing it, it may drop your coverage or increase your rates. Additionally, if you’re involved in an accident, you may be on the hook for a lot of money due to limited coverage from Lyft and Uber.
Availability of coverage varies by state.
Ratings. AM Best. (2022).
https://ratings.ambest.com/CompanyProfile.aspx?ambnum=19232&URatingId=0&bl=0&AltSrc=1&PPP=&AltNum=0&Ext_User=&Ext_Misc=&Portal=0&Site=
Insurance coverage while driving with Lyft. Lyft. (2022).
https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/all/articles/115013080548-Insurance-coverage-while-driving-with-Lyft
Usage-Based Auto Insurance Takes Center Stage as Satisfaction Flatlines, J.D. Power Finds. J.D Power. (2022, June 13).
https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2022-us-auto-insurance-study
About Us. Progressive. (2022).
https://www.progressive.com/about/
Who are rideshare drivers: A demographic breakdown of rideshare drivers in the U.S.. Gridwise. (2020, Aug 19).
https://gridwise.io/blog/b2b/who-are-rideshare-drivers-a-demographic-breakdown-of-rideshare-drivers-in-the-u-s/
The Cost of Convenience: Ridesharing and Traffic Fatalities. Chicago Booth. (2018, Oct).
https://research.chicagobooth.edu/-/media/research/stigler/pdfs/workingpapers/27thecostofconvenience.pdf