If you were a passenger in an Uber or Lyft accident in California, two things probably matter to you right now: whether there is real insurance money behind your claim, and how a 2026 law called SB 371 affects it. The short answer is that your coverage is almost certainly intact. The longer answer explains why, and what else California law says about your case.
The $1,000,000 Policy Is Still Intact
California requires Uber and Lyft to carry a $1,000,000 commercial liability policy that applies the moment a driver accepts your ride and continues until you are dropped off. This is often called Period 3 coverage, and it is the strongest protection in the entire rideshare insurance system. It applies regardless of who caused the crash, as long as the rideshare driver was engaged in an active trip with you in the vehicle.
This policy was not touched by the 2026 changes. If your Uber or Lyft driver caused the accident, or if you were hurt as a passenger for any other reason during an active trip, the full $1,000,000 policy still applies.
What SB 371 Actually Changed
Senate Bill 371 reduced a different, narrower piece of coverage: Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) protection. Before SB 371, that coverage was $1,000,000. Now it is $300,000.
UM/UIM coverage only matters in one specific situation: when a third party, not your rideshare driver, causes the accident, and that third party has no insurance or not enough insurance to cover your injuries. A hit and run driver is the clearest example. In that narrow scenario, your available coverage through the rideshare company's policy dropped by $700,000 under the new law.
If your Uber or Lyft driver was at fault, SB 371 does not apply to your claim at all. The distinction between "driver at fault" and "someone else at fault" is the single most important fact in understanding how much coverage you actually have.
California's Pure Comparative Negligence Rule
California follows what is called a pure comparative negligence rule, established by the California Supreme Court in Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) and rooted in Civil Code Section 1714. Under this rule, you can recover compensation even if you were partly, or mostly, responsible for your own injury. Your damages are simply reduced by your percentage of fault. There is no cutoff point that blocks your claim entirely, even if a jury found you 99% at fault.
This matters for rideshare passengers specifically because insurance companies sometimes try to argue shared fault to reduce a payout: that you distracted the driver, that you were not wearing a seatbelt, or something similar. In California, even if some of that argument succeeds, it only reduces your recovery. It does not eliminate it.
How Long You Have to File
California's statute of limitations for personal injury claims is two years from the date of the accident, under Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1. There is one important exception: if a government entity was involved (for example, if the crash happened on a road with a known defect you want to claim against a city or county for), you generally have only six months to file a formal claim, not two years. If government involvement is even a possibility in your case, treat the deadline as six months, not two years, until an attorney confirms otherwise.
Evidence does not wait for the deadline. Surveillance footage, witness contact information, and your Uber or Lyft trip data all tend to disappear well before either deadline arrives. Acting early protects your case even though you technically have time left on the clock.
When Multiple Parties Share Fault
California's Proposition 51, codified at Civil Code Section 1431.2, changed how liability works when more than one party is responsible for an accident, such as a multi-vehicle crash involving your rideshare driver and another car. For non-economic damages (pain and suffering), each defendant is only responsible for their own share of fault, not the full amount. For economic damages like medical bills and lost wages, defendants remain jointly responsible. This is a detail that becomes relevant quickly if your accident involved more than one at-fault vehicle, which is common in rideshare crashes.
What This Means for Your Claim
Put together, California's rideshare accident law is more favorable to victims than most people realize, even after the 2026 changes. The core $1,000,000 policy protecting you as a passenger is untouched. The reduction only affects a specific hit-and-run or uninsured-driver scenario. And California's comparative negligence rule means shared fault arguments from insurance companies rarely eliminate your claim entirely, only reduce it.
The best way to find out what your specific situation is worth is to get a real estimate based on the facts of your case, not a generic article. RideClaim's AI tool analyzes your accident details against thousands of real rideshare settlement outcomes in about 60 seconds, with no phone number or email required to get started.