In Spartanburg, many people rely on Uber and Lyft for everyday transportation, airport commutes, and long-distance trips. Rideshare services offer a convenient way to get around the city, but when a rideshare trip ends in a crash, questions can arise about who may be responsible and where to turn for compensation.
A crash involving an Uber or Lyft can raise insurance questions that an ordinary car accident may not. That’s because the coverage that applies depends on what the rideshare driver was doing at the time of the crash.
South Carolina law establishes a tiered system of insurance coverage for rideshare companies, and the phase the driver was in when the crash occurred can affect the insurance coverage available.
The Arndt Law Firm can help guide you through your next steps. We represent people injured in rideshare crashes throughout Spartanburg and Spartanburg County, helping victims understand applicable coverage phases and protect their claims. Call our firm at (843) 310-4645 for a free case review today.
In a rideshare accident claim, the available insurance depends on the rideshare driver's status at the time of the crash. South Carolina, like other states, recognizes a tiered system of coverage for transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft, set out in S.C. Code Title 58, Chapter 23. The coverage available falls into three phases, and identifying the correct one is the first step in a rideshare claim.
In the first phase, the app is off and the driver is using the vehicle for personal purposes. At this point, the rideshare company's coverage does not apply, and the driver's personal auto insurance is the relevant coverage. A crash during this phase is, in insurance terms, an ordinary car accident involving the driver's personal policy.
In the second phase, the driver has the app on and is available to accept rides but has not yet accepted one. South Carolina requires primary automobile liability coverage during this period of at least $50,000 per person for death or bodily injury, $100,000 per incident, and $50,000 for property damage, along with uninsured motorist coverage.
These limits are lower than the active-ride limits, but the coverage is primary: under S.C. Code § 58-23-1630(E), the rideshare company’s coverage cannot be made to depend on your personal auto insurer denying the claim first.
One thing South Carolina law makes explicit: under S.C. Code § 58-23-1625, a personal auto insurer is allowed to exclude every coverage on its policy, including liability, uninsured and underinsured motorist, medical payments, comprehensive, and collision, for any loss occurring while the driver was logged on to the app or carrying a passenger. That is why the rideshare company’s own coverage, not the driver’s personal policy, is usually what matters once the app is on.
In the third phase, the driver has accepted a ride and is on the way to the passenger, or has the passenger in the vehicle, and the highest level of coverage (up to $1 million) applies, including substantial liability coverage maintained by the companies for this active period. The difference between the phases can be dramatic, which is why establishing the driver's status at the moment of the crash is so important to a rideshare claim.
The difference between the primary automobile liability coverage of the waiting phase and the substantial coverage of the active phase can be the difference between a recovery that addresses a serious injury and one that falls short, which is why phase determination receives such careful attention.
The phase is established by the rideshare company's own data. The company's app records the driver's status at every moment, whether the app was off, on and waiting, or engaged with an accepted ride, along with the timing and location of each status change.
This electronic data is the definitive record of which phase applied, and obtaining it helps establish the available coverage. The data is held by the company, and a formal request to preserve and produce it is part of the process of building a rideshare claim. It’s important to act before the data is lost or becomes harder to obtain.
The importance of this data is hard to overstate, because without it, the phase and applicable coverage can be difficult to establish. A rideshare company has little incentive to volunteer information that places a crash in a higher-coverage phase, and the injured person cannot contest the company's characterization of the phase without the underlying data.
App records provide a precise account of the driver’s status, which allows the correct phase to be identified and the applicable coverage to be determined. So an early formal request for the company’s data is one of the most important steps in a rideshare accident claim. These cases depend on electronic evidence that remains under the company’s control.
A rideshare crash can injure several different people, and the phase analysis applies to each, though their situations differ. The passenger in a rideshare vehicle is in a strong position in many respects because passengers are almost never at fault for a crash.
When the driver was engaged with an accepted ride, the highest level of coverage generally applies. A passenger injured in a rideshare crash can pursue a claim against whichever driver was at fault, with the rideshare coverage available when the rideshare driver was in the active phase.
The occupants of another vehicle struck by a rideshare driver are also affected by the phase analysis. If the rideshare driver was at fault and in the active phase, the substantial rideshare coverage may apply to the injured occupants of the other vehicle.
If the driver was in the waiting phase or had the app off, the available coverage is lower or limited to the driver's personal policy. The same is true for a pedestrian or cyclist struck by a rideshare driver, whose recovery depends on the driver's phase.
The rideshare driver may be injured in a crash caused by another driver, and in that situation, the rideshare driver pursues a claim against the at-fault driver like any other injured motorist, with the question of rideshare coverage arising from their own status and any available uninsured or underinsured coverage.
South Carolina requires the rideshare company or driver to carry uninsured motorist coverage during both the waiting phase and an accepted ride, under S.C. Code § 58-23-1630 and § 38-77-150. Underinsured motorist coverage is a separate matter: S.C. Code § 38-77-160 requires that it be offered, but it is optional, so whether UIM is available on a given rideshare policy has to be confirmed rather than assumed.
A passenger injured because a third driver caused the crash has a claim against that at-fault driver's insurance, and if that driver was uninsured or underinsured, the rideshare company's uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may apply during the active phases, providing protection to the passenger when the at-fault third party's coverage falls short.
This interplay between the at-fault driver's coverage and the rideshare company's coverage can become complex. The insurers involved may also dispute which coverage applies and in what order.
A passenger injured by a third driver, with the rideshare driver blameless, still benefits from the rideshare company's coverage when the third driver's insurance is inadequate, but establishing the right to that coverage requires navigating the phase analysis and the interaction of the policies. Sorting out these relationships is part of building the claim.
Because a rideshare crash can involve multiple drivers, multiple insurers, and the phase-dependent rideshare coverage, the situation can be more complicated than an ordinary two-car crash, and the insurers may point at one another in a way that stalls a claim.
Who was at fault, the rideshare driver's phase, and the coverage available from each source need to be sorted out to identify the path to recovery. When a commercial vehicle was also involved, the analysis can extend further. As in any serious crash, identifying every responsible party and every applicable policy is the foundation of a rideshare claim.
After a rideshare crash, the first priority is medical care, both to protect health and to document the injuries at their origin. Some injuries are not immediately apparent, so accepting evaluation and following through on treatment matters even when the harm seems limited at first.
Documenting the rideshare-specific facts is especially valuable because the phase determination drives the coverage. If able, note which rideshare company was involved, the driver's identity, and whether you were a passenger, a third-party driver, or otherwise involved, and preserve the trip information from the app if you were the passenger, including the trip record and any receipt, which can help establish that a ride was underway.
Photograph the scene, the vehicles, and any visible injuries, and gather the names and contact information of witnesses. Make sure law enforcement responds and documents the crash to create an official record.
In the days that follow, preserving evidence and acting promptly protects the claim. A prompt and formal request must be sent out to obtain the rideshare company's electronic data, which is important for establishing the available coverage.
Be cautious in dealings with the various insurers that may be involved, including the rideshare company's insurer and any at-fault driver's insurer, and understand the claim before giving a recorded statement or accepting an early offer. Consider seeking legal advice early to help ensure the company's data is secured and that the correct phase and the coverage that goes with it are established.
Once the phase and the available coverage are established, a rideshare accident claim recovers the same categories of damages as any motor vehicle injury claim.
The economic damages include medical bills from the ER visit through ongoing treatment, plus lost wages and property damage. For a serious injury, future medical costs and loss of earning capacity can be the largest parts of the claim and require careful projection beyond the bills already received.
Then there are the non-economic damages, which cover pain and suffering, emotional distress, and the loss of enjoyment of life that comes with a lasting injury. These damages can add up to a substantial sum when the injury has long-term effects on how someone lives their life.
In cases where the at-fault party's conduct was particularly reckless or egregious, punitive damages might come into play. But South Carolina applies a higher proof standard to these, and specific exceptions can raise the usual damages cap.
Punitive damages require proof by clear and convincing evidence under S.C. Code § 15-32-520. When they are awarded, § 15-32-530 caps them at the greater of three times the compensatory damages or $500,000, but that cap does not apply where the defendant was under the influence, intended to harm, or committed a felony, which is why an impaired-driver rideshare crash is treated differently
What distinguishes the rideshare claim is not the categories of damages but the coverage available to pay them. A serious injury sustained when the rideshare driver is in the active phase provides access to substantial coverage, whereas the same injury sustained in the waiting phase or with the app off provides access to much less, even though the injury and its costs are identical.
This is the practical reason the phase determination matters so much: it can mean the difference between a recovery that addresses the full harm and one constrained by limited coverage.
Rideshare use in the Spartanburg area follows the patterns of the area's travel and activity. The Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, located in Greer, a short distance from Spartanburg, generates significant rideshare traffic, as travelers use Uber and Lyft for the trip between the airport and Spartanburg destinations, much of it along the I-85 corridor.
A crash on one of these airport trips raises the same phase and coverage questions as any rideshare crash, with the driver typically in the active phase while carrying a passenger to or from the airport.
The airport trips illustrate how the phase analysis plays out in practice. A traveler who arrives at the airport, requests a ride, and is picked up for the trip to a Spartanburg destination is a passenger in a vehicle whose driver has accepted the ride and is in the active phase, the phase with the highest coverage.
If a crash occurs during that trip, whether caused by the rideshare driver or another motorist on the I-85 corridor, the analysis examines the rideshare driver's phase, the fault for the crash, and the coverage available, including the rideshare company's substantial active-phase coverage.
The frequency of these airport trips makes them a recurring setting for rideshare claims in the area, and the I-85 corridor they travel is among the busier and higher-speed routes, which can make the resulting crashes serious.
The area's other activity generates rideshare trips as well. The downtown around Morgan Square, with its restaurants and entertainment, the area's events, and ordinary travel around the city and county, all produce rideshare trips.
The interstates and arterials that carry the area's traffic, including I-85, I-26, and the connectors and arterials serving the city, are where many of these crashes occur, often involving the same conditions and conflicts that produce crashes generally.
The analysis of a rideshare crash in the area begins with the same questions: who was at fault, what phase the rideshare driver was in, and what coverage is available as a result. The electronic data that establishes the phase, the evidence of fault, and the identification of all applicable policies form the foundation of the claim.
The growth of rideshare use in the area means these claims, with their distinctive coverage analysis, are an increasingly common part of motor vehicle injury work.
| Rideshare phase | Coverage that generally applies |
| App off (personal use) | The driver's personal auto policy |
| App on, awaiting a ride | Primary TNC coverage of at least $50,000 per person / $100,000 per incident / $50,000 property damage, plus UM (§ 58-23-1630(B)) |
| Ride accepted or passenger aboard | At least $1,000,000 for death, bodily injury, and property damage, plus UM (§ 58-23-1630(C)) |
| Third party at fault | At-fault driver's policy; rideshare UM/UIM may apply |
It depends on the driver's phase. With the app off, the driver's personal policy applies; while waiting for a ride, primary liability coverage applies; and with a ride accepted or a passenger aboard, the highest rideshare coverage applies.
The rideshare company's app records the driver's status at every moment. This electronic data is the definitive record of the phase, and obtaining it is essential to determining the available coverage.
A rideshare passenger is rarely at fault for a crash, which usually puts a passenger in a strong position, though South Carolina’s comparative negligence rule still applies to anyone bringing a claim.
The general deadline is three years under S.C. Code § 15-3-530(5), measured under § 15-3-535 from when you knew or reasonably should have known you had a claim. For a child injured in a rideshare crash, the clock is tolled during minority under § 15-3-40, and how that computation runs has been the subject of dispute, so a minor’s deadline should be calculated case by case rather than assumed.
If a government entity or employee is responsible, the South Carolina Tort Claims Act applies instead. The deadline is two years from the date the loss was or should have been discovered, extended to three years if a verified claim is filed with the agency within one year.
Recovery against a government defendant is capped at $300,000 per person and $600,000 for a single occurrence, and punitive damages are not available (S.C. Code § § 15-78-110, 15-78-120).
If a rideshare crash is fatal, a wrongful death claim is brought by the personal representative of the estate, and the three-year deadline runs from the date of death rather than the date of the crash.
Yes, as long as you were 50 percent or less at fault. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage, and barred entirely at 51 percent or more. That rule comes from the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision in Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., 303 S.C. 243 (1991), not from a statute.
A Spartanburg County rideshare case is filed in the Court of Common Pleas for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, at the Spartanburg County Courthouse, 180 Magnolia Street, in the building that opened in 2023. The Clerk of Court’s office is in Suite 2100.
The Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport is in Greer, in Greenville County, so a crash on the airport side of an airport run is typically a Greenville County case even though the trip ends in Spartanburg. When the crash happened along the I-85 corridor, which county’s Court of Common Pleas hears the claim is worth pinning down early.
When The Arndt Law Firm takes on a rideshare crash case in Spartanburg, the first step is always the same: determine the driver's phase at the time of the crash using the rideshare company's electronic data. That phase determines what coverage applies, so getting it right from the start matters. Then, our firm identifies every party responsible and every applicable policy, while also documenting the full scope of the injuries.
Attorney Arndt spent years on the other side of the table defending insurance companies. With that background, he's equipped to push back and secure the coverage an injured client may be owed under the law.
If you've been hurt in a rideshare accident in Spartanburg or anywhere else in Spartanburg County, contact us immediately. Your initial consultation is free, and rideshare cases are handled on a contingency basis, meaning there's no fee unless you recover compensation.
Last reviewed: June 2026
This page was reviewed by Jonathan S. Arndt, licensed in South Carolina since 2018.
Content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed South Carolina attorney for guidance specific to your situation.
