Who pays the deductible on a rideshare company’s physical damage coverage?

· 2 min read

Physical damage coverage on a rideshare vehicle, the coverage that repairs the car itself rather than paying for someone’s injuries, almost always carries a deductible that falls on the driver, not the company or an injured third party. This is a vehicle-repair question separate from the liability and injury coverage that Georgia mandates, and it is governed mostly by the contract between the driver and the rideshare platform rather than by statute.

Physical damage coverage is different from liability

Georgia’s O.C.G.A. § 33-1-24 sets the liability and uninsured-motorist requirements that protect people injured in a rideshare crash, including up to $1,000,000 during a prearranged ride. Those rules address harm to people and property of others. Physical damage coverage, sometimes called contingent comprehensive and collision, is a different product that pays to fix the rideshare driver’s own car. It is not part of the injury-compensation framework and does not affect what an injured passenger or pedestrian can recover.

Because physical damage coverage protects the driver’s vehicle, the deductible is treated as the driver’s cost of getting that vehicle repaired. Rideshare companies that offer this coverage typically condition it on the driver maintaining personal comprehensive and collision insurance and require the driver to pay a set deductible per claim.

Why this rarely affects an injured person’s claim

For someone hurt in the crash, the deductible on the driver’s physical damage coverage is generally irrelevant:

  • Injury claims are paid through liability and UM/UIM coverage, not the vehicle-repair policy.
  • The deductible is an arrangement between the driver and the platform.
  • Recovery for an injured person’s own vehicle, if any, runs against the at-fault party’s liability coverage or that person’s own collision policy.

The bottom line

The deductible on a rideshare company’s physical damage coverage is normally the driver’s responsibility, because that coverage repairs the driver’s own car and is set by the platform’s terms rather than by Georgia’s insurance statute. It sits apart from the § 33-1-24 liability and underinsured-motorist coverage that compensates people injured in the crash, so it usually has no bearing on an injury claim.

This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.

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