New York No-Fault Insurance for Taxi, Uber, Lyft, and Ride-share Drivers
Currently, an estimated 90,000 taxis, Uber, Lyft, and other ride-share drivers actively operate within New York City (1). Coupled with 5,902 motor vehicle collisions reported in New York City in February 2025 alone, accidents remain a common occurrence among drivers (2). As a self-employed taxi, Uber, Lyft, or ride-share driver, accidents pose a greater sense of uncertainty and fear of financial impact as a result of being unable to work.
New York No-Fault Insurance
New York’s no-fault insurance laws are a staple of its motor vehicle insurance landscape and provide medical and financial benefit for individuals injured in car accidents—regardless of who was at fault. Thus, it is important for self-employed drivers and other individuals to maintain awareness of, and be prepared to access, key financial documents and information that may be utilized to support their claim for lost self-employment earnings.
How Are Earnings Impacted?
For self-employed drivers, earnings may be variable and fluctuate depending on demand, hours, and accommodations. Such earnings structure has many benefits but also lacks the stability and security, many salary and full-time employed individuals take for granted with a traditional paycheck. Substantiating self-employment earnings requires documentation such as personal and/or business income tax returns, IRS Form 1099s, trip logs, or earnings reporting available through the ride-share account portal. It is important for drivers to know how to access this information and understand how their earnings are being reported through annual filings of personal and/or business income tax returns.
How To Be Financially Prepared?
To attain a copy of your tax return from the IRS, inclusive of all schedules and attachments, an individual can submit a Form 4506 (3).
Fortunately, for ride-share drives operating through Uber, Lyft, and other platforms, standard and customizable reporting is readily available to users through their account in the application. Daily, weekly, or monthly earnings documents are invaluable and allow drivers to provide a record of earnings from their inception, through the loss, and to the present. In many cases, more comprehensive earnings documents will result in a more accurate calculation of lost earnings.
To access your earnings reports, open your ride-share application, navigate to your profile, and location the dashboard sections — then search for a tab pertaining to Billing, Financial, or Report. If you are unable to locate a viable tab, the Help Team or Support function within the application are a valuable resource toward locating the desired documents.
In Conclusion
One of the many benefits of New York’s no-fault insurance offers is the ability to supplement the lost earnings of self-employment individuals in the event of a motor vehicle collisions. As a self-employed driver, your chances of being involved in a collision are increased. Therefore, it is important to be knowledgeable and prepared for a situation in which you are required to provide evidence to substantiate your claim for lost self-employment earnings. It is crucial to maintain access and awareness to personal financial documents that can be utilized to your support a potential claim for lost earnings.
1 Fitzsimmons, Emma G. "They Drive for a Living and Say New York Traffic Is 'Unbelievable'." *The New York Times*, 22 July 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/22/nyregion/street-wars-traffic-uber-taxi-new-york-city.html.
2 New York City Police Department. "Motor Vehicle Collisions." *NYC.gov*, www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/stats/traffic-data/traffic-data-collision.page. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.
3 Internal Revenue Service. "About Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return." *IRS.gov*, https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-4506. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.