Taxi and Ride-Hailing Apps in Peru (Uber, Cabify, inDrive): Passenger Rights

What law regulates Uber, Cabify and inDrive in Peru?

Contrary to what many people assume, there is still no specific, currently-in-force national sectoral rule comprehensively regulating ride-hailing intermediation platforms like Uber, Cabify or inDrive in Peru. In 2024 Congress passed a law on these platforms (Proyecto de Ley 842/2021-CR), but the Executive objected to it on June 25, 2024 and it did not become law. There is a bill in the new Congress; see «Possible changes ahead» below. As of this review, the situation remains a partial regulatory gap: oversight is split “according to their respective jurisdictions” among the MTC, ATU, municipalities and, on the consumer side, Indecopi — without a single sectoral registry or uniform safety rules across all platforms.

This matters because, while no such framework exists, each platform largely sets its own policies on driver verification, dynamic pricing, and cancellation fees, and Peruvian passengers end up depending heavily on each app’s own terms and conditions.

Who is liable when something goes wrong: the app or the driver?

This is the trickiest point, and one where even Indecopi has contradicted itself. In the Uber case decided by the Specialized Chamber for the Defense of Competition (Resolución N° 0084-2020/SDC-INDECOPI, November 9, 2020), Uber was classified as “an intermediation service, whose purpose is to connect two demands” — closer, in other words, to a mere technological facilitator than to a transport company. But the Consumer Protection Commission No. 3, in its Resolución N° 18-2020/CC3, took the opposite view: that the platform can indeed be held liable to the consumer for services contracted through its intermediation, and is not automatically exempt from the consequences of its drivers’ acts or omissions.

In practice, this means:

• For a consumer complaint (an overcharge, poor customer service, an unjustified cancellation fee), you can direct your claim against the platform as a service provider, relying on the Consumer Protection Code.
• For a crime (robbery, assault, harassment) committed by the driver, individual criminal liability falls on that person, and the criminal complaint is filed against the driver — though you can still demand that the platform cooperate and investigate within its own rating and account-blocking system.
• There is no single, settled rule at Indecopi on how much additional civil liability the company bears for acts of its affiliated drivers.

App-hailed taxi vs. municipal taxi: not the same thing

It’s important to distinguish two different situations:

1. A ride booked through an intermediation app (Uber, Cabify, inDrive) with an affiliated private vehicle: falls into the regulatory gap described above. A complaint about the app’s service generally goes through the consumer route (Indecopi); a criminal complaint against the driver goes through the police/prosecutorial route.

2. A conventional taxi with municipal authorization (yellow plate, taxi circulation card): this one is subject to the Reglamento Nacional de Administración de Transporte and to oversight by the Urban Transport Authority for Lima and Callao (ATU) or the relevant municipality in other cities. Even if you booked that taxi through an app, if the vehicle carries municipal taxi authorization, the competent transport authority can act directly on infractions such as overcharging, a missing circulation card, or a vehicle in poor condition.

This distinction explains why two rides that look identical at first glance (“I booked a taxi on my phone”) can end up in front of completely different authorities if something goes wrong.

Cancellation fees and fare disputes

None of the sources reviewed for this page document a specific national rule limiting or regulating cancellation fees for ride-hailing apps in Peru; each platform sets its own policies in its terms and conditions. A study cited by media in 2026 found that around 23% of app-requested rides were cancelled before completion, versus 13% for delivery services — a sign that cancellations are a recurring, user-reported problem, even though there is still no uniform regulatory standard for that cancellation rate or the associated charge. If you believe a cancellation fee was improper, the most realistic path today is to complain inside the app first and, if there’s no satisfactory response, escalate it as a consumer complaint to Indecopi.

What you can actually do today as a passenger

• Always keep evidence of the ride: a screenshot of the estimated fare, the route, and the driver/vehicle identity shown in the app.
• Use the app’s internal support channel as a first step, and the Complaints Book when available.
• If the problem isn’t resolved, file a complaint with Indecopi invoking your right to a suitable service as a consumer.
• For any crime, report it to the police first; the app is an additional reporting channel, not a substitute for a criminal complaint.
• If the vehicle carries municipal taxi authorization, also consider a direct complaint to ATU or the relevant municipality, depending on where the incident occurred.

This is a legal area still in motion: there is a bill in the new Congress (see «Possible changes ahead»), and recent studies (2026) continue to propose a single sectoral framework. It’s worth revisiting this page periodically.