# Do you understand your Apps insurance if you get into an accident while delivering?



## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

I'm always surprised how little drivers understand about the insurance issues they face with these apps. Just so you have a clear understanding *when you are on an active delivery*:

UberEats/Uber

Liability for third party property damage and injured parties. Everyone EXCEPT the driver is covered. As a driver you have to purchase additional coverage if you want to include yourself
Collision/Comprehensive for damage to your vehicle with a $2500 deductible. Provided, that you maintain the same coverage on your personal policy so if you don't have collision and comprehensive on your personal policy Uber won't cover it.
DoorDash

Liability for third party property damage or injured parties. HOWEVER, it's considered "excess insurance" so it only applies after you have gone through your own personal policy first!
Collision/Comprehensive no coverage provided.
Little known but helpful is that you are provided for free with injury protection coverage. If you get hurt while dashing you can file with DoorDash for the insurance coverage. 
GrubHub

No coverage provided.
Instacart

No coverage provided.
As a side note I've never done flex but I'm told it is similiar to Uber but with a $1000 deductible.


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## 45821 (Feb 15, 2016)

Seamus said:


> I'm always surprised how little drivers understand about the insurance issues they face with these apps. Just so you have a clear understanding *when you are on an active delivery*:
> 
> UberEats/Uber
> 
> ...


Allstate offers commercial add-on to your personal policy. In my case it was only $100 extra for 6 months and I got rid of whole lot of confusion about gig apps coverage.


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## Rickos69 (Nov 8, 2018)

Seamus said:


> I'm always surprised how little drivers understand about the insurance issues they face with these apps. Just so you have a clear understanding *when you are on an active delivery*:
> 
> DoorDash
> 
> ...


And if you don't have rideshare coverage with your personal insurance?
I believe that is what it is called regardless of if it is people or food???


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Rickos69 said:


> And if you don't have rideshare coverage with your personal insurance?
> I believe that is what it is called regardless of if it is people or food???


4 Options

Commercial Insurance ($$$)
Rideshare add on that covers food delivery (not all do)
Drive a beater that you can walk away from in an accident for scrap
Hope your personal policy doesn't find out you were delivering food in an accident.
Most I have talked to do option 3 or 4!


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## Rickos69 (Nov 8, 2018)

Seamus said:


> 4 Options
> 
> Commercial Insurance ($$$)
> Rideshare add on that covers food delivery (not all do)
> ...


The question I am trying to ask is, if your insurance does not cover the other party because you do not have commercial or rideshare coverage and they found out you were doing a delivery, will Doordash cover the other party?


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## Toby2 (Jun 16, 2018)

I’m sure getting DD or others to pony up after an accident regardless of coverage would be a really smooth experience.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Rickos69 said:


> The question I am trying to ask is, if your insurance does not cover the other party because you do not have commercial or rideshare coverage and they found out you were doing a delivery, will Doordash cover the other party?


I don't know about Illinois, but in NY State the State is going to* FORCE *either your personal insurance company or Door dash to pay. Having had these discussions with my friend who owns his own insurance agency regarding rideshare, my best guess is your personal insurance would be forced to pay. Even though you violated your TOS with your insurance and your insurance would be voided, that won't absolve them from paying for whatever you did. Their remedy would be to drop you and try to recover the money from you and then good luck trying to get insurance again.

I do know someone who drifted from his lane and hit a motorcycle while doing food delivery. He was ticketed by the PD, the motorcycle driver was taken by ambulance to the hospital, and then he was sued by the driver. Throughout all that he didn't tell his insurance company he was delivering food and no one asked him about the bag of Chinese food sitting on his seat. He also didn't notify the delivery app he was doing an active delivery for, he just cancelled the delivery in progress. He was very lucky.


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## nosurgenodrive (May 13, 2019)

Seamus said:


> I'm always surprised how little drivers understand about the insurance issues they face with these apps. Just so you have a clear understanding *when you are on an active delivery*:
> 
> UberEats/Uber
> 
> ...


So, the moral of the story is: I don't know no delivery, officer.


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## BigJohn (Jan 27, 2016)

Seamus said:


> I don't know about Illinois, but in NY State the State is going to* FORCE *either your personal insurance company or Door dash to pay. Having had these discussions with my friend who owns his own insurance agency regarding rideshare, my best guess is your personal insurance would be forced to pay. Even though you violated your TOS with your insurance and your insurance would be voided, that won't absolve them from paying for whatever you did.


While that may be possible under NY law, if the personal auto insurance policy has language that in effect states something like "any/all commercial use of the covered vehicle is a direct violation of the terms of use of the policy" and results in the policy being cancelled, it would be hard legally to force the insurance company to payout against a policy that has been cancelled for just cause.


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## IRME4EVER (Feb 17, 2020)

Seamus said:


> I'm always surprised how little drivers understand about the insurance issues they face with these apps. Just so you have a clear understanding *when you are on an active delivery*:
> 
> UberEats/Uber
> 
> ...


YOU NEED TO GET RIDESHARE INSURANCE. IF EVER INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT, AND YOU DRIVE FOR UBER AND DON'T HAVE THE INSURANCE YOU ARE SO SCREWED. UBER EATS YOU NEED RIDESHARE. ALLSTATE (WHICH IS MY CARRIER) CHECKED IT OUT. I AM IN THE RIGHT!!


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

BigJohn said:


> While that may be possible under NY law, if the personal auto insurance policy has language that in effect states something like "any/all commercial use of the covered vehicle is a direct violation of the terms of use of the policy" and results in the policy being cancelled, it would be hard legally to force the insurance company to payout against a policy that has been cancelled for just cause.


I know from the past you are very knowledgeable on insurance issues. If DoorDash offers "excessive" liability insurance only AFTER you go through your personal policy first, and you're personal policy drops you for using your vehicle for commercial purposes, would DD have to foot the bill?


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## Rickos69 (Nov 8, 2018)

Seamus said:


> I know from the past you are very knowledgeable on insurance issues. If DoorDash offers "excessive" liability insurance only AFTER you go through your personal policy first, and you're personal policy drops you for using your vehicle for commercial purposes, would DD have to foot the bill?


That is my question exactly!!!


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## BigJohn (Jan 27, 2016)

Seamus said:


> If DoorDash offers "excessive" liability insurance only AFTER you go through your personal policy first, and you're personal policy drops you for using your vehicle for commercial purposes, would DD have to foot the bill?


Sorry for the delayed response, I needed a good block of time to respond carefully.

A) If the service app (Uber, DoorDash, GrubHub, Amazon Flex, etc) is required to provide Liability Insurance or otherwise provides, that is valid and payable to any party suffering a loss out of actions of the insured. The service app is primary.
B) There is no such thing as "excessive liability insurance" from the service app.
C) Under most personal auto insurance policies, the underwriter would NEVER pay out any claim for liability loss for actions/use during commercial use of the covered vehicle.
D) *"IF"* the personal auto insurance policy either had language or a rider allowing commercial use of the vehicle, it would most likely not provide any kind of liability to any third party, as per the specific language within the policy and/or rider.
E) IF your personal auto insurance policy becomes cancelled or void due to commercial usage of the covered vehicle on/after the moment an accident occurs, and you were within the appropriate phase of a service app, the liability insurance of the service app would still be legally liable to pay out against any claim under Liability.
F) IF your personal auto insurance policy becomes cancelled or void RETROACTIVELY to 12:01 AM of the day of an accident, (accident occurs on 03/01/2021 10:20 PM and per the policy language your insurance provider has declared the policy cancelled or void at 03/01/2021 12:01 AM) then there may be grounds for the service app to deny any claim it would otherwise be required to pay as ALL of the service apps require you to have VALID ACTIVE personal auto insurance whenever you go online, whether you take any orders/jobs or not. WHY? Because you were then in violation of the terms and conditions of the service app. NOW, if the service app did indeed refuse to pay out any claim under this circumstance, it would be a court battle of which I have no idea which way it would go. To my knowledge, this has of yet to be tested in court. The cases I am familiar with the service app insurance paid out the third party liability, but NOT comp/collision to the app driver for loss to his vehicle.

Hope this helps answer your question.

Now, a PSA:

*IF you have personal auto insurance that ends up being cancelled or voided for cause due to excluded commercial use of a covered vehicle, you are going to be in a world of hurt. Going forward, you will have a hard time finding affordable personal auto insurance.*


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## Uberisfuninlv (Mar 22, 2017)

[HEADING=2]Do you understand your Apps insurance if you get into an accident while delivering?[/HEADING]

Yes, you cancel the delivery and say you are taking food home to your family


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

Seamus said:


> 4 Options
> 
> Commercial Insurance ($$$)
> Rideshare add on that covers food delivery (not all do)
> ...


There's an option 5...

Ride along De-Nile road thinking nothing is going to happen until....


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## BigJohn (Jan 27, 2016)

Uberisfuninlv said:


> [HEADING=2]Do you understand your Apps insurance if you get into an accident while delivering?[/HEADING]
> 
> Yes, you cancel the delivery and say you are taking food home to your family


Yet, that would be called insurance fraud.



Stevie The magic Unicorn said:


> There's an option 5...
> 
> Ride along De-Nile road thinking nothing is going to happen until....


Option 4 covers your option 5.


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## Uberisfuninlv (Mar 22, 2017)

BigJohn said:


> Yet, that would be called insurance fraud.


And how would anyone find out about it? It's not like you have a passenger in your car. You have food in there. If you don't have an Uber or Lyft sticker in your window, who's going to know/check to see if you are doing food delivery?

It's not fraud because you are bringing lunch/dinner home for your family

If you have a passenger in your car, you are covered by Uber and Lyft during the ride

Food delivery is different than rideshare
Take the minor penalty from the app for stopping the delivery and keeping the food versus having to pay thousands out of pocket from your insurance


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## BigJohn (Jan 27, 2016)

Uberisfuninlv said:


> And how would anyone find out about it? It's not like you have a passenger in your car. You have food in there. If you don't have an Uber or Lyft sticker in your window, who's going to know/check to see if you are doing food delivery?
> 
> It's not fraud because you are bringing lunch/dinner home for your family
> 
> ...


It is still insurance fraud and illegal. Whether or not you get caught, you are still guilty.

Now you are adding theft on top of it. Again, whether or not you get caught, you are still guilty.


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## Cdub2k (Nov 22, 2017)

Seamus said:


> I'm always surprised how little drivers understand about the insurance issues they face with these apps. Just so you have a clear understanding *when you are on an active delivery*:
> 
> UberEats/Uber
> 
> ...


#1 I keep my delivery bag in the drunk so that the food smell doesn't get in my car and I also keep the food in the trunk so that people don't know I delivery food on an app.
#2 There aren't any decals on my car highlighting the fact that I do delivery for any gig app

*Question: If I were to get in a car accident how will anyone know that I deliver food on a gig app?*
On the same side note if I were to get in an accident I'd cancel the order and make up a reason such as "The bag was busted and the food was spilled everywhere" or "Insert whatever white lie you can think of". I've never cancelled an order that I have picked up from a restaurant so I doubt that I'd get deactivated after one cancellation. Hell even if I did get deactivated because of one cancellation that's not a big deal either.

If you are expecting Matlock or Columbo or the Forensic Files squad to be on the scene of the fender bender trying to piece together who might or might have been do such or such you're wrong. If the cop on the scene asks me what I was doing in the area I'll tell them I was going to a restaurant or I was going over a friends house or I was going to a popular w?0re house in the area. Actually it's nobody's damn business where I was going because it has nothing to do about the car accident and I doubt the cop would even ask. So again.....
*Question: If I were to get in a car accident how will anyone know that I deliver food on a gig app?*

I did UberX for almost 3 years and I paid $40 extra bucks a month to have Rideshare on my insurance. After I quit UberX I took it off of my insurance because there is no reason to declare diddly squat while doing delivery unless of course I get a real delivery job like Papa Johns or Dominos or whatever. You can go ahead and let them know you do gig delivery if you want to I'll just keep my mouth shut.


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

Cdub2k said:


> #1 I keep my delivery bag in the drunk so that the food smell doesn't get in my car and I also keep the food in the trunk so that people don't know I delivery food on an app.
> #2 There aren't any decals on my car highlighting the fact that I do delivery for any gig app
> 
> *Question: If I were to get in a car accident how will anyone know that I deliver food on a gig app?*


I agree with most of what you said.

Wether it is morally wrong or not the odds of getting caught are slim:

Most drivers aren't going to volunteer the information.
At least in NY, if there isn't a fatality or very serious injuries involved the police don't "investigate" accidents. They create a simple report.
The few ways where you could get caught:

You tell on yourself.
You're dumb or greedy and try to file a claim to get money from the app company who will then notify your insurance company.
You are in a very serious accident that does get investigated.
You damage property or someone's car at the scene of a customer's drop off and they report that the DoorDash guy just hit their (fill in the blank)
Although the odds of getting caught might be slim the price could be very high for the few that do. It's kind of ironic that people who are otherwise pretty honest think nothing of lying to:

Insurance companies (fraud)
The Police (I wasn't speeding officer)
The IRS
Not judging or condoning, just stating an observation. :roflmao:


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## NOXDriver (Aug 12, 2018)

Because doing the right thing in a car accident always ends well for you. lol

The day insurance companies make JJUUSSTTTT enough profit to pay claims and expenses and not million dollar CEO salaries is the day I care about 'doing the right thing'.

" The *Allstate* Corporation has a market capitalization of US$28b, and total annual *CEO* compensation was reported as US$20m for the year to December 2019"

No human being's work output is worth $20M a year. Sorry, not gonna believe it.


Net *income*US$4.847 billion (2019)

That means AFTER EXPENSES, they charged people $4.8 BILLION more than they needed to.

Yeah, tell me how my fender bender is gonna affect an insurance company.


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## Iduuuuuuuuu (Mar 11, 2021)

dont care im covered with app on
plus an autobot approved my faked insurance for 5 years twice a year
so pretty negligent on uber lyfts side
im sure theres millions of drivers like me

ride has 300K miles fully depreciated so if totaoled ill just buy a new one and sue uber for negligence and help the pax with all the info they need why uber lyft dont verify anything

no assets in my name : )


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## Uberisfuninlv (Mar 22, 2017)

BigJohn said:


> It is still insurance fraud and illegal. Whether or not you get caught, you are still guilty.
> 
> Now you are adding theft on top of it. Again, whether or not you get caught, you are still guilty.


Both are bad. But would you rather steal $15 of food or pay thousands of dollars out of pocket and lose your insurance?

Take the lesser of two evil acts in this situation. What if you are living paycheck to paycheck and this happened to you and you lose your car and you get sued?


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## BigJohn (Jan 27, 2016)

Uberisfuninlv said:


> Both are bad. But would you rather steal $15 of food or pay thousands of dollars out of pocket and lose your insurance?
> 
> Take the lesser of two evil acts in this situation. What if you are living paycheck to paycheck and this happened to you and you lose your car and you get sued?


Or choose the correct course, and do neither "evil" act, by being properly insured.


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## Uberisfuninlv (Mar 22, 2017)

BigJohn said:


> Or choose the correct course, and do neither "evil" act, by being properly insured.


Well of course, but most Uber Drivers are not that smart unfortunately and some who aren't will be put in this situation eventually


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## ThrowInTheTowel (Apr 10, 2018)

I was never concerned regarding insurance coverage while doing deliveries. My only concern was doing ride-share and having passengers in the car with possible injuries and lawsuits. If I'm delivering food I treat it as a normal accident. If I am at fault my insurance pays, if I am not I file the claim with whoever hit me. Having the proper coverage is always the safest way.


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## ashlee2004 (Apr 19, 2019)

There's a ton of really useful info in this thread. Thanks @Seamus!


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