May 7, 2026
Food delivery is a ninety-billion-dollar industry, and it's running on the back of personal vehicles driven hard, fast, and often distracted. Whether you're the one delivering or the one they hit, the claim is messier than it looks.
Your personal auto policy almost certainly excludes coverage while you're driving 'for hire.' Read the exclusion. It's there. The moment you accept a delivery, your personal coverage may stop applying for liability and collision.
DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub all carry occupational accident coverage and contingent liability policies, but the coverage tiers depend on what the app shows at the moment of impact. App off? Personal policy. App on, no order accepted? A thin layer of contingent liability. Order accepted, en route or carrying food? The full commercial policy kicks in.
Screenshot your driver app immediately after a crash. Order state. Timestamp. Customer name. That single screenshot routinely determines which insurance company is on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars.
Same question, opposite side. The dasher's personal insurer will almost always deny, citing the commercial-use exclusion. The platform's insurer will say the driver wasn't on a delivery. You're stuck in the middle, watching two carriers point at each other.
We've handled enough of these to know how to break that loop. We subpoena the platform for trip records, get the dasher's app log, and force a coverage determination. The carriers don't get to play hot potato when you're treating an injury.
This part is good news. Your own PIP coverage pays your medical bills and wage loss regardless of whether the at-fault driver was logged into a delivery app. Don't let an insurance adjuster tell you otherwise.
Where it matters is the third-party case — the pain and suffering claim, the excess economic loss claim. That has to be aimed at the right carrier, which means getting the app data.
Many dashers stack multiple platforms and run 12 to 14 hour shifts. We've subpoenaed app records showing drivers had been on the road for 11 hours straight when they rear-ended our client. Hours-of-service rules don't apply to gig drivers the way they apply to commercial truckers, but fatigue still matters at trial.
If the dasher was on the road too long, that's punitive damages territory. We look for it in every case.
Urban dashers on bikes and e-bikes are a growing source of pedestrian crashes. Their personal homeowners or renters policies typically exclude commercial activity. The platform's contingent liability rarely covers a non-vehicle dasher.
If a bike or e-bike dasher hit you on the sidewalk, you're often left chasing the gig worker personally. We've still recovered in these cases — through umbrella policies, third-party defendants, and platform-level claims — but it takes work.
The single biggest mistake gig driver clients make is calling their personal insurer first and admitting they were 'on a delivery.' That admission gets used to deny coverage immediately. Talk to us first. Free consultation, no fee unless we win.
Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Talk to a real attorney today.
Start a Free Case EvaluationCall (855) SWING-BIG
