Food and grocery delivery apps put thousands of drivers on New Jersey roads, often rushing between orders. When a delivery driver causes a crash, or gets hurt in one, the insurance picture is very different from an Uber or Lyft ride, and often thinner. Here is why.

New Jersey's rideshare law doesn't cover deliveries

New Jersey's Transportation Network Company Safety and Regulatory Act, which requires at least $1.5 million in coverage during a ride, applies to "prearranged rides": transporting a rider who booked through the app (N.J.S.A. 39:5H-2). Delivering food or packages isn't a prearranged ride. So the Act's insurance minimums, and its other protections, generally don't apply to a driver delivering for DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub or Instacart.

That's true even when the same company runs both services. A driver carrying a passenger for Uber is covered by the rideshare rules. The same driver carrying a takeout order for Uber Eats generally isn't.

The personal policy gap

Most delivery drivers use their own cars and their own personal auto policies. Many personal policies exclude coverage when the car is used to carry people or property for a fee, and New Jersey's rideshare law expressly preserves those exclusions (N.J.S.A. 39:5H-12(b)). If the driver didn't buy a delivery or business-use endorsement, their insurer may deny the claim.

Delivery companies say they maintain some liability coverage while drivers are on active deliveries. That coverage is set by the company's own policies, not by a New Jersey statute, and its terms (when it applies, whether it's excess over the driver's policy, and the limits) need to be confirmed claim by claim.

If a delivery driver hit you

  • Your medical bills: your own PIP coverage, or your household's, generally pays first, regardless of fault. PIP explained.
  • Pain and suffering and other losses: a claim against the driver, paid by whatever liability coverage actually applies: the driver's personal policy, a business endorsement, or the delivery company's coverage.
  • If no coverage applies: your own uninsured motorist coverage may step in when the at-fault driver's insurer properly denies coverage. How uninsured motorist claims work.

Can you sue the delivery company?

Like rideshare companies, delivery platforms classify drivers as independent contractors and argue they aren't responsible for a driver's carelessness. Direct claims may be possible based on the company's own conduct. Delivery apps also include arbitration clauses in their customer terms. How app arbitration clauses work.

If you're the delivery driver and you got hurt

  • Your claim against the at-fault driver is the main source of recovery.
  • Check whether your personal policy will pay PIP for a crash during a delivery. If it excludes delivery use, your health insurance may be primary.
  • Workers' compensation will usually be disputed. New Jersey decides employee status for workers' comp based on control and economic dependence (Estate of Kotsovska v. Liebman, 221 N.J. 568 (2015)), so it depends on the facts.

Delivery drivers on bikes, e-bikes and scooters face added risks and different rules. New Jersey bicycle laws.

Evidence to save

  1. Screenshots of the delivery order, the driver's name and the app status at the time of the crash.
  2. The police report and the driver's insurance card.
  3. Photos of the vehicles, any delivery bags or signage, and the scene.

The two-year filing deadline applies (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2). See our car accidents page or ask us about your crash.