<p>Kiddo is going to a job interview today w/a sandwich shop that also does neighborhood deliveries. Not sure if she’d just be making the meals, or actually asked to do deliveries. (It would be lunchtime, mostly offices, in a small radius and “safe”…yeah, that’s guaranteed…) part of town. The drivers use their own cars.</p>
<p>What are auto insurance implications for a car used as a delivery vehicle? It would only be a few hours a week at best. Does that change anything with insurance coverage? </p>
<p>I personally am not thrilled by the prospect of delivery work for her on so many levels…hopefully they’ll offer her in-shop…</p>
<p>But would a personal policy cover her while driving for work? I drive my own vehicle for an educational agency and, although I have to have my own insurance on the car, the agency carries a policy that covers me while driving for work. I’ve read (and heard) the following, as well:</p>
<p>Most private passenger auto insurance policies do not provide coverage when the covered vehicle is used to deliver property, i.e. pizzas, other food, package or people for a fee (salary, tips, etc.). A normal personal auto policy (PAP) sold to individuals usually excludes coverage for drivers who use an insured vehicle to transport persons or property for a fee.</p>
<p>Coverage would probably be denied if an accident occurred while you were using your personal vehicle to deliver food, packages, etc without your insurance company knowing about you using your car for business purposes and stating that your vehicle would be covered. (from carinsurance.com…) </p>
<p>She briefly researched adding a commercial policy to her car w/current insurance…would take coverage form $400/year to $1200/year…NOT willing to cover that, and she can’t afford it. Concerned that if she were in an accident, it could be seriously bad news.</p>
<p>You could call your agent for the most accurate response, but of course that tips off your insurance company to the delivery job.</p>
<p>Our insurance specifies that use of our vehicles is NOT for business purposes …</p>
<p>Not that you’re asking, but as the parent of a young adult child who did pizza delivery one year, I would discourage this type of employment. Considering the cost of wear and tear as well as gasoline, it’s hard to come out ahead. A minor fender-bender, which you wouldn’t want to report, could wipe out earnings for weeks. And, frankly, it can be dangerous, especially if she works by herself (without a partner in the car). Think through this one, carefully.</p>
<p>Summer childcare workers in my area are making $10 an hour or more.</p>
<p>Um, would the shop cover any damage to the car incurred while she was making deliveries for them? </p>
<p>(That said, I agree that it’s a bad proposition. For a kid with a clunker of a car, delivering sandwiches and pizza can be good, but there’s no use wearing down a nice car for $7.25 an hour plus tips.)</p>
<p>The issue of fixing damage to the car is not the major one. The biggie is liability insurance should the driver be held responsible for an accident. Those costs, including a defense attorney, can be astronomical. (It’s also against the law in most areas to drive a vehicle that’s not insured.)</p>
<p>The business needs to have insurance that covers your daughter and your vehicle while driving within the scope of her employment. And you need to see proof of that coverage before your daughter takes the job.</p>
<p>I have a nephew who was asked by a boss to take some supplies to one of the other stores…roads were slick and he was in an accident. His insurance company did NOT want to pay because it was for “business”. He did not do this on a regular basis…it was a hassle.</p>
<p>It is kid’s (your) vehicle, license, insurance, gas, repair, liability, responsibility. Is the cost worth the benefit? I’m guessing minimum wage plus meager tips.</p>
<p>I agree that I would discourage either of my kids from accepting any delivery job. I would prefer they volunteer somewhere over taking a delivery job. There are driving risks as well as the risk of meeting zanies and potentially being unable to collect upon delivery. </p>
<p>Many insurers will NOT cover damage relating to an accident in a delivery job. Check before your kid agrees to deliver, so you don’t get nasty and expensive surprise.</p>
<p>It sounds as if the deliveries are mostly (hopefully exclusively) to businesses and only sporadic. My office routinely has deliveries from delis and other small places that cater for meetings we have and it’d be a perfectly safe delivery environment. This is also always in the daytime.</p>
<p>This is as opposed to something like a pizza delivery driver which I’d highly discourage - especially for a female. This has some inherent dangers in that they’re exposed to setups and robberies which can include guns/knives. A friend of mine did the pizza delivery thing for a bit but quit after being robbed at knifepoint in a setup where the perps simply call in and have the guy come to their location with pizza and money in hand. Throw in that it’s a female and other dangers lurk.</p>
<p>If this is anywhere near the latter, don’t let her do it (if you have control). If it’s like the former then it’s probably okay from a safety aspect. My concern is when you said ‘mostly offices’ as opposed to ‘only offices’.</p>
<p>On the car insurance - you need to check with the insurance company - they’re not all the same. I agree with the point above about a minor fender bender along with wear and tear which can eat up a lot of the salary if it were to happen. Ideally the company should provide their own delivery vehicle.</p>
<p>I would be surprised to learn that any standard auto policy doesn’t exclude business use, it’s a completely different kind of exposure. Read your policy.</p>
<p>My insurance (State Farm) specifically says we would need to pay more if the car were to be used as a delivery vehicle. I think it came to about $180 every 6 months.</p>
<p>I encouraged my oldest to deliver pizzas, though he never did. It’s an easy and safe job in our area, and one he can always get when he goes away to college.</p>
<p>^^ If he goes away to college in a city, I recommend not doing pizza delivery, especially at night. This is especially true in some neighborhoods. They’re easy marks. It seriously is a safety risk.</p>
<p>IIRC my general business liability policy covers my employees driving their cars for business purposes. Mostly they go to the grocery to get miscellaneous cleaning supplies. We don’t do deliveries as a general rule.</p>
<p>^^ Does that cover them or does it just cover any liability you might be exposed to as the business owner in the event you’re sued or something? For example, if they had a minor fender bender would your insurance actually cover repairing their car, especially without a deductible?</p>
<p>Not a good idea to use a personal vehicle for a business purpose. If there is a serious accident, and the insurance company finds out there was a delivery, they will likely deny coverage and you could suffer a huge financial loss. Most people doing these jobs just take a chance on either not having an accident or not being asked my the insurance company if they were delivering. As a former insurance defense attorney, I couldn’t do that and sleep at night.</p>
<p>Had kiddo do a cost-benefit analysis…including that she would have to pay the huge insurance increase (we would not let her do this unprotected), would not receive mileage reimbursement, would have a lot of wear and tear on her 6 year old (but still not a beater) car, and this job will be part time only. (She has a 20 hour-a-week internship this summer as well, that is required for her degree.) Eyes wide open, she went into the interview…and negotiated successfully for in-shop only work – yes, for less money, but I doubt she would ever make her insurance costs back (and I really did NOT want my 19 year old girl out making deliveries). I think it helped when she actually asked to work the weekend lunch rush (which works better with her internship requirements).</p>
<p>Your comments echoed what I had surmised…not worth the risk for her.</p>
<p>It’s a little scary that there are lots of delivery drivers out there who may well be uninsured if they hurt you in an accident. The company may try to claim the driver is an independent contractor and fight liability. This leads me to remind everyone to up the limits of their uninsured motorist coverage.</p>