Coverage After A Crash While Driving For A Delivery App

Attorney Answer

A denial is likely, but it is not the end of the matter. Personal auto policies commonly exclude driving for a delivery business, and if that exclusion applies your own liability coverage may not respond. The delivery platform's own insurance, and parts of your policy that pay regardless of fault, may still be available.

Start by pinning down what your insurer is actually saying. The words "may not cover it" are not a decision. Ask for the denial in writing, naming the exact policy provision it relies on, and ask for a complete copy of the policy. Whether a commercial-use or delivery exclusion applies is a question about the policy's language against what you were doing at that moment, and the answer often turns on details as narrow as whether you had accepted an order.

That detail matters because of how delivery coverage is structured. Coverage typically depends on which phase you were in: the app off, the app on and waiting for a request, or actively picking up or delivering an order. Texas has insurance requirements for delivery network companies that track those phases, so ask a Texas attorney or the platform's own claims department which of its policies applies to the exact time of your crash. Report the crash through the platform and get a claim number regardless of what your own insurer decides.

Some coverages may respond even where liability coverage does not. Tex. Ins. Code § 1952.152 requires that personal injury protection be provided in a Texas auto policy unless the named insured rejects it in writing, and § 1952.155(a) provides that PIP benefits are payable without regard to the fault or nonfault of the named insured and without regard to any collateral source. Section 1952.101(b) also bars an insurer from issuing an auto policy in Texas without uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage unless, under § 1952.101(c), a named insured rejected the coverage in writing. If the other driver was uninsured or carried too little insurance, that coverage matters. Whether a commercial-use exclusion also reaches those coverages is a policy-language question, which is another reason to get the policy in hand.

It is also worth knowing what the other driver's insurance can do. Tex. Transp. Code § 601.051 requires financial responsibility for a vehicle operated in Texas, and § 601.072(a-1) sets the minimums at $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per occurrence, and $25,000 for property damage. A minimum-limits policy stops there.

Finally, fault has not been settled on your facts. Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001 a claimant found more than 50 percent responsible recovers nothing, and § 33.012(a) reduces the recovery by the claimant's percentage. Nothing here assumes who was responsible.

What you can do

1. Ask your insurer in writing for a coverage decision in writing, identifying the specific policy provision, and for a complete certified copy of the policy including all endorsements.

2. Report the crash through the delivery app's own accident reporting process, get a claim number, and ask in writing which of its insurance policies applies to the time of the crash.

3. Save your app activity for that day before it ages out: screenshots of the order status, timestamps, the delivery history and any trip record.

4. Check your declarations page for personal injury protection and for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and note whether either shows a written rejection.

5. Keep every medical record, bill, repair estimate and the crash report together in one place.

6. If you believe the denial is wrong, you can file a complaint with the Texas Department of Insurance, and you can ask a Texas attorney to review the policy language first.

7. Before giving a recorded statement about what you were doing at the time of the crash, ask a Texas lawyer whether to give one. Coverage can turn on how that is described.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) generally requires suit to be brought within two years after the day the cause of action accrues, for both personal injury and property damage. Insurance policies also contain their own notice and suit provisions, which can be shorter. When each period started on your facts is a question for a Texas attorney reviewing your policy and your dates. No deadline is calculated here.