If a DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub or Instacart driver hit you, the driver’s status in the app at the moment of the crash decides which insurance pays. Florida’s ride-share insurance law covers passenger rides, not food and grocery delivery, so no Florida statute requires the delivery apps to carry coverage. What exists is whatever each company chooses to carry, plus the driver’s own policy, and that is often less than people expect.
Lavent Law, P.A. handles delivery driver crash claims from our North Miami Beach office. The consultation is free, and you pay no attorney fee unless we recover money for you. Call (305) 257-9464.
Delivery traffic in our part of Miami-Dade
Delivery drivers are on every road we cover: the restaurant strips along NE 163rd Street and Biscayne Boulevard, the condo entrances on Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach and Miami Beach, and the streets around Aventura Mall. The crashes follow the work: a driver looking at the app for the next address, a quick stop in a travel lane outside a restaurant, a U-turn to reach a condo driveway, a courier on a moped or e-bike cutting between cars. Pay depends on how many orders a driver finishes, and that pressure shows up on the road.
Why the app status matters
Florida’s ride-share statute, section 627.748, sets insurance rules for companies like Uber and Lyft while their drivers are logged on for passenger rides. It does not apply to food or package delivery, and Florida has no comparable law for delivery apps. Bills on ride-share insurance were filed in the 2025 and 2026 sessions; none dealt with delivery, and all died.
So coverage can come from four places: the company’s own policy, if it applies at that moment; the driver’s personal auto policy, which may exclude delivery work; the car’s owner; and your own coverage.
What each app says it covers
- DoorDash says it carries up to $1 million in third-party liability coverage in most states, but only during an active delivery, from the moment a driver accepts an order until it is delivered or canceled. It may apply as excess over the driver’s own policy. When the app is off, it pays nothing, and its published coverage for drivers waiting for an order is limited to a few states that don’t include Florida.
- Uber Eats says it carries nothing while the app is off, at least state minimum limits while the driver is online and waiting, and $500,000 while the driver is heading to pick up or deliver an order, more where state law requires. Uber says it does not carry coverage for couriers on bikes, e-bikes or on foot unless the law requires it.
- Grubhub and Instacart don’t describe a company liability policy covering crashes on their driver pages, and Grubhub requires its drivers to carry their own auto insurance. In those cases the driver’s own policy is usually the main source.
These are the companies’ published terms, and they change. We confirm the actual policy and limits in every case. Amazon delivery drivers work under a different setup; see our Amazon delivery van accident page.
When the delivery driver has little or no insurance
For a car, Florida requires only $10,000 in PIP and $10,000 in property damage coverage, and couriers on mopeds or motorcycles carry no PIP at all. Bodily injury liability coverage isn’t required, and many personal auto policies exclude delivery work unless the driver bought a delivery endorsement. A driver who was between orders, or whose personal insurer denies the claim for business use, may have nothing that covers your injuries.
That is where your own coverage matters:
- Your PIP pays first, regardless of fault: 80 percent of reasonable medical bills and 60 percent of lost income, up to $10,000 if a doctor finds an emergency medical condition and $2,500 if not. Initial treatment has to start within 14 days of the crash under section 627.736. If you were walking and neither you nor a relative you live with has PIP, the PIP on the vehicle that hit you may cover you instead, as long as you are a Florida resident.
- Your uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can pay when the driver’s coverage is missing or too small. See what happens when the other driver is uninsured.
- The car’s owner, if the driver was using someone else’s car. Florida holds a vehicle’s owner responsible for how it is driven by someone they let use it, subject to limits for individual owners.
In a claim against a car’s driver, or under your uninsured motorist coverage, you can recover for pain and suffering only if your injury meets the threshold in section 627.737(2), such as a permanent injury within a reasonable degree of medical probability.
Can you sue DoorDash or Uber Eats directly?
The apps treat their couriers as independent contractors, and claims that the company itself is responsible for a courier’s driving face real hurdles in Florida. Florida courts have rejected recent attempts to hold ride-share companies responsible for their drivers’ crashes, and we are not aware of a Florida appellate decision on delivery couriers. In September 2026 an Indiana appeals court let a claim against DoorDash go forward, finding at an early stage that DoorDash may owe a duty because of how its app pushes drivers to deliver quickly. In most cases, the realistic sources of payment are the company’s policy during an active order, the driver’s own coverage, the car’s owner, and your own policy.
If you have never used that app yourself, its arbitration clause generally doesn’t bind you; in 2026 a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. held that Uber could not force arbitration on a passenger who never had an Uber account. If you do have an account on the same app, even just to order food, its terms may come into play, so tell us.
Hit by a courier on a bike, e-bike or moped
Many Miami couriers deliver on bikes, e-bikes and mopeds, especially in Miami Beach and Brickell. As noted above, Uber says its coverage doesn’t extend to couriers on bikes or e-bikes, and e-bikes in Florida carry no required insurance. Miami Beach bans e-bikes on the Beachwalk, city sidewalks and Lincoln Road; a courier riding where e-bikes are banned is evidence of negligence that a jury can weigh. Coverage may come from the courier’s own policies or yours. If you were walking, see our pedestrian accident page; if you were riding a bicycle, our bicycle accident page. For more on e-bike crashes, see our e-bike accident page.
What to do after a crash with a delivery driver
- Call 911 and get a police report. If the driver leaves, see our page on hit-and-run crashes.
- Ask which app the driver was working for and whether they had an order. Photograph the insulated bag, any app screen they show you, the car and the plate.
- Get the driver’s own insurance card as well; it may be the main coverage.
- Get witnesses’ names and numbers, and note any restaurant or condo cameras.
- See a doctor within 14 days, even if you feel fine.
- Don’t give a recorded statement to any insurer before talking with a lawyer.
The app company’s records show exactly when the driver accepted the order, picked it up and dropped it off. That timeline decides which coverage applies, so we ask the company to preserve it right away.
How long you have
You generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a negligence lawsuit under section 95.11. Under section 768.81, your recovery is reduced by your share of the fault, and if you are found more than 50 percent at fault, you recover nothing.
How we handle delivery driver claims
We identify the app, the driver’s status at the moment of the crash, and every policy that may apply: the company’s, the driver’s, the car owner’s and your own. We send preservation demands for the order timeline and GPS data, set up your PIP claim and deal with the insurers. When your treatment is finished, we present the claim with your records, bills and lost income, and if there is no fair offer, we talk with you about filing suit. You deal directly with the attorney on your case, in English or Russian.
If you were a passenger in an Uber or Lyft, see our Uber and Lyft pages instead. For other crashes, see our main Miami car accident page, or our pages for North Miami Beach and Miami Beach.
Frequently asked questions
The driver said he was off the clock. Does that matter?
Yes. If the app was off, the company’s coverage generally doesn’t apply and the claim goes to the driver’s own policy, which may exclude delivery work. The app’s records will show what the driver’s status really was.
Is the Uber Eats coverage the same $1 million as an Uber ride?
No. Uber says its coverage while a driver is picking up or delivering an order is $500,000, and less while the driver is only waiting for an order. The $1 million figure applies to passenger rides.
I order from DoorDash myself. Does that affect my claim?
It might. If you have an account with the same app, the company may argue its arbitration terms apply. If you have never used that app, they generally don’t.
The courier was on an e-bike. Who pays?
E-bikes carry no required insurance, and Uber says its coverage doesn’t extend to bike couriers. If you were in your car, your PIP applies as in any crash. If you were on foot, PIP generally doesn’t cover an e-bike collision, so we look at the courier’s household policies and whether your own policies’ wording reaches the crash.
The delivery driver had no insurance. Am I out of luck?
Not necessarily. Your own PIP pays first, and your uninsured motorist coverage, if you carry it, can cover the rest. The car’s owner may also be responsible if the driver used someone else’s car.
Does it cost anything to talk to you?
No. The consultation is free, and you pay no attorney fee unless we recover money for you.
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