Law effective January 2027 requires crash coverage for delivery drivers

Delivery companies must ensure insurance covers injuries or property damage their drivers cause to others. Coverage applies while drivers operate personal vehicles logged in and available for orders, and from driving to a pickup through the final delivery or designated return. For-hire vehicle services and street-hail services are excluded. The driver, company, or both may provide coverage. Minimum limits are $50,000 for injuries to one person, $100,000 for injuries per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. If the driver’s required coverage lapses or falls short, company insurance must cover the claim from the first dollar and defend it. Company coverage cannot depend on another insurer first denying coverage. The act takes effect January 1, 2027. Its insurance section separately requires compliance on and after July 1, 2026; the text does not explain how these dates fit together.

Auto insurers may exclude coverage and decline to defend or pay claims during delivery work. Exclusions may apply while drivers operate personal vehicles available for orders or make deliveries. They may cover harm to others, drivers’ medical bills, vehicle damage, and crashes involving uninsured or underinsured motorists. The separate requirement for delivery liability coverage still applies. The law preserves existing policy exclusions and insurers’ existing rights to set policy terms, cancel policies, or refuse renewal. These insurance exclusion provisions take effect January 1, 2027.

Delivery companies or their insurers must share information needed to determine which insurer covers a crash. The company’s insurer must take primary responsibility when work timing is disputed and the company lacks, failed to keep, or fails to provide the required records. Upon request, the company or its insurer must immediately provide work-period start and end times for the 12 hours before and 12 hours after the accident. The insurer providing required delivery coverage must share coverage terms with another insurer involved in the claim upon request. An insurer that pays or defends a delivery claim excluded by its policy may seek repayment from the insurer providing required delivery coverage. These claim-handling provisions take effect January 1, 2027.

Delivery companies must give drivers written information about company insurance and possible gaps in their own insurance. The notice goes to drivers using personal vehicles to make deliveries through the company’s app or other online system. The notice must describe each company-provided coverage and its limits. It must warn that the driver’s own policy may not cover driving while available for orders or making deliveries. Companies must provide the notice before allowing a driver to accept a delivery request.