A personal auto policy excludes delivery, and that is the whole job.
Cover for courier, delivery and last-mile operations — commercial auto written for delivery use, the cargo you carry, and the drivers who may or may not be employees.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What courier businesses actually need.
Commercial auto
Vehicles used for delivery, which personal policies exclude outright.
Without it — A delivery claim on a personal policy is a denial, not a dispute.
Hired and non-owned auto
Drivers using their own vehicles on your behalf.
Without it — The most common structure in this trade and the most common gap.
Cargo
Goods in the vehicle, lost, damaged or stolen.
Without it — You are a bailee of everything on board.
General liability
Injury and damage at pickup and delivery points.
Without it — Most of the work happens on somebody else’s premises.
Workers compensation
Drivers — and contractors who may be reclassified as employees.
Without it — Driver classification is the live legal question in this sector.
What courier operators ask us.
Our drivers use their own cars. Whose insurance applies?
Theirs first, and it very likely excludes what they are doing. Personal auto policies carry a livery or delivery exclusion, so a driver making deliveries for you can be uninsured at the moment of an accident — and the injured party then comes to you. Hired and non-owned auto is the cover for that, and it is not optional in this model. Requiring drivers to carry their own commercial-use endorsement is worth doing as well; relying on it alone is not.
Are the goods covered?
Only with cargo cover, and the limit needs setting against what you actually carry rather than an average parcel. Read the conditions closely: theft from an unattended vehicle is the dominant loss in last-mile delivery and is exactly where cargo forms are fussy — many require the vehicle locked and out of sight, and some exclude unattended theft entirely. High-value electronics, pharmaceuticals and tobacco usually need declaring.
Are our contractor drivers really contractors?
That is a live and expensive question in this sector, and insurance follows the answer rather than the label. If drivers are reclassified as employees — by a state agency, a comp auditor or a court — you owe workers compensation premium retroactively, plus potentially wage and hour liability. A comp auditor can add contractor payments to your payroll where certificates are missing, regardless of the agreement. Collect certificates, or budget for the payroll.
Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.