The moment you tell a carrier you deliver, most of them stop quoting.

Hired and non-owned auto

Liability when an employee crashes their own car on a delivery run: the business gets sued, not just the driver.

Without it — The single coverage that makes delivery hard to place at all, and the one most standard carriers will not attach once you disclose it.

General liability

The dining room, the counter, the sidewalk and foodborne illness claims.

Without it — The base policy, but on a delivery account it usually will not carry the auto exposure with it.

Workers compensation

Drivers injured on the road, and kitchen staff burned or cut, on different class codes and often one payroll.

Without it — A driver hurt on a run is a work injury wherever the accident happened, and delivery class codes rate well above kitchen ones.

Employer’s non-ownership liability

The endorsement wording that decides whether your policy responds when the car is the employee’s and the trip was yours.

Without it — A personal auto policy commonly excludes delivery for compensation, which means the driver’s insurer denies and yours is the only one left.

Umbrella

Excess above the auto and general liability limits, which is where a serious road claim actually lands.

Without it — A primary auto limit is exhausted by one injury accident, and delivery accidents involve other people’s cars and other people’s bodies.

Business cyber

Online ordering, stored cards and the customer database that delivery necessarily builds.

Without it — Taking orders online means holding addresses and payment data for everyone who ever ordered.

Crime and social engineering

Till shortages across shifts, and the supplier invoice paid to a changed account number.

Without it — Paying a supplier invoice to a changed account is not theft under a property policy. It sits under social engineering, which you have to request.

Group health and benefits

Drivers who know the routes and stay long enough to be worth insuring.

Without it — Driver turnover raises your auto rate directly: a fleet of six-month drivers is a fleet of unknown risks to an underwriter.

Why will hardly anyone quote us once we say we deliver?

Because delivery converts a premises risk into a road risk, and road risk is where severity lives. A slip in the dining room is a five-figure claim; a driver running a light in their own car with your logo on the roof is a seven-figure one, with your business named because the trip was for your benefit.

How hired and non-owned auto works

Our drivers use their own cars and have their own insurance. Isn’t that enough?

No, and this is the assumption that causes the uninsured claims. A personal auto policy almost always excludes using the vehicle to carry goods or people for compensation, so the moment your driver is delivering, their own insurer has grounds to deny, leaving your business as the only solvent party in the suit. Even where their policy does pay, it pays their limit, which is usually a state minimum, and the plaintiff comes to you for the rest. And your driver can sue you for not carrying the coverage the business was supposed to have. Their insurance is a layer, not a substitute.

What do you actually give us beyond a policy?

The program the underwriter wants to see, because on a delivery account that is what decides both acceptance and price. We provide our insureds with underwriting-approved sample cell phone and distracted driving policies, a written driver safety program, and driver standards handbooks your employees can sign at hire.

Should we be pulling MVRs on drivers?

Yes, on every driver at hire, and we recommend it strongly enough that it is part of how we present these accounts. Two reasons. The obvious one is that it stops you handing a company errand to somebody with a suspended license or a recent DUI, which is the fact that turns an accident into a negligent hiring claim against you.

We use DoorDash and Uber Eats. Does that change it?

It reduces the exposure but it does not remove it, and the mistake is assuming it does. On a third-party marketplace order collected by their courier, the driver is not yours and the auto exposure largely is not either.

What limit do we need?

Start at $1M and expect to be asked for more, and treat that number as a floor rather than a target. Auto claims are the most severe thing a restaurant does, a single injury accident regularly exceeds a $1M primary, so most delivery accounts sit better with an umbrella above it. Where a franchise agreement, a landlord or a catering client names a limit, theirs decides it: brand requirements in this trade run well above $1M and are non-negotiable. Tell us what your agreement says and we will build to that number rather than to the cheapest compliant one.

What does a delivery restaurant insurance application ask for?

The applications for delivery restaurant businesses ask about 4 things above all: what kind of food and drinks do you serve; do you have live entertainment like djs, bands, or karaoke; do you check ids at the door; how long has liquor liability coverage been in place at this business. Have your active liquor license and active food service permit or license and your loss and claims history for the past three to five years from your current insurance company ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.