Hit by a DoorDash, Uber Eats or Amazon Flex Driver in Michigan? Who Pays

Short answer: In Michigan, your own household auto policy pays your medical bills and wage loss after a crash with a delivery driver, whoever was at fault, under MCL 500.3114(1). The claim for the injury itself runs first against the driver's personal auto policy, which often excludes business use, and then against the delivery platform's own policy, which applies only in certain phases of the app: DoorDash and Amazon Flex publish coverage of up to $1,000,000 in liability coverage during an active delivery, and Uber says its delivery coverage is at least $500,000 of coverage while a courier is en route or on a delivery trip. Michigan's rideshare insurance statute does not help here, because a food or package delivery is not a "prearranged ride" of a passenger. The app phase at the moment of impact, and the platform's current policy terms, decide what money is behind the claim.

That is the whole structure. The rest of this guide explains each layer, what changes when the driver is an employee rather than a contractor, and what the injured driver's own options look like.

Who pays the medical bills after a delivery driver hits you?

Michigan is a no-fault state. Personal protection insurance (PIP) benefits, medical care up to the level chosen on the policy, wage loss and replacement services, come first and do not depend on fault. The priority rules in MCL 500.3114 (section explorer) send an injured person to their own policy, or to the policy of a spouse or a relative living in the same household. A pedestrian or cyclist with no household policy claims through the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan under MCL 500.3115 and MCL 500.3172.

The platform has nothing to do with this step. No DoorDash, Uber or Amazon policy pays a Michigan PIP claim for a person the driver hit; the statute sets the priority and the platforms' own pages say their coverage is for injuries and property damage "to other parties," meaning liability, not no-fault benefits. Written notice of the PIP claim is due within one year of the crash under MCL 500.3145 (explorer), and benefits more than a year old are lost once a lawsuit is filed. Our Michigan PIP claims page covers the benefit levels.

Who pays for the injury itself?

The claim for pain and suffering, and for economic losses above the PIP limits, is a liability claim against the negligent driver and anyone who answers for the driver. It opens only when the injury meets the threshold in MCL 500.3135 (explorer): death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement. Three layers can respond.

Layer one: the driver's personal auto policy

A gig delivery driver is driving a personal car on a personal policy. Since July 1, 2020, MCL 500.3009(1) has required residual liability coverage of at least $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident unless the policyholder elected lower limits, which can go as low as $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident. Two problems follow. The driver may have elected the floor. And many personal policies exclude coverage while the car is used to carry goods for a fee, so the first thing the driver's insurer may say is that the policy does not apply during a delivery. Both platforms' pages say the driver's own car is covered only if the personal policy includes delivery activity; many do not.

Layer two: the platform's policy, which follows the app

Each platform publishes what it maintains, and each ties it to the phase of the app.

DoorDash says that during an active delivery, "offer accepted through drop-off," its third-party liability insurance "may cover up to $1,000,000 in bodily injury and property damage to other parties in most states," that it may apply as excess coverage after the driver's own policy, and that it does not cover the Dasher's own vehicle. When a Dasher is online but has not accepted a delivery request, DoorDash says the Dasher's personal auto insurance is primary (DoorDash: auto insurance maintained by DoorDash; DoorDash: insurance basics for Dashers).

Uber says it "does not maintain any coverage when you are offline"; that while a courier is online and available, its third-party liability coverage applies in amounts "up to at least state auto insurance minimums"; and that while the courier is en route or on a delivery trip, it maintains coverage "up to $500,000 (or more, where required)" of coverage for property damage and injuries to third parties when the courier is at fault. Uber adds that its coverages and limits vary by state and have changed over time (Uber: insurance for delivery trips).

Amazon Flex says its Amazon Commercial Auto Insurance Policy applies while a delivery partner who holds personal auto insurance is "actively driving and delivering," and that it includes "auto liability coverage of $1,000,000," uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and contingent comprehensive and collision coverage (Amazon Flex: delivery partner safety).

Three cautions. These are the companies' descriptions of their own policies, not statutes, and they change; the certificate of insurance in force on the day of the crash is the document that counts. The phase is decided by the platform's data, which you do not hold, so a written demand for the trip record and the driver's app status at the moment of impact should go out in the first week. And the platform's coverage is for the people the driver hurt; the driver's own injuries are a different story (below).

Why Michigan's rideshare statute does not reach a delivery

People hear that Uber and Lyft must carry $1,000,000 of coverage and assume the same number protects them when a food courier runs a light. In Michigan that number comes from MCL 257.2123, and it applies while a transportation network company driver is engaged in a prearranged ride. Under the definitions in MCL 257.2102, a prearranged ride is transportation of a rider, a person, between points the rider chooses. A bag of food or a package is not a rider. So the statutory tier applies to an Uber passenger trip and not to an Uber Eats delivery, unless the driver was carrying a passenger at the same time. Our guide to Uber and Lyft crashes in Michigan covers the passenger side.

Layer three: the company that controlled the work

Michigan abolished joint liability for most defendants, but MCL 600.2956 says the change "does not abolish an employer's vicarious liability for an act or omission of the employer's employee." A UPS or FedEx employee driving a company truck brings the company and its commercial policy into the case directly. A gig driver is signed up as an independent contractor, and a platform will say it answers only through the policy it chose to buy. Whether a company that sets the route, the timing, the pay and the deactivation rules controlled the work closely enough to answer for the driver is a fact question in every one of these cases, and the contracts, the app records and the dispatch data are the evidence. Amazon's delivery service partner model, in which the driver of an Amazon-branded van usually works for a separate contractor, is the same question in a different uniform; our Amazon delivery vehicle guide and the delivery vehicle accident page cover it.

Owner liability also matters. Under MCL 257.401(1) (explorer) the owner of a vehicle driven with consent is liable for its negligent operation. For a gig driver that is usually the driver, but when the car belongs to a parent or a spouse, or came from a rental program, the owner's policy is one more layer to find.

What if you are the delivery driver who was hurt?

Your PIP benefits come from your own household policy under the same priority rules, and Michigan sets that priority by statute, not by the platform. Your liability claim against the driver who hit you runs the ordinary way under MCL 500.3135, and if that driver was uninsured or underinsured, your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, or the platform's where it maintains it, is the backstop.

Workers' compensation is where contractors and employees part ways. An employed driver's claim against the employer runs through the Worker's Disability Compensation Act, which is the exclusive remedy except for an intentional tort (MCL 418.131), and MCL 500.3109(1) (explorer) subtracts benefits "provided or required to be provided under the laws of any state or the federal government," such as workers' compensation, from PIP. A gig contractor has no workers' compensation, which is why the platforms offer something in its place: DoorDash describes an occupational accident policy for Dashers injured during an active delivery with medical expenses up to $1,000,000 of coverage and disability payments of half of average weekly earnings up to a weekly cap, at no premium. It is a contract benefit with its own terms, not a statutory right, and it does not replace the third-party claim against the driver who caused the crash. Our guide on workers' compensation versus a personal injury claim explains how the two coordinate.

How fault is decided

Michigan compares fault. Under MCL 500.3135(2)(b) a person more than 50 percent at fault recovers no pain-and-suffering damages; below that line, damages are reduced by the person's share. A delivery driver who was reading the app, running late or double-parked gives the injured person a strong fault case, but the proof is in the phone records and the platform's trip data, not in the traffic ticket: MCL 257.731 keeps convictions and civil infraction determinations under the Vehicle Code out of a civil trial. The rear-end presumption in MCL 257.402(a) (explorer) applies to a delivery driver who hits a stopped car from behind, and by its terms to "the employer of its driver or operator."

What to do in the first week

1. Photograph the delivery bag, the phone mount, the car and any company branding before anything is moved, and get the police report number.
2. Write down which app the driver was working for and whether a delivery was in progress; ask, and note the answer.
3. Report the crash to your own auto insurer and start the PIP claim. The one-year notice clock is yours regardless of who caused the crash.
4. Send a written preservation demand to the platform naming the driver's app status, trip records and location data for the time of the crash. Those records are the phase evidence.
5. Get the declarations page for every vehicle in your household, so PIP priority and any uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage can be read.
6. Give no recorded statement to the driver's insurer or the platform's adjuster.
7. Have the policy stack reviewed before you accept any payment: the driver's limits, the business-use exclusion, the platform's phase, and any employer behind the vehicle.

Common questions

Does DoorDash pay my medical bills if a Dasher hit me? No. In Michigan your own household no-fault policy pays medical bills first under MCL 500.3114(1). DoorDash's published coverage is liability coverage for the injury claim, and only during an active delivery.

The driver's insurer denied the claim because he was delivering food. Is that the end? No. A business-use exclusion in a personal policy shifts the claim to the platform's policy for the active-delivery phase and to any employer behind the driver. It does not touch your PIP claim, which never depended on the driver's insurance.

Does the $1,000,000 rideshare coverage law apply to a food delivery in Michigan? Not on its own. MCL 257.2123 is written for prearranged rides of passengers. A delivery-only trip relies on the platform's contractual coverage, which DoorDash and Amazon Flex describe as up to $1,000,000 of coverage during an active delivery and Uber describes as at least $500,000 of coverage on a delivery trip.

The driver was between orders. Who pays then? The driver's personal policy, if it responds. DoorDash and Uber both say the personal policy is primary when the driver is online without an accepted request, and Uber describes only state-minimum coverage in that phase. This is the phase where a catastrophic injury can outrun the available insurance, and where the injured person's own underinsured motorist coverage matters most.

Can I sue DoorDash or Uber Eats directly? The platforms sign drivers up as contractors and will argue they answer only through their policies. Whether the company controlled the work closely enough to be responsible for the driver, or was negligent in its own right, depends on the contracts and the app records, which is why those must be demanded early. It is a case-by-case question, not a rule.

Talk to a Michigan delivery driver accident lawyer

A free consultation can tell you which insurer is first in line for your bills, what phase the driver was in and how to prove it, whether an employer stands behind the vehicle, and what the policy stack really is. Those answers decide whether a serious injury is covered or not.

Call (313) 800-0000 or request a free consultation. There is no fee unless we win. Koussan Law handles Michigan delivery vehicle, commercial vehicle and auto accident cases from offices in Detroit, Dearborn Heights and Marquette, in English, Spanish and Arabic. Our overview of who pays after a catastrophic commercial vehicle crash in Michigan covers trucks, buses, ambulances and police vehicles.