Yes, if you are going to start delivering food for restaurants as a paying job than you will need to upgrade your personal auto insurance policy to a commercial / business use auto insurance policy. This type of policy will cost more; we cannot tell you how much more without knowing the specifics of the type of policy you have now and the cost of it.

We can tell you that you will have a higher premium to carry a commercial policy on your vehicle. When we put in some basic information in for quotes to see the difference between a personal insurance policy and a commercial policy the different was around $500 for the annual premium rate. Once again it would depend upon your specifics, what coverages and premiums you are paying for a personal policy and what you coverages you would choose as part of your commercial policy as to what the difference in your cost would be.

A vehicle that is driven for delivery purposes is seen by an auto insurance company as having more risks involved with it than a person that drives just to and from their work, for personal errands, pleasure trips, etc. For this reason a personal auto insurance policy usually lists specifically in its exclusions that they will not extend coverages to a vehicle used for business purposes and thus require you to get a business or commercial policy to cover your vehicle.

You can check with your current car insurance provider however most all private passenger auto insurance policies (PAP) do not provide coverage when the covered vehicle is used to deliver property, i.e. pizzas, other food, newspapers, packages or people for a fee (salary, tips, etc.). Since most personal auto policies will exclude coverage for a vehicle while it is being used for "business purposes" that is why you would need to obtain a commercial policy for your vehicle.

Commercial or business driving rates, delivery services, newspaper carriers and real estate agents fall into this same category, are higher than those in standard PAP policies. This is due to the higher risk you are as a driver who is using their car for business and thus likely puts more miles on the car than just a person who commutes to work and parks the car for the day. Also with delivery drivers they have been known to speed, etc to get the delivery done faster. This is especially true for food deliveries since the driver is working within time constraints and trying to deliver hot food usually.

Follow this link to obtain a quote through our partners for the type of commercial / business use auto insurance that is needed to cover a delivery driver. Or you call our call center for commercial auto phone number at 1-800-936-0356. You then can compare these quotes to your current personal auto insurance policy to see what extra costs would be involved for you to accomplish your goal of being properly insured to deliver food using your own vehicle.