Are You Aware of GrubHub Insurance Requirements? Insights of California’s Top Food Delivery Collision Injury Lawyers
It has been a habitual convenience for Los Angeles people to get food items of their preferred restaurants delivered to their addresses, particularly given the present coronavirus situation. This is closely related to the increase in the requirement for delivery vehicle operators for businesses such as GrubHub.
As per the information of Second Measure, these kinds of businesses recorded a growth of 24% by March 2020 when judged against the same time last year. GrubHub occupies the third place in the list of the best-known food delivery businesses in LA, after DoorDash and PostMates respectively. The company and the subsidiaries of it, which include Eat24 and Seamless, achieved 28% of sales that involved food delivery to Americans in March this year.
Anyhow, they attract patron customers in a better way as compared to their rivals in the meal delivery sector. In the initial 10-week period of this year, about 17% of GrubHub customers purchased food through the company’s application once per week, at the least. Besides, more than 2% of the company’s customers ordered it three times or more on a weekly basis, on average.
When deciding to begin working for an entity such as GrubHub, you must be aware that your insurance coverage would not suffice should a collision happen. Almost all businesses let drivers commit themselves to operate vehicles for them by using their personal insurance policy. However, it is unfortunate that those businesses do not let the potential know that they would become legally responsible for compensation should a vehicular crash happen.
Working as a food delivery business automobile driver requires a business-use or commercial-use policy, so the aforementioned responsibility situation would most likely apply to you. The businesses do not generally protect independent contractors from accident damages, so you being their driver may end up facing the bad effects of the incident.
To serve as drivers for businesses such as GrubHub, people need to possess a personal insurance policy with the coverage provisions concerning the commercial application of a vehicle. The same applies regardless of whether you wish to do the job as a full-time or part-time independent contractor. There are considerably greater rates for the business utilization of an automobile as compared to its personal use because the following factors raise the dangers of driving.
- The act of driving frequently
- The hours spent being behind the wheel
- The area in which you operate the vehicle of yours
- The distraction involved in keep a track of not just the food order but also the navigation
Business-use and commercial-use-related policies are made to insure drivers against the risks in the utilization of their personal vehicle for trade-related purposes. With food delivery being a novel service, insurance carriers are adjusting to the related changes even today. Therefore, you must communicate with your existing insurance provider regarding your coverage options when contemplating working for businesses such as GrubHub.
The information on GrubHub’s online site is unclear, as it states that one needs a driver’s license and automobile insurance to serve as their vehicle operator. Unlike businesses such as PostMates and DoorDash, no form of automobile liability insurance for GrubHub drivers is available from the company. This would make you 100% legally responsible for the damages that entail an accident involving your vehicle, whatever the circumstances may be. So, getting the right coverage is paramount, particularly when making deliveries for the company.
Let us elaborate on this with an example. In 2019, a part-time GrubHub driver crashed her Jeep Cherokee into the side of a different auto, when transporting a fast-food item to a US-based customer. The Fort Collins incident left her with a traffic ticket as she avoided taking the necessary step for letting the other vehicle pass through. She then claimed insurance, but to no avail because her insurer would not pay for the consequent damages as the incident occurred when she was working for GrubHub. To make matters worse, she lacked the insurance required for dealing with this situation.
Therefore, the guilty driver had to bear the damages that the other vehicle operator incurred due to her negligence. Following restitution and other expenses, she owed $60,000 or so, and would perhaps need to go through the legal complications in the bankruptcy process.
A delivery vehicle driver like her is deemed not an employee but an independent contractor, so they have to include a ride-sharing endorsement in their policy for being covered. Since she lacked it and the collision occurred when working, her insurer ended up escaping liability for the accident-induced damages.
According to the company’s terms of service, “In no event shall Grubhub be liable to you for any indirect, special, incidental, punitive, exemplary, or consequential damages, or any loss or damages whatsoever (including personal injury…), even if Grubhub has been previously advised of the possibility of such damages, arising out of a warranty, contract, negligence, tort, or any other action that in any manner arises out of or in connection with the use of, inability to use, the performance of, or services provided on or through the platform or by Grubhub.”
Business-use additional benefits and trade-related insurance are possibly costly. But in the case of businesses such as GrubHub not caring for their drivers, the latter must confirm that they are protected properly from any accident liability. Property damages and injuries occur because of vehicular collisions, and no one wants to bear all of these.
GrubHub Accident Lawyers Are Here To Help You
In the case of becoming involved in a delivery vehicular accident and getting injured in the process, contact our GrubHub accident attorneys for a FREE case evaluation. Our team will do the best to make sure you receive maximum compensation for your case.
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