Standard personal auto insurance in Ontario doesn’t cover you while delivering food or driving passengers for pay; every standard policy excludes commercial use. But the actual coverage gap depends heavily on which platform you’re using: Uber maintains substantial contingent commercial insurance while you’re logged into the app, while DoorDash and Skip largely leave the risk on you. Either way, the fix is adding a proper endorsement, not hiding the activity from your insurer, since non-disclosure typically gets that specific claim denied rather than voiding your whole policy.
Personal insurance excludes commercial use, full stop
Per the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario’s guide to what’s not covered, a standard personal auto policy doesn’t cover you when you’re using your vehicle commercially, including carrying paying passengers or making paid deliveries. This isn’t a loophole or a technicality; it’s the baseline design of a personal policy, which is priced and underwritten assuming personal, non-commercial use only.
Uber actually covers you more than you might think; DoorDash and Skip mostly don’t
Per Uber’s own explanation of its insurance coverage in Canada, Uber maintains contingent commercial auto insurance on your behalf through Economical Insurance while you’re logged into the app: roughly $1 million in third-party liability while you’re waiting for a request, and roughly $2 million in third-party liability plus contingent collision and comprehensive coverage once you’ve accepted a trip or delivery. That physical-damage piece for your own car, though, only kicks in if you separately carry collision and comprehensive coverage on your own personal policy; it doesn’t create coverage for your vehicle out of nowhere.
DoorDash is a different story. Per DoorDash’s own Dasher Central page on insurance, DoorDash doesn’t provide the same kind of substantial commercial coverage to drivers in Canada that Uber does, and Skip similarly treats its couriers as independent contractors responsible for their own coverage. If you’re delivering for DoorDash or Skip specifically, you’re carrying much more of the actual risk yourself than an Uber driver would be in the same accident.
What actually happens if you don’t disclose it, and get in an accident
The dramatic version of this story says your insurer will “void” your policy and blacklist you if they find out. The real mechanism is a bit different, and still serious. Per Ontario’s Statutory Conditions for automobile insurance, you have a duty to promptly notify your insurer, in writing, of any change in risk material to your policy, and using your vehicle commercially is exactly that kind of change. Failing to disclose it doesn’t automatically void your entire policy from the start, but it typically means the insurer can deny or forfeit the specific claim tied to that undisclosed commercial use. In practice, that still leaves you personally responsible for the damage to both vehicles, which is functionally just as costly as if the policy had been voided.
The actual fix: get the right endorsement
Per FSRA’s guide to ridesharing and carsharing insurance, Ontario has specific endorsements, such as OPCF 6A and OPCF 22, designed to formally extend your personal policy to cover ridesharing use. Ask your broker directly what endorsement fits your situation, since a rideshare endorsement and a food-delivery arrangement aren’t automatically the same product, and not every insurer offers meal-delivery coverage the same way. This usually costs a modest monthly amount, far less than paying for two vehicles out of pocket after an uninsured accident.
What you’re actually required to say at the scene
If you’re in an accident, per Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act, what you’re legally required to provide to the other driver is your name, address, driver’s licence information, insurance details, and vehicle information, not an explanation of what you were doing or why. You’re not obligated to volunteer that you were delivering food at the time, and doing so unprompted only adds a detail into the record that could later be used to support a denied claim if you haven’t sorted out your coverage.
What to actually do
- Confirm exactly which platform’s coverage applies to your situation; Uber’s coverage is meaningfully stronger than DoorDash’s or Skip’s.
- Call your broker and ask specifically for the endorsement that matches your activity, rideshare, delivery, or both.
- Don’t volunteer details about your commercial activity at an accident scene beyond what’s legally required.
- Disclose the commercial use to your insurer proactively rather than waiting for them to find out during a claim.