What Car Insurance Do Walmart Delivery Drivers Need?

Last Updated on April 4, 2023

If you’re a Walmart delivery driver, you may need to adjust your car insurance.

When you drive for Walmart, you’re considered an independent contractor driving for work-related reasons. You may have personal auto insurance, but that personal insurance does not cover commercial trips – like every trip you make for Walmart.

What car insurance do Walmart delivery drivers need? How much car insurance should you have as a Walmart delivery driver? Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about Walmart delivery driver insurance requirements.

Table of Contents:

• Walmart Requires Drivers to Maintain Personal Insurance Coverage
• Walmart Delivery Drivers Must Carry Commercial Coverage to Avoid Insurance Gaps
• How to Add Commercial Coverage to Your Personal Policy
• What’s the Best and Cheapest Walmart Delivery Driver Insurance Option?
• Walmart Requires Valid Proof of Auto Insurance to Drive for Spark
• Why You Need Commercial Coverage as a Walmart Delivery Driver

Walmart Requires Drivers to Maintain Personal Insurance Coverage

You need personal auto insurance coverage to drive a vehicle legally on public roads in the United States.

Personal auto insurance coverage must include bodily injury liability coverage (to compensate others for medical bills and similar expenses) and property damage liability coverage (to compensate others for vehicle repair costs and similar expenses). Some states also require personal injury protection, uninsured motorist coverage, and other minimum amounts of car insurance.

However, your personal auto insurance policy only covers personal trips – like commutes to work and drives to and from the grocery store. It doesn’t cover work-related trips – like picking up clients or delivering groceries for Walmart.

Walmart Delivery Drivers Must Carry Commercial Coverage to Avoid Insurance Gaps

Your personal auto insurance policy works for personal trips. However, as soon as you start delivering groceries for Walmart, your personal policy is no longer active. For legal and insurance purposes, you’re driving without insurance – unless you buy a commercial insurance policy.

Whether you’re delivering groceries for Walmart or driving for Uber, you need a commercial policy to avoid a gap in your car insurance coverage.

Some insurers offer hybrid insurance policies, which are a combination of personal and commercial policies.

Other insurers offer endorsements – like rideshare endorsements – to add coverage. If your insurer doesn’t offer either option, you may need to buy a separate commercial insurance policy.

How to Add Commercial Coverage to Your Personal Policy

You can add commercial coverage to your personal auto insurance policy in three main ways:

• Add a commercial endorsement to your existing personal policy. Some auto insurance companies make adding a commercial endorsement to your policy easy. This commercial endorsement costs a certain extra amount (5% to 20% higher premiums) in exchange for covering personal and commercial trips. Some insurers even have special rideshare or delivery endorsements. Just add this endorsement to your policy, continue paying your premiums, and you’ll remain covered for commercial and personal trips.
• Buy hybrid car insurance. Some insurers offer hybrid personal and commercial insurance policies specifically for Walmart delivery drivers, rideshare drivers, and others in similar situations. Contact your insurer about a hybrid policy or shop around for a hybrid commercial / personal policy from local insurers.
• Buy a separate, standalone commercial car insurance policy. If your insurer doesn’t offer either of the options above, then you may need a standalone commercial car insurance policy. A standalone policy may be expensive, but it covers you when delivering for Walmart and with other commercial trips.

What’s the Best and Cheapest Walmart Delivery Driver Insurance Option?

Looking for the best and cheapest way to cover yourself as a Walmart delivery driver?

Walmart does not sell car insurance, so the best and easiest way is to add a commercial endorsement to your personal car insurance policy. Many insurers offer rideshare or delivery driver endorsements, for example. You can easily add these endorsements to your policy without significantly increasing premiums. In fact, some commercial endorsements could cost just $10 extra per month.

If your insurer doesn’t offer commercial endorsements for personal policies, shop for hybrid policies. Some insurers offer hybrid policies as a combination of personal and commercial policies. They may be more expensive but tend to be cheaper than standalone commercial policies.

Walmart Requires Valid Proof of Auto Insurance to Drive for Spark

When you sign up to be a Walmart delivery driver through Spark, Walmart checks certain things before approving your application.

Walmart runs a background check, for example, and verifies you’re 18 years of age or older.

Walmart also requires drivers to have auto insurance, and you must provide valid proof of coverage to drive for Spark.

However, Walmart doesn’t specifically require drivers to provide proof of commercial coverage. Instead, Walmart only requires drivers to provide proof of auto insurance coverage. Here’s how the company explains it in the Spark FAQs section:

“Do I need to have auto insurance? Yes. Drivers have to provide valid proof of auto insurance.”

Having a personal auto insurance policy may be enough to pass Walmart’s test. However, you could still be driving uninsured every time you make deliveries for Walmart.

Why You Need Commercial Coverage as a Walmart Delivery Driver

If you don’t have commercial coverage as a Walmart delivery driver, your insurance could deny any claims resulting from your deliveries.

Here’s why you need commercial auto insurance coverage as a Walmart delivery driver:

• A standard personal auto insurance policy covers you when driving for personal reasons. It covers you when commuting to work, driving to pick up your own groceries, and making a road trip to another state, among all other personal reasons.
• However, as soon as you start driving for business reasons, your insurance may stop covering you.
• If you cause an accident while delivering groceries for Walmart, your insurance could deny your claim – even though you had valid personal coverage.
• If you did $30,000 of damage to another person’s vehicle, caused $100,000 of medical bills to the other driver, and did $15,000 of damage to your own vehicle, then insurance would typically cover that. Unfortunately, if insurance denies your claim, you must pay out of pocket.
• Some insurers ignore the occasional work-related trip without impacting coverage. You may be able to occasionally drive office supplies from one location to another, for example, without voiding coverage. However, if you regularly drive for Walmart, you likely need commercial coverage.

Ultimately, driving for Walmart without commercial coverage puts you at significant financial risk.

Final Word

Walmart uses Spark to manage its team of drivers. To drive for Spark as a Walmart delivery driver, you must adjust your personal insurance policy to carry commercial coverage. Otherwise, you could be driving uninsured every time you make a delivery.

Contact your insurer and ask about adding a commercial endorsement to your policy. For an extra $10 to $20 per month, you could remain fully covered at all points when driving for Walmart.

Alternatively, shop for hybrid or standalone commercial policies to avoid a lapse in car insurance coverage as a Walmart delivery driver.